Ranger
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He'd be finishing at midnight.
No hiker does that for fun.
No hiker does that three times in a week and a half.
Also, his pack was too small.
20 liters.
You need more than that for a 22-mile day in the backcountry.
You need food, water, extra layers, emergency supplies.
He'd need at least a 35-liter pack.
He didn't have one.
Also, he wasn't tired.
He was a little winded from the last climb to the tower, but he was not destroyed.
A normal fit person who has hiked 20 miles is destroyed.
Also, his boots.
So where was he coming from?
The only answer that made sense was that he had a camp somewhere within a few hours' hike of the tower.
Somewhere he'd been staying.
Possibly for a while.
I sat with that for a day before I made the call.
On the 12th of August, at my morning check-in, I asked dispatch to patch me through to the district law enforcement officer.
His name was Russ.