Ken's an old friend of mine from college. Appreciate everyone who's involved in the search for him. Keeping him in my prayers.

Found! Alive and well. Walked out with a search crew.

No further details yet.

Great news indeed. Thank God.

Heartfelt thanks to all SAR crews and people involved.

Fantastic news.

So great to hear of a happy ending!

Thank heavens for quick response and dedicated professionals. Please give all those involved a great big pat on the back!

I've gotten some more rough information, but I'd like to wait until I talk to Ken to put it together. I think a semi-formal interview with him might be best.

_______________________________
Questions thus far:
When did you realize that you were fully lost?
First steps after that?
How did your state of mind change as the days (6) went by?
What actions did you consider?
Which did you decide to take?
What gear did you have on you? How much food? Water?
Did you ration your supplies?
How did you pass the time?
How did you attract attention to yourself?
What would you do differently, given the chance?
_______________________________


Any other suggested questions?

Just some thoughts...

From what I've read, he went down one wrong trail and then turned onto another wrong trail. He seemed to realize by the end of Sunday that he was lost and stopped traveling. He had to ration food and did have a nearby water source of some sort. It sounds like he had a filter for water purification, maybe tablets too and of course fire. I hear rumors there may be been a group communication issue as well.

What he did right
1. realized he was lost and stopped
2. stayed calm
3. stayed warm (temps not bad)
4. stayed hydrated
5. rationed food
6. finally decided to use fire as signal

What he did wrong
1. took wrong turn (happens to most at some point)
2. walked too far without making sure he was following trail markers; did the side trails have the same markers?

What he could change
1. get a PLB since he travels alone and is visually challenged
2. get a gps and use it with a UTM gridded map; even if you walk off the edge of a paper map, with known coordinates you know about how many kilometers off you are and in what direction
3. do not solo backpack

I have some questions on group hiking dynamics as well, as lost hikers seem to happen often enough on group outings: who was leading this hike, meaning not who was in front of this group, but who was bringing up the rear? Were there other hikers behind him, was he the effective leader? If others were behind this lost hiker, were they so slow that he was able to take a wrong turn and not be missed by those behind him? Was there even an attempt to buddy up on this hike?

It would have been more difficult to get lost if the lost hiker - and all hikers in the group - had paired up before setting out. And if the group as a whole has a sweeper, whose job was to be the last person out and try to keep an eye for hikers venturing off the assigned trail. That means no matter how slow the slowest hiker, that sweeper (and his buddy) is still behind them.

Worst case: two lost hikers instead of one. Assuming one of them had better eyesight that the other, they might have route-finded their way home.

Works in Scouts while riding herd on 11-15 year olds, I wonder why folks don't apply it to their grown up hikes more often.