My first backpacking experience...

…was not at all what I expected.

A team of 7 friends including myself and my boyfriend, Tim, expected to make camp at lunchtime on Sunday, August 12th, hang out for the rest of the day, watch the meteor shower at night, and hike out in the morning. As I'm sure you may have guessed by now, that's not at all what happened.

Sometime between 4 and 6 pm Chris Blackledge walked out of camp without telling anyone instead of taking a nap like everyone else. When we woke up to prepare dinner we quickly realized we were missing Chris and prepared two teams of two to look for him. I stayed at base camp with the other girl on the team since I was the medical personnel so that I could stay centralized. We organized certain whistles to distinguish calling for Chris, finding him, or calling for immediate medical aid. Tim and Mike followed some tracks and found Chris’ beanie on a steep ridge which leads us to assume he went off to get some great photos. As darkness approached and the two teams reported into camp with no good leads we decided the next step was to climb down the mountain to find cell phone reception and call in search and rescue. I volunteered right away since I hadn't done any hiking in the afternoon and Tim volunteered because he was feeling the best out of those remaining. The others planned on resting until either Chris or search and rescue showed up. Tim and I broke camp at about 10 pm and hiked over the first ridge. On a hunch I decided to check cell phone reception even though we were still 5+ miles from the trailhead and, lo and behold, there was reception on one of the two phones! We got through to search and rescue and they had a unit dispatched to the trailhead right away. The deputies setting up command post at the trailhead decided they wanted Tim and I to hike all the way down and help coordinate efforts from the CP. It took us from midnight to 2:30 am to cover just over 5 miles and a couple of short detours onto false trails in the dark. We helped out the search coordinators as much as possible and finally hit the sack (aka, the back of a station wagon) from 5-7 am. We were woken up by a helicopter and found double the amount of volunteers from just two hours before. Hikers, mountaineers, dog teams, and the helicopter greeted us.

We helped brief the next shift of coordinators, ate some breakfast, and then were allowed to leave for home. We were picked up and arrived at home at about 11 am. We got some well-needed rest from 1-6 pm and then returned to Josh’s house to retrieve our gear left behind in camp, compare notes with him, pray, and encourage each other.

That evening when we called in to the CP for an update we were told that the dogs had not yet found a scent (bad news) and that several of the hikers are willing to continue searching overnight (very dangerous). The majority of the searchers resumed in the morning including some fresh volunteers. Josh, Mike, Tim, and I decided to return to the trailhead in the morning to meet Chris’ family who were expected to arrive at about 8:30 am on Tuesday. In the meantime we all got some desperately needed sleep.

The four of us arrived at the trailhead CP at 9 am Tuesday morning to find no new news except that a dog or two may have picked up a scent, though not necessarily Chris’. His aunt and uncle arrived about a half hour later, were briefed by the coordinators, and then met us for the first time. They were pleasant and social, considering the circumstances. Josh was particularly relieved since he felt a semblance of responsibility for organizing the trip and not making it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that you are not to go anywhere with certain equipment or without telling anyone or without a partner. We were asked a couple of more questions during the course of the morning until just after 11 when the head coordinator walked over to us and announced that they just found Chris alive and doing well. Hugs and handshakes went all around before all six of us started calling people to announce the good news! He was retrieved by helicopter and returned to the CP at the trailhead in less than 20 minutes. He was then taken to Overlake Hospital for assessment and observation and discharged at about 3:30. To our surprise he wanted to interview with the local media, King 5 and Kiro 7, before returning home to rest.

As it turns out, in hoping to hike around Gem Lake before dinner on Sunday afternoon, Chris got turned around at some point and lost the trail. All of Monday he traveled down and up the other side of a rugged valley to reach a well defined trail in hopes of running into other hikers or returning to our camp. Moments after reaching that trail at about 11 this morning Chris was spotted by a day hiker who directed him to S&R hikers 50 ft away. He was retrieved by helicopter and returned to the CP at the trailhead in less than 20 minutes.

I want to thank anyone and everyone who had Chris and his searchers in their hearts and prayers. I particularly want to thank the incredible efforts of the S&R team. A total of over 250 people were working/volunteering on his case and over 1000 friends and family were praying for him. I also want to thank the media for the caring and respectful way they treated us and Chris both before he was found and afterwards. It was very refreshing to see the overwhelming stereotypes shattered.

Chris has been debriefed a couple of times, returned to work, and has spent a quiet "we're-glad-you're-alive-a

nd-we-still-love-you-despite-getting-yourself-lost" dinner with those of us from the team. He will need continued prayers as he processes his traumatic experience and determines how he will respond. Many of us are also prepared to throw a grand "we're-glad-you're-alive-and-well" party for him as soon as he says he is ready. The rest of us could also use prayer for wisdom on how to minister to him in the coming weeks and months as he learns to cope with this experience.