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Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
saltydog #39286 07/31/14 03:48 PM
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Originally Posted By: Steve C
This may be old news, but Sierra Wave provided a little more information about the hiker and the situation:

The 13-year-old son of a Mammoth Lakes Emergency Room doctor remained missing in the Sierra mountains at last word - the subject of a two-day search.

Last night, Mammoth Lakes friends of Dr. Rick Shedd prepared to pack up and go help look for his son, Austin Shedd. At last word, they were on stand-by. Dr. Shedd had reportedly hiked down to Independence from the Baxter Pass area Monday where other relatives awaited word.

According to friends of the doctor, he had stopped to make a sandwich for his son during their hike, and when he finished his son was gone. The doctor and a hiking partner searched for the boy. Dr. Shedd finally hiked down to the Owens Valley to get help. The hike itself involved high elevations in the backcountry above Big Pine and Independence.

Inyo Search and Rescue is not working the boy's disappearance at last report. The Sequoia-Kings Canyon National Park was reportedly conducting the search.

Originally Posted By: saltydog
Originally Posted By: NoUglyOneYet
Originally Posted By: saltydog
Yeah, as a dad, me too.

But. Now that he's found:

Am I the only one that thinks that something is not quite right about this
story? He walks off during lunch, and is that quickly out of earshot while
several other party members are searching and presumably calling for
him?

Hmmmmmmmmmm . . .



I thought that odd too. Interested to get more details!


I thought some follow-up would be interesting and instructive, too. I also can't remember another SAR story with absolutley no follow-up, no interview with the family or victim. Lots of things about this don't fit. The boy disappears in the time it takes to make a sandwich, out of earshot. Lost and alone overnight at elevation, gets back on trail and finds the trail crew, evac by chopper and not a single quote anywhere from the kid, the rescuers, family. Odd.


Hmmmm... Reading the above post about dad making a sandwich makes me think -- With an adolescent boy and his dad, who knows how much cooperation or non-cooperation was going on? Who knows how much communication between the two there was? It is quite possible the kid just kept walking, thinking Dad would catch up. Or kid was angry at something dad asked or talked about and he kept walking for a while... I can think up a few scenarios where a 13-y-o kid would be less than cooperative. My son was 13 once. wink

A few years back, a guy related a trip he and a friend were on, and they got into an argument about getting water. Last interaction was one walking past the other at a rest stop. One then aborted the trip, and left the backcountry. The other was left to go on, with no clue where the other was. Last I heard, after a year, they had barely spoken to each other. ...Stuff happens.

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Steve C #39293 07/31/14 04:37 PM
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I keep typing up posts, and when I look at them, they're empty! Anyway, check out Austin's mom's (public) Facebook page, where she wrote up Austin's story. Interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.macdonald.9083477

Last edited by NoUglyOneYet; 07/31/14 04:40 PM.
Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
NoUglyOneYet #39295 07/31/14 05:16 PM
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Where you trying to cut and paste from another source?

There is a glitch in the program when quotes are involved. I have been re-typing the quote from the source for now.

PS I tried to access the link, and I could not see it, but, perhaps one must be a member of Facebook.


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Bee #39296 07/31/14 05:19 PM
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Here it is. Amazing story.

From FB:
Quote:
Austin Shedd's story:

Austin very tired and hungry was walking slow and told Rick (his dad )to go ahead and find a place to pull over and make him a sandwich. You can't just make a sandwich in the middle of the trail you need to find a rock or log or a place to sit down and spread out. It is unclear, but they think Austin might have passed Rick.

After 20 minutes or so Austin kept wondering where his dad was and tried to circle back to find him and of course was on the wrong trails. When lots of time passed and he knew he was lost he tried to find his camp and when he knew he was on the wrong trail he listened for the River and knew enough to start following the River so he would eventually pop out where people might be.

Having no food or water he drank from a clean part in the River. As night fell upon him he leaned against a tree with a rock by it and prayed. He was cold and a little wet tired and hungry. He told me he started thinking about his cat Kitty Ki and how he might not see her again.................then he told himself stop~~~~ that is just the devil trying to mess with me and he prayed some more. ( of course I said Kitty Ki what about mom and dad??????, he said you know what I mean that was just one thought about the cat and he blew it off, he had faith he was going to see mom and dad. He told himself the whole time thinking negative would not help him so he chose to stay positive and pray.

When morning light came he kept following the River and stumbled upon a tent. Knowing somebody would return to this tent he stayed put. Hours past and he was cold so he went in the tent and went to sleep. The trail head guys returned after searching to their camp and made some food they did not even know Austin was fast asleep in their tent for 45 minutes. Can you imagine their joy they are getting in the tent with their light and realize someone is in there !!!!!! Austin pops up and they say who are you? ....Austin and they just hugged him with joy.

Austin reported that he saw the helicopter a few times flying over him and he tried to throw stuff up in the air so they might see him but, with no luck. Thinking positive and the power of prayer help my son when he was alone and scared in the dark wilderness for over 30 hours.

Austin was about 5 hours and miles and miles away from the original spot of his camp and in such a remote area they had dropped off that search team by helicopter to search. Austin did get to see the helicopter, in fact he was flown out of the wilderness to the headquarters to tell his story and so that the AMAZING search and rescue team and everyone could learn from this experience.

God does answer prayer and walk with you when you need him the most. ~~Blessings to all, Jennifer Macdonald


Recent pic of Austin, posted today. Caption: "Austin is happy and back in his normal routine : )
Getting ready for his next big swim meet ~~~~Go Mammoth Sharks ...They will be traveling to Minden to compete
:)"

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
NoUglyOneYet #39297 07/31/14 05:20 PM
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Yeah, very interesting. So, I guess he just missed his dad who had pulled off to make a sandwich and by the time he realized that he had passed his dad, he was out of earshot and out of sight. Going back to find his dad perhaps compounded the problem.

HJ


Backpacking stove reviews and information: Adventures In Stoving
Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
hikin_jim #39298 07/31/14 05:32 PM
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Like many who get lost, they just keep going -- to water, or to a high point. Must be human nature.

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Steve C #39302 07/31/14 07:20 PM
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Right. Austin's story? I don't think so. Mom's story, sure. And yes it is amazing. Especially in the context of the rest of her FB page.

Am I the only one not buying this?




Last edited by saltydog; 08/01/14 02:25 AM.

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Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Bee #39311 08/01/14 12:04 AM
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Originally Posted By: Bee
Where you trying to cut and paste from another source?

There is a glitch in the program when quotes are involved. I have been re-typing the quote from the source for now.

PS I tried to access the link, and I could not see it, but, perhaps one must be a member of Facebook.


Yes, I was - thanks for letting me know about the glitch!

Last edited by NoUglyOneYet; 08/01/14 12:05 AM.
Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Steve C #39312 08/01/14 12:06 AM
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Originally Posted By: Steve C
Here it is. Amazing story.

From FB:
[snip]


Thanks for doing the hard work of typing all that out, Steve, (and for fixing the mom's complete lack of formatting - we won't talk about punctuation & grammar).

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
NoUglyOneYet #39322 08/01/14 07:19 AM
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Originally Posted By: NoUglyOneYet
Thanks for doing the hard work of typing all that out, Steve, (and for fixing the mom's complete lack of formatting - we won't talk about punctuation & grammar).

It was easy enough to copy and paste -- and then run a command in the background to fix the offending dashes and quotes. But the formatting... mom's pic brings a particular stereotype to mind. wink

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Steve C #39323 08/01/14 07:46 AM
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Do you use custom commands to avoid the 'blank page' syndrome when cutting/pasting from other sources?


The body betrays and the weather conspires, hopefully, not on the same day.
Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Bee #39324 08/01/14 08:31 AM
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Her story barely mentions the SAR team or dad. How quickly her FB page moves on from a life-and-death search for her son to the cat, dog, and swim team.

Just glad it ended safely for the boy and the SAR team.

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Steve C #39325 08/01/14 08:38 AM
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When lots of time passed and he knew he was lost he tried to find his camp and when he knew he was on the wrong trail he listened for the River and knew enough to start following the River so he would eventually pop out where people might be.

=========================================

Oh, no. Wrong maneuver.

Right maneuver=hug a tree....or a rock. Had he done that, he would almost certainly have been found within hours.

I'm trying to figure out where he was. "the river".....from an Arrow Peak descent towards Bench Lake, what could that be, that would lead him FIVE MILES from their camp (bench? JMT?)

Did get get down to the Kings River? Did he end up on Arrow Creek? Can't believe there was a trail crew on Arrow. Can't see any other creeks he could have accessed that would not have involved crossing passes.

I can't quite make sense of this (common sit in interpreting media stories)

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Ken #39326 08/01/14 08:44 AM
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Ken: Its not a media story; its the mother's story. Throws a different light on the incoherency, doesn't it?


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Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
saltydog #39331 08/01/14 09:12 AM
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Originally Posted By: saltydog
Ken: Its not a media story; its the mother's story. Throws a different light on the incoherency, doesn't it?
one more quote before the plane leaves

Anyone who is blasé about the danger on even the easiest of high mountain routes is foolish or inexperienced or ill informed.
Norman Croucher, Legless But Smiling, page 54

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
saltydog #39332 08/01/14 09:27 AM
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If he somehow managed to miss Bench Lake he could have continued downhill to the South Fork Kings, and followed the trail to the JMT. Trail Crews usually set up off the JMT, and could have been up the South Fork. Doesn't explain why it took him 30 hours, though. Arrow Peak itself isn't 5 miles from the JMT, and bench is 1.5.


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Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
saltydog #39334 08/01/14 09:42 AM
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I think maybe the "trail crew" was actually a search team. Here's the quote:
"The trail head guys returned after searching to their camp and made some food they did not even know Austin was fast asleep in their tent for 45 minutes."

Salty, the S Fork Kings flows down and away from the JMT. If he'd continued downstream, it would have been miles of wilderness until he hit the Woods Creek / Paradise Valley trail.

Bee, it's an admin-only SQL command I put together. It is run from the control panel after the post shows up blank. Click here if you dare (it's pretty ugly)
Click to reveal.. (warning)
update WZ_POSTS set
POST_DEFAULT_BODY= replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace( replace(
----remove line: CrlApostLt CrlApostRt CrlDblQtLt CrlDblQtRt LongDash96 LongDash97 bullet ellipsis---
POST_DEFAULT_BODY,'‘','''') ,'’','''') ,'“','"') , '”','"') ,'–','-') ,'—','-') ,'•','*') ,'…','...')
where POST_ID=nnnnn

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
Steve C #39335 08/01/14 10:06 AM
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Right: he would have had to know to go east, upstream to get to the JMT. I meant he would have met the trail crew up from where he met the river. All the news reports were that it was a trail crew, BTW, only the Mom says it was an SAR team.


Wherever you go, there you are.
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Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
saltydog #39348 08/01/14 12:00 PM
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When the NPS release said he'd been found by a trail crew I looked at their site to see where crews might be. It said that when he was "missing" there were crews working on the north face of Mather Pass and in the Middle Fork Kings River area...

Would either of these make sense?

Re: SeKi Hiker missing: 13 y.o.
SoCalGirl #39365 08/01/14 06:49 PM
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Same problem - can't paste the article.

Here's the link to a San Diego Reader article July 29

Last edited by SierraNevada; 08/01/14 06:51 PM.
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