052: Tumblehome: Lost Boys Series Part II

Episode Transcript

[0:00:23 – 0:00:48] Adam: welcome to tumble home a boundary waters podcast episode zero five two lost boys part two nice is it 52 oh yeah this is the second after the uh fact check us already wondering she should not even a minute without a fact check yeah that was the that was the last episode of the winter one so yeah that would make sense
[0:00:48 – 0:00:49] Adam: I don’t know why I’m questioning you.
[0:00:49 – 0:00:50] Adam: You would know.
[0:00:50 – 0:00:51] Adam: I didn’t even check it.
[0:00:51 – 0:00:52] Adam: I just kind of went with my gut.
[0:00:53 – 0:00:53] Erik: Why?
[0:00:53 – 0:01:00] Adam: Dumble Home is sponsored by Clearwater Historic Lodge and Outfitters on the Gunflint Trail.
[0:01:00 – 0:01:01] Adam: Check them out.
[0:01:01 – 0:01:05] Adam: Next time you’re on the Gunflint Trail, go see the Palisades.
[0:01:06 – 0:01:07] Adam: We never really plug anything for them.
[0:01:07 – 0:01:09] Adam: We’re just like, they’re sponsored by them.
[0:01:09 – 0:01:10] Adam: Hey, yeah.
[0:01:10 – 0:01:11] Adam: Man, you ever been up there?
[0:01:11 – 0:01:12] Adam: Historic Lodge.
[0:01:12 – 0:01:12] Adam: I have.
[0:01:13 – 0:01:14] Adam: Good stuff.
[0:01:14 – 0:01:15] Adam: And this week.
[0:01:17 – 0:01:19] Adam: We went and just picked this up today.
[0:01:20 – 0:01:26] Adam: We’re also sponsored by Kona Brewing Company Castaway IPA.
[0:01:28 – 0:01:33] Erik: In lieu of… Well, not in lieu of, but in the…
[0:01:33 – 0:01:34] Adam: I didn’t get much of a pop on mine.
[0:01:34 – 0:01:36] Erik: I’ll try to do mine here.
[0:01:38 – 0:01:38] Adam: That’s better.
[0:01:38 – 0:01:39] Adam: Here we go.
[0:01:39 – 0:01:41] Adam: Yeah, we’re also…
[0:01:41 – 0:01:41] Erik: Here we go.
[0:01:47 – 0:01:51] Erik: For the second episode in a row, we have three sponsors now.
[0:01:51 – 0:01:54] Erik: Always a beer, which they’re only sponsoring our lubrication.
[0:01:55 – 0:01:55] Erik: They’re not really sponsoring.
[0:01:57 – 0:01:58] Erik: We have to buy the beer.
[0:01:58 – 0:01:59] Erik: We bought these beers.
[0:01:59 – 0:02:03] Erik: If 52 episodes in, you haven’t figured it out, we actually do have to buy the beer we’re sponsored by.
[0:02:04 – 0:02:04] UNKNOWN: Kona?
[0:02:05 – 0:02:07] Erik: Yeah, and Clearwater.
[0:02:08 – 0:02:12] Erik: But now for the second episode in a row by listeners like you.
[0:02:12 – 0:02:13] Erik: Thank you.
[0:02:13 – 0:02:14] Erik: We have some patrons.
[0:02:15 – 0:02:23] Erik: I think we’ll start season two with shouting out those fine, fine folks who have donated to our Patreon page.
[0:02:24 – 0:02:29] Erik: Listen to episode 51 if you want more details on how all that works or check the show notes.
[0:02:29 – 0:02:34] Adam: I feel like we have had some people donate beer.
[0:02:34 – 0:02:35] Adam: Oh, yes.
[0:02:35 – 0:02:36] Adam: We haven’t bought every week.
[0:02:36 – 0:02:37] Adam: Yes.
[0:02:37 – 0:02:38] Adam: We bought a lot of these beers.
[0:02:39 – 0:02:40] Adam: We would have bought them one way or the other.
[0:02:40 – 0:02:45] Adam: And we try to find a connection to the theme of the week if we can.
[0:02:45 – 0:02:47] Adam: But we have had a lot of people send us beers.
[0:02:47 – 0:02:49] Adam: So I think that was the original patrons.
[0:02:49 – 0:02:50] Erik: Yes, they are.
[0:02:50 – 0:02:51] Erik: They are the OG patrons.
[0:02:51 – 0:02:53] Erik: And anybody who has donated beer…
[0:02:54 – 0:02:59] Erik: You don’t feel like you are a true saint and don’t feel obligated to donate to the patron page.
[0:02:59 – 0:03:00] Adam: Yeah, you’ve already done enough.
[0:03:01 – 0:03:01] Adam: You have.
[0:03:01 – 0:03:06] Adam: You’re an angel, a saint, and they’ve gotten their shout-outs, too.
[0:03:07 – 0:03:12] Adam: We started out right by giving out shout-outs to our beer patrons, so thank you.
[0:03:13 – 0:03:19] Erik: Yes, and we are also, just for this week, we had to shout-out the new apparatus we are working with here.
[0:03:19 – 0:03:20] Erik: We got new stuff.
[0:03:21 – 0:03:23] Erik: Yeah, I think this might be the last one.
[0:03:23 – 0:03:29] Erik: I kind of borderline promised that we would be bringing you video this week.
[0:03:29 – 0:03:30] Erik: I think we’re just a week off yet.
[0:03:31 – 0:03:34] Erik: Still working out some kinks and some of the logistics on that.
[0:03:34 – 0:03:36] Adam: We are here live in Studio K.
[0:03:36 – 0:03:38] Erik: Oh, we are live in Studio K, yes.
[0:03:38 – 0:03:39] Adam: There’s no video yet.
[0:03:39 – 0:03:48] Erik: No, which seems to be with this table and the new equipment that we have might be the go-to studio for a little while here.
[0:03:49 – 0:03:50] Erik: We have two lights.
[0:03:50 – 0:03:57] Erik: Two lights, two mic stands that attach to a table now, so this is the first time I’ve actually not…
[0:03:57 – 0:04:02] Erik: had to hold the microphone in my hand for over a year.
[0:04:02 – 0:04:06] Erik: So I’ve got all these notes that I can just… You can hear them.
[0:04:06 – 0:04:06] Erik: Paper notes.
[0:04:07 – 0:04:09] Erik: I get to page through notes today.
[0:04:09 – 0:04:10] Adam: Paper notes.
[0:04:11 – 0:04:19] Erik: Yeah, so, and I think I took a, yeah, I took a picture, and we’ll show you the early stages of some of the improvements, too.
[0:04:19 – 0:04:21] Adam: The current studio, okay.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:21] Adam: Yeah.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:22] Adam: It’s coming together.
[0:04:22 – 0:04:28] Erik: Now all we have to do is get some of those, like, foam random squares or triangles on the wall in here.
[0:04:29 – 0:04:30] Adam: Yeah, for sound dampening.
[0:04:30 – 0:04:33] Adam: We also have a nice big window here with a view to the north.
[0:04:33 – 0:04:34] Adam: Yes.
[0:04:34 – 0:04:36] Adam: If you’re wondering which way we sit, always le toile du nord.
[0:04:36 – 0:04:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:04:37 – 0:04:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:04:39 – 0:04:46] Adam: Well, in part one, episode 051 of Lost Boys.
[0:04:46 – 0:04:48] Erik: You don’t have to listen to part one if you’re listening to this one.
[0:04:48 – 0:04:51] Erik: They don’t have anything to do with each other.
[0:04:51 – 0:04:54] Erik: But they are both out of the same book, again.
[0:04:55 – 0:05:00] Erik: Lost in the Wild by Carrie J. Griffith.
[0:05:00 – 0:05:01] Adam: Griffith?
[0:05:02 – 0:05:04] Erik: Yeah, he’s got a couple of other books in the area.
[0:05:05 – 0:05:06] Erik: Gunflint Burning is really good.
[0:05:06 – 0:05:08] Erik: Maybe we’ll do a book report on that one at some point.
[0:05:08 – 0:05:10] Adam: Oh, I didn’t realize this is the same author of Gunflint Burning.
[0:05:10 – 0:05:12] Adam: Yeah, that one just came out last year.
[0:05:12 – 0:05:15] Adam: Is Cary Griffith located around up here somewhere?
[0:05:15 – 0:05:17] Erik: I don’t know where he’s from.
[0:05:17 – 0:05:20] Adam: Are you running into Cary at the Voyager or something?
[0:05:21 – 0:05:24] Erik: Yeah, maybe we’ll run into him this weekend down at Midwest Mountaineering.
[0:05:24 – 0:05:28] Erik: He’ll grab us by the collar and give us a talking to.
[0:05:28 – 0:05:30] Erik: I think we’ve represented his work pretty well.
[0:05:30 – 0:05:30] Erik: I think so.
[0:05:31 – 0:05:33] Adam: I just hope we don’t ever run into Dan Stevens.
[0:05:33 – 0:05:35] Erik: No, that’s the guy we want.
[0:05:35 – 0:05:35] Adam: Dan!
[0:05:35 – 0:05:35] Erik: Dan!
[0:05:36 – 0:05:36] Erik: No, I hope we never run into him.
[0:05:36 – 0:05:37] Erik: Dan, what are you doing?
[0:05:37 – 0:05:37] Erik: Dan!
[0:05:38 – 0:05:39] Erik: The Chattanooga boys.
[0:05:40 – 0:05:41] Erik: The Tennesseans.
[0:05:41 – 0:05:41] Erik: Yes.
[0:05:42 – 0:05:42] Erik: Or the youth.
[0:05:43 – 0:05:46] Erik: I never mentioned a name, so they’re scot-free.
[0:05:46 – 0:05:50] Adam: I think, like I said last week, I think there’s a good chance one of those youth is listening.
[0:05:51 – 0:05:52] Erik: They’re probably as old as we are now.
[0:05:53 – 0:05:53] Adam: Yeah, at least.
[0:05:54 – 0:05:54] Erik: Yeah.
[0:05:54 – 0:05:57] Adam: I wasn’t, well, yeah.
[0:05:58 – 0:05:59] Adam: The math checks out.
[0:06:01 – 0:06:01] Adam: The quick math.
[0:06:02 – 0:06:03] Adam: Joel.
[0:06:04 – 0:06:05] Adam: I was in high school in 98.
[0:06:05 – 0:06:07] Adam: I was just getting out of high school.
[0:06:07 – 0:06:08] Adam: I think they were teens, no?
[0:06:10 – 0:06:10] Adam: Or they were younger than teens?
[0:06:10 – 0:06:13] Erik: They were early to mid-teens, I think.
[0:06:13 – 0:06:18] Adam: Maybe one of their members was… We might be older than the Lost Boys from episode 51.
[0:06:18 – 0:06:18] Adam: Maybe.
[0:06:19 – 0:06:19] Adam: Maybe.
[0:06:20 – 0:06:23] Adam: Well, yeah, so that one was about… Dan’s a little older than we are, though, I think.
[0:06:23 – 0:06:25] Erik: Yeah, well, he was 22 in 98.
[0:06:25 – 0:06:27] Adam: I think I found him on Facebook.
[0:06:27 – 0:06:29] Adam: I’m going to shoot you a message, Dan.
[0:06:29 – 0:06:30] Adam: Check the show notes.
[0:06:31 – 0:06:32] Adam: Check the show notes.
[0:06:32 – 0:06:33] Erik: Oh, man.
[0:06:33 – 0:06:34] Erik: So that was part one.
[0:06:34 – 0:06:35] Erik: That was part one.
[0:06:35 – 0:06:36] Erik: This is part two.
[0:06:36 – 0:06:40] Erik: And I actually just did it because it was chronological.
[0:06:40 – 0:06:42] Erik: Dan Stevens’ story took place in 1998.
[0:06:44 – 0:06:51] Erik: The story of Jason Rasmussen takes place starting on Sunday, October 21st, 2001.
[0:06:52 – 0:06:54] Erik: Literally weeks after 9-11.
[0:06:54 – 0:06:59] Adam: Yeah, I heard stories about people who were out in the park during 9-11.
[0:07:00 – 0:07:07] Adam: The outfitters had to inform them of what had happened when they got back from their trip so they would have no way of knowing.
[0:07:07 – 0:07:07] Erik: Right.
[0:07:07 – 0:07:11] Erik: And I’ve been an outfitter up here now for, you know, almost 15 years.
[0:07:11 – 0:07:12] Erik: And that’s kind of the joke.
[0:07:12 – 0:07:15] Erik: Like when people get out and you pick them up, did anything happen in the world?
[0:07:16 – 0:07:18] Erik: I’ve never had anything where I was like, well, no.
[0:07:19 – 0:07:19] Erik: Yeah.
[0:07:19 – 0:07:20] Erik: Nothing like even close to that.
[0:07:21 – 0:07:24] Erik: And I’m not really the best gauge of like news either.
[0:07:25 – 0:07:26] Erik: I’m not really in…
[0:07:27 – 0:07:29] Erik: My fingers are not on that pulse whatsoever.
[0:07:29 – 0:07:30] Adam: I’ve always thought that, though.
[0:07:30 – 0:07:33] Adam: When you’re out there for a while, too, you’re like, man, what if something happened?
[0:07:33 – 0:07:35] Adam: Something could be going down right now, for sure.
[0:07:35 – 0:07:35] Adam: You never know.
[0:07:36 – 0:07:38] Adam: The best I ever did was to inform somebody.
[0:07:38 – 0:07:41] Adam: I had a few hockey-related ones.
[0:07:41 – 0:07:42] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:07:42 – 0:07:43] Erik: People were asking.
[0:07:43 – 0:07:45] Adam: Yeah, I remember we were paddling out, and somebody was like…
[0:07:46 – 0:08:05] Adam: coming in from a trip obviously they’re like so did so-and-so i think it was bruins uh canucks the finals in like 2011 2000s early yeah was it like 2011 i think my way off and they were like who won it’s like do you really want me to tell you you can go don’t tell me the score when you get back you don’t have to find out this way
[0:08:06 – 0:08:10] Erik: So I yelled across this bay at somebody the results of the Stanley Cup finals.
[0:08:10 – 0:08:20] Adam: And then when we were on the Tuscarora Portage on our Frost River loop last year, somebody was like, do you know if so-and-so made the, if the Caps were in the finals or not?
[0:08:20 – 0:08:21] Adam: And I was like, yeah, they made it.
[0:08:21 – 0:08:21] Adam: Nice.
[0:08:22 – 0:08:23] Adam: They won game seven against the Lightning.
[0:08:24 – 0:08:29] Adam: Spoiler alert, we’re ruining all sorts of previous Stanley Cup finals for our listeners.
[0:08:29 – 0:08:30] Erik: Yeah, maybe people haven’t caught up yet.
[0:08:30 – 0:08:31] Erik: They’re still a few years behind.
[0:08:31 – 0:08:32] Erik: They’re a few years behind, yeah.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:33] Adam: Sorry.
[0:08:34 – 0:08:39] Erik: Yeah, so let’s get back into some lost boy scenarios here.
[0:08:42 – 0:08:49] Erik: The previous episode, if you haven’t listened to it, it was about a Boy Scout leader got lost on the water guiding a trip.
[0:08:50 – 0:08:54] Erik: This story, like I said, takes place starting Sunday, October 21st, 2001.
[0:08:54 – 0:08:57] Erik: It’s late October.
[0:08:57 – 0:08:58] Erik: Late October.
[0:08:58 – 0:09:00] Erik: Jason Rasmussen is his name.
[0:09:00 – 0:09:09] Erik: He’s a third year medical student and finds himself with some time off at the REI in Bloomington, which I’m sure a lot of our listeners have been to.
[0:09:09 – 0:09:14] Erik: You walk in, there’s actually like a clock up on the wall that says like the temperature at Gunflint Lake.
[0:09:15 – 0:09:15] Adam: Really?
[0:09:15 – 0:09:16] Erik: Oh, I’ve never been in there.
[0:09:16 – 0:09:16] Erik: Yeah.
[0:09:17 – 0:09:27] Erik: And while he’s kind of just looking for a way to maybe kill some time, he kind of gets turned down to the Pow Wow hiking trail from Hiking Minnesota book.
[0:09:27 – 0:09:31] Erik: Now, the Pow Wow hiking trail is kind of over on the west side.
[0:09:32 – 0:09:52] Erik: side the ely side south of ely kind of south of like the numbers chain it’s really one of the biggest sections of the banjo waters where there’s not much like lake connectivity so that’s why that that’s kind of why there is this big 26 mile lollipop style loop and
[0:09:52 – 0:09:54] Erik: It enters in near Isabella Lake.
[0:09:54 – 0:09:57] Erik: It’s entirely within the BWCA.
[0:09:58 – 0:10:06] Erik: As he’s glancing through this book, some of the things that he likes that he sees are remote bedrock lakes, beaver dams, and cascading creeks.
[0:10:07 – 0:10:12] Erik: The western section is composed of rough and tumble trails and can be classified as difficult.
[0:10:14 – 0:10:19] Erik: He’s had experience in the bodge waters and hiking and paddling.
[0:10:20 – 0:10:24] Erik: Just kind of looking for something to get him between before he starts up.
[0:10:24 – 0:10:26] Adam: I think it was just some more school.
[0:10:27 – 0:10:37] Erik: But I don’t have much experience on the powwow besides some dog sledding runs that we used to take on this western trail.
[0:10:39 – 0:10:40] Adam: Okay, there it is, yeah.
[0:10:40 – 0:10:41] Adam: I’m turning around.
[0:10:41 – 0:10:43] Erik: Whoa!
[0:10:43 – 0:10:46] Adam: I think that might be the first fall in…
[0:10:47 – 0:10:48] Erik: I’m so used to…
[0:10:48 – 0:10:49] Erik: It just fell out of his chair.
[0:10:49 – 0:10:50] Erik: It just fell out of my chair.
[0:10:50 – 0:10:51] Erik: Look at the map.
[0:10:51 – 0:10:51] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:51 – 0:10:56] Adam: So, yeah, we got the big map behind us here in Studio K, and there it is.
[0:10:56 – 0:11:00] Erik: So you can kind of see it’s a little bit sparse in terms of like waterways.
[0:11:00 – 0:11:02] Erik: The Isabella River runs through there.
[0:11:03 – 0:11:09] Erik: Isabella Lake, which is an entry point with a bunch of campsites on it, is kind of right at the trailhead.
[0:11:09 – 0:11:13] Erik: But more or less, that’s kind of used…
[0:11:13 – 0:11:14] Erik: They used…
[0:11:15 – 0:11:16] Adam: Old logging roads.
[0:11:17 – 0:11:19] Adam: Is there really a lookout tower still there or is that old?
[0:11:19 – 0:11:20] Adam: Highly unlikely.
[0:11:20 – 0:11:23] Adam: I think most of those are long gone.
[0:11:23 – 0:11:24] Erik: Just the footings.
[0:11:24 – 0:11:25] Erik: Just the footings, yeah.
[0:11:25 – 0:11:27] Erik: We’ve been bamboozled on that before.
[0:11:29 – 0:11:35] Erik: So they kind of cobbled together this trail out of, you know, starting in 1977 out of old logging roads.
[0:11:36 – 0:11:38] Erik: Um, it doesn’t get much use.
[0:11:38 – 0:11:40] Erik: I don’t know what the use was like in 98.
[0:11:40 – 0:11:42] Erik: I think it, it gets maybe a little bit more use now.
[0:11:43 – 0:11:55] Erik: Um, but because of the minimal use the books that, uh, this book that he was using, the author strongly advised map compass and proficient orienteering skills.
[0:11:56 – 0:11:57] Erik: Um, and the Fisher map, uh,
[0:11:58 – 0:12:00] Erik: Which was not as detailed.
[0:12:02 – 0:12:07] Erik: And he was kind of deciding on what maps to use.
[0:12:07 – 0:12:10] Erik: This is kind of a crucial decision that he didn’t realize when he was making.
[0:12:11 – 0:12:14] Erik: The Fisher maps were not as detailed and they kind of missed…
[0:12:15 – 0:12:37] Erik: putting on this like faded continuation of where the old powwow used to go oh um the mckenzie map that he ended up buying was it did show like kind of some of these old little spider web networks of old logging roads um but he purchased the fisher and it just had like the current loop on it
[0:12:37 – 0:12:44] Adam: Yeah, there is, you know, I don’t know, on fishers especially, it seems like hiking trails, like, they’re just kind of like, yeah, it’s over hereabouts.
[0:12:44 – 0:12:47] Adam: Yeah, the fisher maps… Like, they’re not based on GPS data or anything.
[0:12:47 – 0:12:53] Erik: That would be a fun episode is just do a deep dive into, like, the different maps, which ones are good for what.
[0:12:54 – 0:12:55] Erik: But so he picks up the fisher map…
[0:12:57 – 0:12:57] Erik: Yeah.
[0:12:58 – 0:13:11] Erik: And that night, before he heads up to the powwow trail itself, he spends the night at his parents’ house, and he details his itinerary on a map with his mom, confirming with her that it is Sunday.
[0:13:11 – 0:13:15] Erik: He’s confirming with her that on Thursday afternoon at the latest, he’ll call home.
[0:13:15 – 0:13:17] Erik: He’ll probably be home Thursday night.
[0:13:17 – 0:13:17] Adam: That’s smart.
[0:13:18 – 0:13:20] Adam: I mean, I try and do this.
[0:13:20 – 0:13:20] Adam: Yes.
[0:13:21 – 0:13:22] Adam: But I don’t ever really…
[0:13:23 – 0:13:24] Adam: Sometimes I don’t.
[0:13:24 – 0:13:30] Adam: Well, there’s definitely a lot of times where I kind of… Somebody generally has an idea of when we should be back.
[0:13:30 – 0:13:34] Adam: Maybe not exactly where we’re going to be every night, which we don’t know sometimes.
[0:13:34 – 0:13:41] Erik: He specifically tells her if he’s not home by Thursday at dark to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Department.
[0:13:42 – 0:13:45] Erik: Yeah, so that was good work on his part so far.
[0:13:45 – 0:13:54] Erik: So Monday, October 22nd, about noon, he stops in at the Isabella Ranger Station and is assured he will be the only hiker in the area for miles.
[0:13:55 – 0:14:00] Erik: He’s warned about the upcoming cold weather and some oncoming winter storm conditions.
[0:14:01 – 0:14:03] Erik: An hour later, he’s heading down the Pow Wow Trail.
[0:14:03 – 0:14:04] Adam: He stopped in.
[0:14:05 – 0:14:08] Adam: You wouldn’t need a permit for October hiking.
[0:14:09 – 0:14:12] Erik: Well, you would, but it’s just a self-issue permit.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:17] Adam: But he stopped in anyways just to get the trail update and talk with a ranger.
[0:14:17 – 0:14:20] Adam: Talk with a ranger, yeah.
[0:14:21 – 0:14:23] Adam: And get a hug from a ranger in October.
[0:14:24 – 0:14:27] Adam: We don’t need a permit, but we will offer hugs.
[0:14:27 – 0:14:28] Adam: We will require a hug.
[0:14:28 – 0:14:29] Adam: Yeah.
[0:14:29 – 0:14:31] Adam: That should be new official policy.
[0:14:31 – 0:14:33] Adam: I don’t want to hug any Forest Service Rangers.
[0:14:34 – 0:14:35] Adam: Why not?
[0:14:36 – 0:14:36] Erik: Hugs are nice.
[0:14:37 – 0:14:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:37 – 0:14:43] Erik: So he’s the only vehicle in the parking lot and starts heading up the trail a little afternoon.
[0:14:44 – 0:14:57] Erik: And the first three miles are almost as wide as a road, crosses the Isabella River along the way before coming to the first junction with a small wooden marker on a tree with arrows pointing in two directions.
[0:14:57 – 0:14:58] Erik: Left…
[0:14:58 – 0:15:11] Erik: west or right to the north so he’s hiking the trail in a counterclockwise fashion so bearing right and continuing to the north is the direction that old arrow uh fire tower
[0:15:12 – 0:15:16] Erik: Yeah, on the big map, yes, he is going towards the Arrow Lookout Tower.
[0:15:16 – 0:15:35] Erik: Basically, if you don’t have a map in front of you, it’s an askew lollipop-style trail where you have to hike in three miles on one single trail, and then there’s a loop going off of that, kind of skewed heavily to the west from that, and he’s skipping the southern.
[0:15:36 – 0:15:42] Erik: He’s not skipping it, but he’s hiking past the southern section of the trail because he wants to do it in a counterclockwise direction.
[0:15:42 – 0:15:45] Adam: Did it say why he wanted to go counterclockwise?
[0:15:45 – 0:15:47] Erik: It didn’t say why, no.
[0:15:48 – 0:15:50] Erik: But over the next hour, he crosses multiple beaver dams.
[0:15:50 – 0:15:51] Adam: He was probably right-handed.
[0:15:53 – 0:15:53] Erik: More on that later.
[0:15:54 – 0:16:01] Erik: He’s generally enjoying the day as the trail has been easy, easier than he thought, and he’s not consulted his map or compass.
[0:16:03 – 0:16:08] Erik: And according to his memory of the map, the trail should start bearing west or to his left.
[0:16:08 – 0:16:15] Erik: But in fact, the trail that bears west is little more than an unmarked gap in the woods.
[0:16:16 – 0:16:24] Erik: And since he is not prepared to look for it, he passes by the northern section of the trail that he should be taking.
[0:16:24 – 0:16:25] Erik: The new powwow.
[0:16:25 – 0:16:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:26 – 0:16:28] Erik: Yes, that’s the new powwow.
[0:16:28 – 0:16:31] Erik: He’s continuing on on the old powwow.
[0:16:31 – 0:16:32] Erik: OPW.
[0:16:33 – 0:16:43] Erik: Essentially, yeah, essentially abandoned path that will slowly lead him deeper into a maze of overgrown logging roads away from the designated powwow trail.
[0:16:43 – 0:16:45] Adam: The turn wasn’t marked in any way.
[0:16:45 – 0:16:46] Adam: No.
[0:16:46 – 0:16:48] Adam: And you just had to be, keep an eye out for it.
[0:16:49 – 0:16:54] Erik: I’ve been there since and now it is like, it’s a huge opening with a big wooden,
[0:16:55 – 0:17:12] Erik: arrow the Jay Rasmussen memorial marker yeah turn here yeah but that was so the path that he’s on now is the path that we used to run dogs up to Isabella Insula Lake in the winter when I used to work over there
[0:17:13 – 0:17:26] Erik: For over the next hour, he’s hiking this old trail, which is still more or less there, moving north towards Lake Insula, convinced that he will come across the spur trail to the campsite on Poe’s Lake.
[0:17:26 – 0:17:27] Erik: See Poe’s Lake there?
[0:17:27 – 0:17:28] Adam: I do, yeah.
[0:17:29 – 0:17:29] Adam: He went right by it.
[0:17:30 – 0:17:31] Erik: Yeah, I know.
[0:17:31 – 0:17:36] Erik: As the sky clouds over and early evening sets in, he pitches his tent near an old fire ring.
[0:17:37 – 0:17:38] Erik: Somebody had like a few rocks set up.
[0:17:38 – 0:17:39] Erik: You’ve seen those.
[0:17:39 – 0:17:40] Erik: Yep.
[0:17:40 – 0:17:44] Erik: Collects some firewood and prepares dinner before crawling into his tent for the night.
[0:17:45 – 0:17:50] Erik: He falls asleep convinced he’s just missed the spur trail to the Poe’s Lake campsite.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:55] Erik: Or worst case, he’s a little behind schedule, hasn’t quite gotten to it yet.
[0:17:56 – 0:18:04] Erik: So the next morning, October 23rd, after oatmeal and packing up, he continues down his misguided trail under overcast skies.
[0:18:05 – 0:18:12] Erik: He notices almost immediately, though, the path is not quite as clear or wide as yesterday’s, but still manages to follow it.
[0:18:13 – 0:18:19] Erik: He’s kind of shooting off into the woods in an almost straight line, which is helping him.
[0:18:19 – 0:18:22] Erik: You can kind of see that divot of growth in the woods.
[0:18:23 – 0:18:26] Erik: At this point, though, he’s essentially walking straight east.
[0:18:27 – 0:18:28] Adam: He is right-handed.
[0:18:30 – 0:18:31] Erik: But I think he’s still following a path.
[0:18:31 – 0:18:36] Erik: That’s when people get lost is when they follow their handedness in the woods.
[0:18:36 – 0:18:36] Erik: I see.
[0:18:38 – 0:18:40] Erik: So for an hour, he walks, he’s following this trail.
[0:18:40 – 0:18:44] Erik: It’s becoming more and more overgrown, but it’s, you know, it’s…
[0:18:45 – 0:19:08] Adam: so imperceptible like you can’t necessarily notice it it’s happening so slow um i’ve been on old like old logging roads like that where if you do look up at a slight angle you can see where it used to be but then when you look down it’s just thick as thieves oh yeah you’re kind of weaseling your way through yep and so you know you’re on something but it’s really hard to tell what you’re on
[0:19:09 – 0:19:18] Erik: Yeah, and this is my opinion here, but this is kind of when I would have made my first real thought of turning around.
[0:19:18 – 0:19:22] Adam: I can’t believe he kept going after the camping there that first night.
[0:19:22 – 0:19:33] Erik: But he’s been following a path, and the hiking book did say that it is difficult to follow in sections, but this is right about the time where he actually loses the trail.
[0:19:33 – 0:19:33] Erik: Yeah.
[0:19:35 – 0:19:42] Erik: um, keeps pushing through, you know, stepping over rocks and roots, um, and then picks it up again.
[0:19:42 – 0:19:56] Erik: So it’s like, he’s on this, he’s on this straight line and then it, this trail turns into like Morse code where you’re like, there’s big sections in between where you’re actually on a trail, which would be a huge red flag for me.
[0:19:56 – 0:20:02] Erik: Um, you know, how can you know that that’s not just going to continue getting worse?
[0:20:02 – 0:20:02] Erik: Um,
[0:20:03 – 0:20:09] Erik: Um, so he’s basically like picking up the trail, losing it, picking up the trail, losing it.
[0:20:09 – 0:20:19] Erik: And then the last time he just loses the trail and after several minutes hasn’t recovered the path and is surrounded on all sides by thick brush.
[0:20:19 – 0:20:23] Adam: He should have a cloverleaf or horseshoe there probably.
[0:20:23 – 0:20:24] Adam: Probably.
[0:20:24 – 0:20:26] Adam: Probably should have cloverleafed at the camp night one.
[0:20:27 – 0:20:27] Adam: Yeah.
[0:20:27 – 0:20:28] Adam: And he realized he wasn’t on it.
[0:20:29 – 0:20:34] Erik: He attempts to backtrack to try to recover the trail that he had just lost.
[0:20:35 – 0:20:37] Erik: Finds only more dense woods.
[0:20:38 – 0:20:40] Erik: And finally, this is an implied…
[0:20:40 – 0:20:44] Erik: He’s got a first sense of panic that he’s maybe lost this trail.
[0:20:47 – 0:20:49] Adam: He’s out by like Tornado Lake at this point or what?
[0:20:50 – 0:20:51] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:20:51 – 0:20:52] Erik: He…
[0:20:54 – 0:20:56] Erik: Yeah, he’s… No, he… We need a pointer for the map.
[0:20:56 – 0:20:56] Erik: I know.
[0:20:56 – 0:20:57] Erik: Maybe we need a little laser.
[0:20:57 – 0:20:58] Erik: Laser pointer.
[0:20:58 – 0:20:58] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:58 – 0:20:59] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:59 – 0:21:05] Erik: We’ll contact quality services.com for the laser pointer.
[0:21:05 – 0:21:11] Erik: But as he’s kind of trying to backtrack and look for this trail through the trees, he sees some water.
[0:21:11 – 0:21:12] Erik: And upon investigating…
[0:21:13 – 0:21:35] Erik: uh the the map doesn’t really match any shape of a lake that’s a terrible feeling yeah he’s like using some general sense of direction of where he came from uh he bushwhacks for almost an hour uh before finally crossing a trail pulls out his compass to confirm his direction which at this point is now
[0:21:38 – 0:21:50] Erik: back in the direction where he had just come from because he’s under the impression that he has found the east-west trail between Poe’s and the western end of the powwow.
[0:21:50 – 0:21:50] Adam: Yeah.
[0:21:51 – 0:21:53] Erik: And he wants to try to return… At this point, he’s like…
[0:21:54 – 0:21:54] Erik: Screw this.
[0:21:54 – 0:21:55] Erik: I’m just going back to my vehicle.
[0:21:55 – 0:22:02] Erik: So he wants to try to head back east because he thinks he’s on that northern arm.
[0:22:02 – 0:22:03] Erik: But he was already too far east.
[0:22:03 – 0:22:04] Erik: He’s already too far east.
[0:22:05 – 0:22:13] Erik: So he pulls up the compass, points it east, and again starts traveling in the opposite direction of the actual true powwow.
[0:22:14 – 0:22:23] Erik: and for two hours he follows, kind of fights his way through a path, but it’s mostly just dense woods.
[0:22:23 – 0:22:25] Erik: He loses the trail again.
[0:22:25 – 0:22:27] Erik: He’s surrounded by woods on all sides.
[0:22:28 – 0:22:32] Erik: Finally, hope in the form of sparkling water through the trees.
[0:22:32 – 0:22:40] Erik: He’s convinced he’s finally found the Poe’s Lake campsite, and as he hikes down to the edge, it dawns on him
[0:22:41 – 0:22:43] Erik: This scene looks awfully familiar.
[0:22:44 – 0:22:47] Erik: It’s the same exact lake he was at two hours before.
[0:22:48 – 0:22:48] Erik: Oh, no.
[0:22:50 – 0:22:53] Erik: That’s got to be like some…
[0:22:53 – 0:22:59] Erik: This is about the sinking feeling in your stomach, heart-wrenching, all of that.
[0:22:59 – 0:22:59] Erik: Just like…
[0:23:01 – 0:23:02] Erik: Two hours.
[0:23:02 – 0:23:04] Erik: Find yourself at the same exact spot.
[0:23:04 – 0:23:15] Erik: So now the full heat of internal panic is kind of realized inside his chest as he’s spent most of the day walking in circles.
[0:23:16 – 0:23:20] Erik: Checks his watch to see it is already well afternoon.
[0:23:20 – 0:23:27] Erik: Sits down to take a break and focus on getting out of these gad-forsaken woods.
[0:23:28 – 0:23:30] Erik: So he’s at this point, he’s like, whatever, I’m out.
[0:23:31 – 0:23:37] Erik: This powwow trail, I thought it was going to be this nice little loop walk in the woods, and all I’m doing is just hacking through thick brush.
[0:23:37 – 0:23:39] Erik: I’m borderline lost.
[0:23:39 – 0:23:44] Erik: He’s still convinced he’s west of Poe’s Lake on the upper section of the powwow.
[0:23:44 – 0:23:46] Erik: He sets his compass straight south.
[0:23:47 – 0:23:54] Erik: So he’s like, whatever, I’ll just walk straight south, so I’ll hit the southern loop section of the powwow.
[0:23:55 – 0:23:57] Adam: Yeah, I mean, it’s not that far.
[0:23:57 – 0:23:58] Adam: That’s…
[0:23:58 – 0:24:07] Adam: At that point, what he’s thinking seems to make sense, except for if he’s somehow wandered way east and not known it.
[0:24:07 – 0:24:16] Erik: Even in the back of his head, he’s like, worst case scenario, if I just keep heading south, I’ll run into the forest road that I drove to get to the parking lot to get here.
[0:24:17 – 0:24:20] Erik: Christ, he’s in the fungus lake at PMA over there.
[0:24:20 – 0:24:21] Erik: Almost.
[0:24:21 – 0:24:21] Erik: I think he is.
[0:24:21 – 0:24:23] Erik: Oh, he definitely is.
[0:24:23 – 0:24:25] Erik: So he just south.
[0:24:25 – 0:24:28] Erik: That just gets burned into his, this is what I’m doing.
[0:24:29 – 0:24:30] Erik: I’m heading south.
[0:24:30 – 0:24:32] Adam: That’s what Dan Stevens tried to do.
[0:24:32 – 0:24:33] Adam: Or did.
[0:24:33 – 0:24:33] Adam: He did.
[0:24:33 – 0:24:38] Erik: He successfully used that technique to get out because he had that F-19 in his dreams.
[0:24:38 – 0:24:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:24:39 – 0:24:42] Adam: What does Jay Rasmussen have in his dreams?
[0:24:42 – 0:24:43] Adam: I don’t know.
[0:24:43 – 0:24:44] Erik: Nightmares.
[0:24:44 – 0:24:45] Erik: Nightmares.
[0:24:45 – 0:24:54] Erik: He spends the next two hours struggling through thick brush and difficult terrain before coming to a 75-yard-wide bog.
[0:24:55 – 0:24:56] Erik: Yeah, the bogs.
[0:24:56 – 0:24:57] Erik: Not the bogs.
[0:24:58 – 0:24:59] Erik: The bogs of clarity.
[0:24:59 – 0:25:00] Erik: Yes.
[0:25:00 – 0:25:02] Erik: Yeah, the bog somehow helped Dan Stevens.
[0:25:03 – 0:25:07] Erik: The bog was almost Jason Rasmussen’s downfall here.
[0:25:07 – 0:25:09] Erik: Spends the next two hours…
[0:25:10 – 0:25:21] Erik: Hopping across disillusionment, deceptive islands of grass hummocks that float on mysteriously placed pockets of black stained water that can swallow people whole.
[0:25:22 – 0:25:32] Erik: He knows of the potential perils of crossing a bog on foot and in an attempt to find a way around, consults his map only to find it’s gone.
[0:25:33 – 0:25:56] Erik: what somewhere along the way he lost his fisher map so not all he has is the hiking book with basically like the cartoonish artist representation might as well have this map yeah there’s no scale whether i mean there’s even a scale on here yeah this has got some sort of yeah yeah i think i i have it here hand-drawn picture yeah this is the map that he had to work with
[0:25:58 – 0:26:01] Erik: I mean, yeah, there’s no elevation.
[0:26:01 – 0:26:02] Erik: There’s no topography.
[0:26:02 – 0:26:05] Erik: There’s gray and white map.
[0:26:06 – 0:26:07] Adam: Generalized.
[0:26:07 – 0:26:08] Adam: Very generalized.
[0:26:09 – 0:26:11] Adam: To the point of being unrecognizable.
[0:26:11 – 0:26:12] Adam: Yeah.
[0:26:12 – 0:26:16] Erik: So resigned to the fact that he could have lost the map anywhere.
[0:26:17 – 0:26:19] Erik: He’s not going back to look for it.
[0:26:19 – 0:26:21] Erik: Yeah, he’s not going to go back to look for it.
[0:26:21 – 0:26:28] Erik: He starts meticulously plodding his way across the bobbing globs of grass and dirt, avoiding the black holes of water.
[0:26:29 – 0:26:41] Erik: After crossing two more of these bogs, it is now 4 p.m., and the sun finally breaks through the clouds, and he finds a nice open rise above another lake that he doesn’t recognize or expect to see.
[0:26:41 – 0:26:47] Erik: He’s too fatigued to care, so he decides it’s the best place he has seen all day to set up camp.
[0:26:48 – 0:26:49] Erik: So that’s just what he does.
[0:26:49 – 0:26:52] Erik: Makes dinner, climbs into his sleeping bag for the night.
[0:26:56 – 0:26:57] Adam: I’m staring at the map right now.
[0:26:57 – 0:26:58] Adam: I’m like, I have no idea where he is.
[0:26:58 – 0:27:01] Erik: There’s nothing out there.
[0:27:01 – 0:27:03] Erik: I’ll tell you where he is in just a second here.
[0:27:03 – 0:27:06] Erik: So October 24th, light rain is falling on his tent.
[0:27:07 – 0:27:13] Erik: His bright tent and treeless escarpment encourages even his worst case scenario thoughts.
[0:27:13 – 0:27:16] Erik: Search and Rescue would locate his tent immediately from the air.
[0:27:17 – 0:27:20] Erik: but he’s confident in getting out on his own on this day.
[0:27:21 – 0:27:24] Erik: He’s a warm, dry sleeping bag, almost a week’s worth of food.
[0:27:25 – 0:27:26] Erik: I’m sorry, but what day is this now?
[0:27:26 – 0:27:28] Erik: This is the 24th.
[0:27:28 – 0:27:29] Erik: This is Wednesday morning.
[0:27:29 – 0:27:33] Adam: This is Wednesday, and he had said if he’s not out by Thursday, call for help.
[0:27:34 – 0:27:34] Erik: Right.
[0:27:34 – 0:27:34] Erik: Okay.
[0:27:35 – 0:27:36] Erik: And he’s like, basically, I got this.
[0:27:37 – 0:27:39] Adam: He’s not going to just sit there for two days waiting for the rescue.
[0:27:40 – 0:27:40] Adam: He can make it out.
[0:27:40 – 0:27:46] Erik: He’s got this orange timber line just surrounded by nothing, really.
[0:27:46 – 0:27:47] Erik: He’s in this big opening.
[0:27:47 – 0:27:51] Erik: So he’s like, you know, worst case, search and rescue is going to see this tent in a second.
[0:27:51 – 0:27:55] Adam: Even if they don’t start looking until Thursday, they might not see it until Friday.
[0:27:55 – 0:27:55] Adam: Yeah.
[0:27:55 – 0:27:56] Adam: Worst case, I’ll just sit there for two days.
[0:27:57 – 0:27:59] Erik: I’ll read this hiking book over and over again and, you know, whatever.
[0:27:59 – 0:28:00] Adam: Curse this hiking book.
[0:28:01 – 0:28:04] Erik: Curse the hiking book and, oh, I mean, he’s got food.
[0:28:04 – 0:28:06] Erik: He’s got a warm tent.
[0:28:06 – 0:28:07] Erik: He’s dry.
[0:28:08 – 0:28:19] Erik: So he examines the rudimentary map in the hiking guidebook that he has and convinces himself he is camped next to Fallen Arch Lake, which is in the middle of the 26-mile powwow loop.
[0:28:19 – 0:28:20] Erik: No way.
[0:28:20 – 0:28:24] Erik: But relatively close to the lower slash southern section of the trail.
[0:28:25 – 0:28:37] Erik: So as he sits in the tent and waits out the rain, he reads the pamphlet that he purchased in preparation of the trip about wilderness survival and staying alive until help arrives.
[0:28:37 – 0:28:42] Erik: And he learns that the three most important requirements are in order, water, shelter, and food.
[0:28:43 – 0:28:48] Erik: He also reads about the most common threat statistically to people who get lost in the
[0:28:54 – 0:29:01] Erik: The rain lets up a little bit, and he decides to head out in search of that southern trail that he thinks he’s just above.
[0:29:01 – 0:29:03] Adam: I know that’s what he’s…
[0:29:03 – 0:29:04] Adam: It makes sense for what he thought.
[0:29:05 – 0:29:05] Adam: Yes.
[0:29:05 – 0:29:06] Adam: It’s right there.
[0:29:06 – 0:29:07] Erik: Right.
[0:29:07 – 0:29:19] Erik: He’s convinced that it’s got to be within a mile, and he decides to do this because he’s sick and tired of carrying it without his pack and gear, and he only brings with him
[0:29:19 – 0:29:30] Erik: small pack of crackers, two Tootsie Rolls, a package of cocoa, a can of tuna, a compass, a Swiss army knife, two water bottles, and a Coghlan’s brand air horn.
[0:29:30 – 0:29:31] Erik: No, he didn’t bring that either.
[0:29:31 – 0:29:34] Adam: That’s what they sound like.
[0:29:35 – 0:29:36] Erik: I’m not even joking.
[0:29:36 – 0:29:41] Erik: So he plans on finding the best path out to the trail and then returning for the heavier equipment.
[0:29:41 – 0:29:43] Adam: This is the stupidest goddamn thing.
[0:29:43 – 0:29:45] Erik: This is the stupidest thing in the whole story.
[0:29:46 – 0:29:47] Adam: You gotta be kidding me.
[0:29:47 – 0:29:47] Erik: I know.
[0:29:48 – 0:29:51] Erik: So he starts hiking out, keeping the lake right onto his left.
[0:29:51 – 0:29:58] Erik: If the path on his map showed that it literally touched the lake… Yeah, then don’t leave the lake edge.
[0:29:58 – 0:29:59] Erik: Then I would just…
[0:29:59 – 0:30:01] Erik: Okay, well, never leave the lake edge.
[0:30:02 – 0:30:07] Erik: And then if I don’t find it immediately at the edge of the lake, then I return back for my tent and sleeping bag.
[0:30:07 – 0:30:10] Adam: It shows it being right at the southern end of this lake he thinks he’s at.
[0:30:10 – 0:30:12] Adam: Yeah, so he starts following the edge.
[0:30:12 – 0:30:14] Erik: He’s always keeping it on his left.
[0:30:14 – 0:30:15] Erik: Takes his compass.
[0:30:16 – 0:30:16] Erik: He’s heading south.
[0:30:16 – 0:30:21] Erik: He thinks all he has to do is just relocate the lake and he’ll find his tent, obviously.
[0:30:21 – 0:30:30] Erik: And he gets to the tip of the lake and he decides to walk just a little bit off more into that southern direction.
[0:30:30 – 0:30:32] Erik: I’m just blinking really slowly at you now.
[0:30:33 – 0:30:34] Erik: Away from the lake.
[0:30:35 – 0:30:38] Erik: Within minutes, of course, he’s surrounded by dense brush.
[0:30:38 – 0:30:44] Erik: And within an hour, he’s found himself not even a game trail.
[0:30:44 – 0:30:46] Adam: I’m like rubbing my temples dry.
[0:30:47 – 0:30:53] Erik: Yeah, so for two hours he essentially wanders around the woods, hiking mostly south.
[0:30:53 – 0:30:56] Adam: This is when you need to bust out the clover leaf and the horseshoe.
[0:30:57 – 0:31:04] Erik: But when he doesn’t find the path, he randomly decides to hike straight west for 15 minutes, then east for 15 minutes.
[0:31:06 – 0:31:16] Erik: He gives up and he, all right, fine, I’ll just start hiking back to the lake, to the north to find the lake and his tent, thinking about turkey teriyaki, dehydrated dinner.
[0:31:17 – 0:31:17] Erik: Ew.
[0:31:18 – 0:31:20] Erik: For two hours.
[0:31:20 – 0:31:21] Adam: Sorry, that doesn’t sound good at all.
[0:31:22 – 0:31:22] Erik: At the time.
[0:31:23 – 0:31:25] Erik: For two hours, he hikes north and finds nothing.
[0:31:26 – 0:31:29] Erik: Again, he feels like he’s hiking over entirely fresh terrain.
[0:31:29 – 0:31:33] Adam: I assume this is all based on interviews with him later that he told him this is what he did.
[0:31:33 – 0:31:36] Erik: This one is definitely more from the horse’s mouth.
[0:31:36 – 0:31:39] Adam: Yeah, they didn’t have a marker on him.
[0:31:39 – 0:31:43] Adam: If he said he went north for two hours, you’re just taking him at his word, which…
[0:31:44 – 0:31:44] Adam: Arguably.
[0:31:45 – 0:31:50] Adam: I mean, do they find evidence of this later that corroborated what he had said he did?
[0:31:50 – 0:31:57] Erik: I don’t think that you really could find much evidence to corroborate any of his wanderings.
[0:31:57 – 0:32:04] Erik: But upon finding a clearing in the brush, he assumes that he’s found Fallen Arch Lake, where he thinks his tent is at.
[0:32:04 – 0:32:06] Erik: But it turns out to be a bog.
[0:32:07 – 0:32:08] Erik: Not another bog.
[0:32:08 – 0:32:09] Erik: Another bog.
[0:32:09 – 0:32:15] Erik: And as he crosses it, he goes in up to his knees before reaching the other side and solid ground.
[0:32:16 – 0:32:27] Erik: There, he sits, now fully paralyzed with panic as the sky seems darker than ever and is fully convinced that he now has no idea where he is.
[0:32:27 – 0:32:30] Adam: I’d be like puking with anxiety at this point.
[0:32:30 – 0:32:30] Adam: Yeah.
[0:32:30 – 0:32:34] Adam: I’d be like, I’d just be puking like raw guts out right now.
[0:32:34 – 0:32:35] Adam: I’d be so nervous.
[0:32:35 – 0:33:02] Erik: so he’s i’m nervous sitting right up to the top of the like up to the lower thigh and it’s getting dark he’s his instincts kick in and he kind of just starts like like an animal just like stumbling around looking for anything that he can use for like a shelter for the night to help to help make it you know through a late october night in the woods yeah that’s the thing too it’s got to be pretty cold out there yeah does he have any idea what the weather was that night
[0:33:02 – 0:33:07] Erik: Well, he stopped in at the ranger station and they warned him about a winter storm like halfway through his trip.
[0:33:08 – 0:33:14] Erik: Somewhat detached from reality, his cold body and primal brain scramble for anything resembling shelter.
[0:33:14 – 0:33:18] Erik: And at last he finds a downed tree that is somewhat rotten in the middle.
[0:33:18 – 0:33:26] Erik: He digs out the rotted parts, fills it in with pine boughs, and burrows in for the night, surrounded by nothing but darkness.
[0:33:27 – 0:33:28] Erik: And within minutes, he’s asleep.
[0:33:29 – 0:33:33] Erik: In the middle of the night, he wakes up to an enormous windstorm.
[0:33:33 – 0:33:38] Erik: Fierce pain in his legs where some wind is blowing through the log that he’s in.
[0:33:39 – 0:33:42] Erik: All around him, he can hear massive trees crashing to the ground.
[0:33:42 – 0:33:48] Erik: And all he can think of is there’s nothing he can do but pray for some kind of deliverance.
[0:33:49 – 0:34:17] Erik: October 25th Jason wakes up the next morning to calm conditions but snow is now falling with several inches already on the ground he thinks about striking off in an attempt to find his tent but has no idea which way to head and the one time he does try venturing out is immediately covered and soaked in snow because all the branches are covered in inches of snow now
[0:34:18 – 0:34:26] Erik: from low-hanging branches and is immediately cold and wet, returns to his hollowed-out tree, spends the rest of the day reinforcing its holes with pine boughs.
[0:34:28 – 0:34:37] Erik: Late Thursday evening, when Jason fails to call or return to his parents’ home, they do in fact call the sheriff’s office in Two Harbors at 8.30 p.m.
[0:34:40 – 0:34:52] Erik: By 10 p.m., Lake County Deputy Joe Lineman rolls into the trailhead parking lot south of Isabella Lake, convinced he won’t find anything, as is the case most of the time.
[0:34:53 – 0:34:56] Erik: It is simply a late person, not a missing person.
[0:34:57 – 0:35:02] Erik: But under six inches of fresh snow, he finds Jason’s Saturn alone.
[0:35:02 – 0:35:03] Erik: Whoa, whoa, whoa.
[0:35:03 – 0:35:04] Erik: He had an SL1?
[0:35:04 – 0:35:06] Erik: I don’t know what kind of a Saturn he had.
[0:35:06 – 0:35:07] Erik: I can picture it.
[0:35:07 – 0:35:10] Adam: It’s an old, like, little sedan thing.
[0:35:10 – 0:35:35] Adam: little like just a little bubble car yeah just the tiniest little front’s kind of got a nice nose to it i don’t know dodge neon shape kind of saturn’s had a little more sportiness to him than a dodge neon i don’t know oh yeah the sporty sl1 or the sl2 i mean either one’s pretty sporty 2001 saturn that’s back when they still made cars with a stick shift too yeah well they still make cars just everywhere that’s not what i was picturing
[0:35:35 – 0:35:36] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:35:36 – 0:35:37] Erik: I’m sorry.
[0:35:37 – 0:35:38] Erik: I should have started the episode.
[0:35:38 – 0:35:40] Adam: Yeah, what kind of car is he driving?
[0:35:40 – 0:35:41] Adam: It tells you a lot about a person.
[0:35:41 – 0:35:45] Erik: This is only my fourth book report episode.
[0:35:45 – 0:35:48] Erik: I’ll start painting more of a picture in terms of narrative in the future.
[0:35:48 – 0:35:51] Adam: It’s kind of fun when you find out details like this halfway through.
[0:35:52 – 0:36:16] Adam: yeah yeah you’re you slowly painting in the framework of jason rasmussen mixture of gold and rust yeah i’m picturing like a that horrible like fuchsia purple yeah they did they definitely came in that color too you know it’s too bad they don’t make saturns anymore they were pretty reliable cars from what i heard good gas mileage got some sip
[0:36:18 – 0:36:45] Adam: he should have just went car camping in his saturn at this point i don’t know if it was a i don’t think it was a hatchback or a station wagon style no i mean just like i’m saying car camping and i keep your gear in the car just throw your tent right next to it drive to a campsite and camp you know yeah i’m not even gonna go on this next side never mind i digress so so they found that they found the car and he’s obviously no he’s not just late he’s missing
[0:36:45 – 0:36:45] Erik: Yes.
[0:36:46 – 0:36:54] Erik: Considering the snowfall, and he didn’t see any tire tracks or anything, so he’s like, well, even if he had car trouble, nobody else picked him up or anything.
[0:36:55 – 0:36:57] Erik: But he’s like, well, it’s snowing.
[0:36:57 – 0:36:58] Erik: He probably got a little slowed down.
[0:36:58 – 0:37:02] Erik: He’s convinced that Jason just hunkered down on the night just nearby.
[0:37:02 – 0:37:05] Erik: He’ll be out shortly after sunrise the next morning.
[0:37:06 – 0:37:12] Erik: Friday, October 26th, Jason crawls out of his hovel at first light into cold, still air.
[0:37:13 – 0:37:15] Erik: Finally, it is clear.
[0:37:16 – 0:37:20] Erik: Unbeknownst to him, obviously, his tent is only a half mile away to the southeast.
[0:37:20 – 0:37:22] Erik: South in east.
[0:37:22 – 0:37:26] Erik: Perfectly covered in snow, making it all but invisible.
[0:37:27 – 0:37:27] Erik: Yeah.
[0:37:28 – 0:37:33] Erik: He walks around and stomps his feet before crawling back into his narrow, piney tube.
[0:37:34 – 0:37:36] Erik: Certain he will… That’s me.
[0:37:36 – 0:37:37] Erik: That’s not Cary.
[0:37:37 – 0:37:40] Adam: That sounds like the…
[0:37:41 – 0:37:41] Erik: Yes.
[0:37:41 – 0:37:49] Erik: Certain that he’ll be rescued imminently in Ely at the same time.
[0:37:49 – 0:37:51] Erik: The narrow piney tube.
[0:37:52 – 0:37:54] Erik: That Jason is stretching his legs.
[0:37:55 – 0:38:02] Erik: County deputies and the U.S. Forest Service has started the search and rescue tactics in the form of flying over with a de Havilland beaver.
[0:38:03 – 0:38:10] Erik: Nick Milkovich is piloting the plane towards the powwow, convinced the search and rescue will be over within hours, if not minutes.
[0:38:11 – 0:38:20] Erik: He is especially hoping Jason has started a fire and he will be easily found by the trail of smoke up into the sky.
[0:38:20 – 0:38:42] Erik: yeah plane starts by following the 26 mile loop of trail and then they do the thing where they figured out like you go five kilometers of five square kilometers and for every hour you’ve been missing oh what was that technique called it was like a method like the massy method or something from the last episode where every hour that goes by you have to expand the radius yeah
[0:38:42 – 0:38:44] Erik: by a certain…
[0:38:44 – 0:38:45] Erik: So they didn’t do that.
[0:38:45 – 0:38:48] Erik: That was a different scenario where they knew where he was starting from exactly.
[0:38:48 – 0:38:49] Adam: Right.
[0:38:49 – 0:38:51] Adam: This one, they’re just like, let’s fly over the trail.
[0:38:51 – 0:38:52] Adam: He’s got to be somewhere near here.
[0:38:52 – 0:38:56] Erik: Yeah, the only thing that they knew was that he was hiking the powwow.
[0:38:56 – 0:38:57] Erik: Seems reasonable.
[0:38:57 – 0:39:04] Erik: Yeah, so they fly the loop, and then they kind of start working outward around it, both to the west and to the east.
[0:39:05 – 0:39:13] Erik: Um, and at nine 30 Jason in the morning, Jason wakes up to the low drone of a plane, rushes out just as it passes overhead.
[0:39:13 – 0:39:15] Erik: He’s jumping and waving.
[0:39:15 – 0:39:20] Erik: He, you know, obviously he’s in the woods, dense woods.
[0:39:20 – 0:39:26] Erik: He’s shrouded in too much tree cover, pulls out his rescue whistle and blows it frantically for many minutes.
[0:39:27 – 0:39:28] Adam: He had a whistle.
[0:39:28 – 0:39:28] Adam: He did.
[0:39:29 – 0:39:31] Adam: Am I doing something wrong?
[0:39:31 – 0:39:33] Adam: I never once brought a whistle with me in the boundary waters.
[0:39:34 – 0:39:35] Adam: Yeah, I don’t know.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:37] Adam: Both these groups had a boundary and a whistle.
[0:39:38 – 0:39:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:39:39 – 0:39:45] Erik: Knowing the plane can’t hear him, but thinking that there are ground searchers, he continues blowing the whistle.
[0:39:46 – 0:39:49] Erik: For most of the day, the plane focuses on the main oval of the powwow.
[0:39:49 – 0:39:54] Erik: Only three more times does the plane ever get close enough for Jason to really even hear it.
[0:39:55 – 0:39:56] Erik: Never actually sees the plane again.
[0:39:58 – 0:40:06] Erik: As darkness grounds the air search, Ely calls two harbors search and rescue to initiate a ground response, and shortly after dark on October 26th,
[0:40:07 – 0:40:15] Erik: Almost 20 volunteers, U.S. Forest Service and law enforcement are assembled at the trailhead parking lot gathering info about what they know up to this point.
[0:40:16 – 0:40:22] Adam: They had air guys and then they had 20 ground volunteers or personnel.
[0:40:22 – 0:40:30] Erik: The night of the 26th, they had 20 people ready to start heading out in the woods and they had a plane basically flying over.
[0:40:30 – 0:40:31] Erik: This is wild.
[0:40:31 – 0:40:35] Adam: It’s good to know that there’s heroic people like this willing to just go out and do that.
[0:40:36 – 0:40:36] Erik: Yeah, it’s crazy.
[0:40:36 – 0:40:38] Erik: And that’s the last episode.
[0:40:39 – 0:40:47] Erik: I talked about how the episode was not a replacement for reading the book because of a lot of the details of how search and rescue works.
[0:40:47 – 0:40:56] Erik: And I could say that again, even more emphatically about this second part, but they go into even more of like the…
[0:40:57 – 0:41:00] Erik: Cause it’s all locals that are volunteers for these search and rescue groups.
[0:41:00 – 0:41:09] Erik: And they go into more of like the, how familiar some of these people are with the country because they used to log out of like the forest, uh, forest center.
[0:41:09 – 0:41:14] Erik: So they’re like the best kinds of people to be volunteers because they’re super familiar with the trails.
[0:41:15 – 0:41:22] Erik: Um, and so if you’re interested in learning more about the actual people involved to put some names to some of these people, um,
[0:41:24 – 0:41:24] Adam: Read the book.
[0:41:25 – 0:41:28] Adam: I get why we’re following the person who is lost.
[0:41:28 – 0:41:28] Erik: Yes.
[0:41:28 – 0:41:34] Adam: But, yeah, I’m, like, kind of more interested in, like, the people who went out to find him.
[0:41:34 – 0:41:42] Erik: Yeah, no, and there’s a ton of names that I leave out just because it’s more information just for the ear that I don’t think is necessary.
[0:41:42 – 0:41:45] Erik: And it’s not to, like, diminish these search and rescue people.
[0:41:45 – 0:41:52] Erik: If you want to learn about them and their efforts, there’s a ton of information that you can still gain from reading the book.
[0:41:52 – 0:41:57] Adam: Yeah, I think a book just from the perspective of the search and rescue teams would be interesting.
[0:41:58 – 0:41:59] Adam: Also, that’s kind of where I’m at right now.
[0:42:00 – 0:42:02] Adam: I’m not comparing myself to search and rescue.
[0:42:02 – 0:42:06] Adam: I’m just in that I don’t know what happens to this guy at this point or where he started.
[0:42:06 – 0:42:09] Adam: It would be kind of a neat way to present the book.
[0:42:09 – 0:42:11] Adam: Like, hey, Joe, wake up.
[0:42:11 – 0:42:12] Adam: We’ve got to get out there and…
[0:42:13 – 0:42:14] Adam: Find this kid.
[0:42:14 – 0:42:15] Adam: Yeah, that’s kind of like.
[0:42:15 – 0:42:16] Adam: That’s where you start the book.
[0:42:16 – 0:42:24] Erik: What I was hinting at with like the, you could really, if you want to do like future book reports, you could almost do like your own adaptation.
[0:42:25 – 0:42:25] Erik: Right.
[0:42:25 – 0:42:29] Erik: Read the book, take the story, and then retell it in a different way.
[0:42:29 – 0:42:30] Erik: Yeah, a new talent.
[0:42:30 – 0:42:39] Erik: Like from the perspective of like one of the lead search and rescue guys, the Haviland Beaver pilot.
[0:42:39 – 0:42:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:42:40 – 0:42:40] Erik: Any of that.
[0:42:40 – 0:42:54] Erik: Or from Jason’s parents, which that’s another aspect that I do talk about going forward here, but is talked about in much more detail and how they kind of respond to all of the, it’s a week.
[0:42:54 – 0:42:57] Erik: This is much more of an ordeal than Dan Steven’s.
[0:42:57 – 0:42:58] Erik: Yeah, that one was over pretty quick.
[0:42:58 – 0:42:59] Erik: Yeah.
[0:42:59 – 0:43:01] Adam: Is this a good spot to take a break maybe?
[0:43:01 – 0:43:01] Adam: It is.
[0:43:01 – 0:43:02] Adam: All right.
[0:43:02 – 0:43:02] Adam: We’ll be back.
[0:43:04 – 0:43:05] Erik: Yeah, all right.
[0:43:06 – 0:43:10] Erik: October 27th, 2001.
[0:43:10 – 0:43:13] Erik: Over a dozen searchers are assembled the next morning.
[0:43:14 – 0:43:16] Erik: Jim Williams serving as incident commander.
[0:43:17 – 0:43:24] Erik: BWCA regs are being waived in order to allow ATVs and planes to be used at lower altitudes.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:38] Erik: They head out in pairs, well-supplied and with radios, basically starting out by just hiking the whole trail, which 26 miles, that’s like, you know, that’s not like something you can just quickly do.
[0:43:39 – 0:43:39] Adam: It’s a process.
[0:43:41 – 0:43:47] Erik: There’s like 6 to 10 inches of snow in the area, which proves very difficult.
[0:43:47 – 0:43:48] Erik: Progress is slow.
[0:43:48 – 0:43:52] Erik: Many searchers returning exhausted and discouraged.
[0:43:52 – 0:44:02] Erik: Many knowing that 90% of search and rescues are successful within the nearest point that the lost was last seen.
[0:44:04 – 0:44:10] Erik: And they don’t really find him in the first three miles of that lollipop loop.
[0:44:10 – 0:44:14] Erik: Plane reports, no tracks, no sign of anything.
[0:44:15 – 0:44:23] Erik: By late afternoon, Jason opens his can of tuna and melts snow for water before climbing back into his piney hole.
[0:44:25 – 0:44:39] Erik: The next day, more experienced searchers join by being flown into the southeast corner of Lake 3, which you can access kind of the more remote end of the trail from there.
[0:44:40 – 0:44:41] Adam: Yes, yes.
[0:44:41 – 0:44:48] Erik: Because they were just trying to walk from that trailhead, but they got dropped in at Lake 3 to try to hike that western end.
[0:44:49 – 0:45:04] Erik: Another group hiking the east side actually does hike Jason’s trail, but instead of walking to where he’s at, they actually walk all the way straight and end up at Lake Insula.
[0:45:05 – 0:45:13] Erik: Passing the remnants of his fire that he had had just two nights before, but of course it’s beneath fresh snow and they don’t see it at all.
[0:45:13 – 0:45:15] Adam: Yeah, that snow is really throwing a wrench in this thing.
[0:45:16 – 0:45:16] Erik: Yeah.
[0:45:16 – 0:45:19] Erik: They return and report an absence of any signs.
[0:45:19 – 0:45:28] Erik: The afternoon of the 28th, Jason starts believing he will never be found and pens a note to his family on the back of some birch bark.
[0:45:30 – 0:45:49] Erik: After all the searches return from a long, wet, tiring hike with nothing to show for it, a pall kind of settles over the trailhead and they reluctantly call off ground searches, focusing in on aerial searches via helicopter that can scan for heat.
[0:45:49 – 0:45:52] Erik: So like an infrared kind of thermal…
[0:45:53 – 0:45:57] Adam: They’re basically just saying like searching on foot right now is ridiculous.
[0:45:57 – 0:45:58] Erik: Yeah.
[0:45:58 – 0:45:59] Erik: It’s six, 10 inches of snow.
[0:45:59 – 0:46:00] Adam: We don’t find any tracks.
[0:46:00 – 0:46:01] Adam: There’s no tracks.
[0:46:01 – 0:46:03] Adam: It’s covered everything that we could have found on foot anyways.
[0:46:03 – 0:46:04] Adam: What’s the point?
[0:46:04 – 0:46:04] Adam: Yeah.
[0:46:05 – 0:46:09] Adam: It’s a waste of our, you know, it’s a lot of people out there putting out a lot of energy.
[0:46:09 – 0:46:10] Adam: Right.
[0:46:10 – 0:46:14] Adam: It’s a waste, but it just, it’s a foolish use of the resource at the time.
[0:46:14 – 0:46:14] Adam: No.
[0:46:15 – 0:46:22] Adam: Yeah, and that’s… Was there any thought that he had gone missing on purpose?
[0:46:23 – 0:46:23] Erik: Oh, we’re going to get to that.
[0:46:24 – 0:46:24] Adam: Oh, okay.
[0:46:24 – 0:46:25] Erik: Yes.
[0:46:25 – 0:46:27] Erik: So all the searchers head home.
[0:46:27 – 0:46:32] Erik: And this is a picture that I painted in my head that was really…
[0:46:35 – 0:46:36] Erik: It was just sad.
[0:46:37 – 0:46:54] Erik: So all the searchers, they head home, and after dark on October 28th, the trailhead parking lot is empty once again, except for Jason Saturn, which is sitting alone in the dark, and he’s as far away from anybody else that he is now than he was six days ago.
[0:46:57 – 0:47:03] Erik: So there was all these people looking, all this activity, and then everybody just goes home and it’s just his car in the parking lot again.
[0:47:03 – 0:47:06] Adam: Yeah, the old rusty Saturn.
[0:47:06 – 0:47:06] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:47:07 – 0:47:08] Erik: That was right in the groove of Saturn’s.
[0:47:09 – 0:47:10] Erik: It was probably in good shape.
[0:47:10 – 0:47:11] Adam: They came rusty right from the factory.
[0:47:11 – 0:47:12] Erik: They were made out of plastic.
[0:47:12 – 0:47:13] Erik: They didn’t rust.
[0:47:13 – 0:47:14] Adam: The frames did.
[0:47:15 – 0:47:16] Erik: Yeah, the frames did.
[0:47:16 – 0:47:18] Erik: So one of the searchers, B.J.
[0:47:18 – 0:47:24] Erik: Kolstad, still can’t comprehend how somebody as fit as Jason could just disappear.
[0:47:24 – 0:47:24] Erik: He was fit?
[0:47:25 – 0:47:26] Adam: Yeah, he was in good shape.
[0:47:26 – 0:47:27] Adam: We never really got to that.
[0:47:27 – 0:47:28] Erik: Yeah, he was…
[0:47:28 – 0:47:29] Adam: He was okay shape.
[0:47:29 – 0:47:30] Erik: Yeah, he was a medical student.
[0:47:30 – 0:47:33] Erik: He kind of took care of himself, and he wasn’t…
[0:47:33 – 0:47:38] Adam: Well, anybody trying to do the powwow trail in October, I guess, probably is somewhat fit.
[0:47:38 – 0:47:51] Erik: Yeah, and so she’s not convinced that statistically he’s just not the type of person to fall and injure himself and just get in a position where you can’t be moving.
[0:47:52 – 0:47:55] Erik: Um, so she phones this other guy, Pete Wall.
[0:47:55 – 0:48:01] Erik: She’s the captain of the Finland search and rescue, um, team and explains the situation.
[0:48:01 – 0:48:08] Erik: And overnight they put in a plan to reopen the ground search with dogs that they call in from around the state.
[0:48:09 – 0:48:16] Erik: Uh, even though some of these dogs are trained to smell death, all involved keep this bit of info from Jason’s parents.
[0:48:17 – 0:48:17] Erik: Okay.
[0:48:18 – 0:48:22] Erik: So October 29th, the thermal search turns up nothing.
[0:48:24 – 0:48:34] Erik: And its pilot assures ground searchers that if Jason were alive and giving off heat, his glow would have been as distinct as a lantern.
[0:48:35 – 0:48:47] Erik: This info is again filtered to the Rasmussen family from incident command, leaving out the chopper pilot’s confidence, suggesting he might be hunkered down in some shelter of some kind.
[0:48:48 – 0:48:48] Adam: Like a log.
[0:48:49 – 0:48:50] Adam: Would that hide your heat signature?
[0:48:50 – 0:48:52] Erik: Yeah, well, clearly it did.
[0:48:53 – 0:48:56] Erik: Yeah, well, the pilot said if they didn’t see anything, he’s probably dead.
[0:48:56 – 0:48:58] Adam: Did he ever hear this helicopter going over?
[0:48:58 – 0:49:00] Adam: I mean, you mentioned that he heard the plane.
[0:49:00 – 0:49:03] Erik: There’s never any talk of the helicopter being heard by him.
[0:49:03 – 0:49:05] Adam: I think that makes even a louder noise.
[0:49:05 – 0:49:05] Adam: Probably.
[0:49:05 – 0:49:08] Adam: Especially if they had cleared him for low elevation.
[0:49:08 – 0:49:09] Adam: Yeah.
[0:49:09 – 0:49:11] Erik: Yeah, I don’t know.
[0:49:12 – 0:49:14] Adam: I mean, how long has he been out there, though?
[0:49:14 – 0:49:14] Adam: Maybe he’s not…
[0:49:15 – 0:49:31] Erik: totally with it at this point probably he’s probably getting pretty close to being yeah we’ll get into some of his weird things that he hears and sees but um he’s probably starting to be a little bit out of it in terms of like hallucinations and sounds and stuff um
[0:49:33 – 0:49:42] Erik: So midday on the 29th, the beaver actually spots, and they know the color of his tent, and they finally do kind of spot something orange actually on the shores of Isabella Lake.
[0:49:44 – 0:49:53] Erik: And knowing that his tent is orange, they kind of swarm the area only to find that it’s just a cut piece of nylon and really nothing else is associated with it.
[0:49:54 – 0:49:55] Erik: So basically like…
[0:49:57 – 0:49:57] Adam: Sure.
[0:49:58 – 0:50:02] Erik: Up in the northern arm of the lake, they kind of find like some old tarp or something.
[0:50:03 – 0:50:12] Erik: Miles to the north, Jason is battling with his own demons associated with hypothermia, dehydration, and hunger.
[0:50:13 – 0:50:14] Erik: He’s extremely fatigued.
[0:50:15 – 0:50:16] Erik: Basically, all he wants to do is sleep.
[0:50:17 – 0:50:22] Erik: His feet are numb, and he’s hallucinating voices in the woods.
[0:50:22 – 0:50:25] Erik: He’s always kind of thinking that there’s people off in the woods in the distance.
[0:50:25 – 0:50:26] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:50:27 – 0:50:35] Erik: before night falls in completely in on Jason, he adds to his, um, basically he’s been writing on the back of this birch bark, a letter to his family.
[0:50:36 – 0:50:47] Erik: He tells them all of the practical things like the passwords and account numbers, the things, uh, the business side of his life to help make things easier for them.
[0:50:48 – 0:50:48] Erik: Um, and,
[0:50:48 – 0:50:56] Erik: He finishes with an incredible sense of gratitude, though, telling his parents that he has had a great life and thanking them for everything that they’ve done.
[0:50:57 – 0:51:00] Erik: At 7 p.m. that night, the dogs that they called in finally arrive.
[0:51:01 – 0:51:07] Erik: And the timing is perfect as the dogs and their handlers actually prefer to search at night.
[0:51:08 – 0:51:12] Erik: So overnight, the dog teams who are unfamiliar with the trail arrive.
[0:51:13 – 0:51:22] Erik: End up down the same sucker trail is kind of what it was called that lured Jason away from the Western Loop.
[0:51:23 – 0:51:29] Erik: And it gives the searchers an idea of where to expand their focus and efforts the next day.
[0:51:29 – 0:51:35] Erik: Like they hadn’t even really considered that anybody could have kind of gotten lost after this like side logging trail.
[0:51:36 – 0:51:40] Erik: And so they kind of mentioned that to people and it becomes a little bit more of a focus.
[0:51:41 – 0:51:42] Erik: October 30th.
[0:51:44 – 0:51:48] Erik: This is five days now that he’s been in freezing and thawing temps.
[0:51:51 – 0:51:59] Erik: Finally, it warms up long enough after this snowfall for the white covering on his tent to…
[0:52:00 – 0:52:10] Erik: finally release itself, it slowly slides off, and during almost immediately their sweep of the area, the tent is like a beacon.
[0:52:10 – 0:52:14] Erik: It’s just spotted immediately on the shore just west of Arrow Lake.
[0:52:16 – 0:52:19] Adam: Yeah, that’s kind of where I’ve been looking this whole time.
[0:52:20 – 0:52:25] Erik: So the pilots report the orange tent and inform that there are no trails leading into…
[0:52:29 – 0:52:45] Erik: or out of its location, but they do provide its GPS and everyone turns to converge on the coordinates with two CO officers, conservation officers taking the lead and crashing waist deep through muck swamp and bog.
[0:52:46 – 0:52:54] Erik: And as they approach the tent, the scene is eerily silent and still looking as if nobody has ever passed through the area before.
[0:52:56 – 0:53:01] Erik: The entire area is quiet as a grave, which is what they expect to find.
[0:53:02 – 0:53:02] Adam: Yeah.
[0:53:03 – 0:53:08] Erik: So they radio for permission to open the tent, which is granted, but they are informed not to enter.
[0:53:10 – 0:53:20] Erik: And, you know, they’re kind of thinking that they’re dealing with a potential, there’s an investigation, a crime scene here potentially, or even at the very least, they want to maintain as much evidence as possible.
[0:53:20 – 0:53:21] Erik: Yeah.
[0:53:22 – 0:53:47] Erik: so they’re granted that they can open it just don’t go in so they unzip the tent they find nothing but his supplies and they move off into the woods to start a fire to warm up for a little bit wait for the dog teams who arrive three hours later so along with the dogs a deputy arrives and examines the scene more thoroughly while the dogs lead off along the shores of arrow lake
[0:53:47 – 0:54:10] Erik: inside the tent they are struck by how organized everything is clearly he hadn’t left in a panic upon examining his trash bag and remaining food they can tell that he’s been away from the tent without matches food or water for for almost a week which is most disconcerting
[0:54:11 – 0:54:19] Erik: Uh, even more worrying though, is that they find his copy of the wilderness survival book and it’s dog-eared on the hypothermia page.
[0:54:19 – 0:54:26] Erik: And they wonder if Jason may have been contemplating suicide, uh, which would explain his abandoned supplies.
[0:54:27 – 0:54:34] Erik: Um, so before dark, all the searchers at the tent are ordered back to incident command, which is at the trailhead.
[0:54:34 – 0:54:36] Erik: Just a ways back.
[0:54:36 – 0:54:36] Erik: Yeah.
[0:54:36 – 0:54:37] Erik: Which is crazy.
[0:54:37 – 0:54:37] Erik: Yeah.
[0:54:37 – 0:55:04] Erik: why i was like what they made them all come back they’re literally a half mile from him at this point um but they’re none of them are prepared to spend the night so they all they all head back and um there’s also a forecast for freezing rain so like we can’t be sitting out here in the freezing rain um and yeah like just a half mile away jason knows he knows he’s freezing to death and
[0:55:05 – 0:55:10] Erik: And he can no longer discern noises in the woods as real or not.
[0:55:12 – 0:55:16] Erik: Late in the afternoon, he works on finishing his birch bark letter to his family.
[0:55:17 – 0:55:22] Erik: And the day before, he had gratitude.
[0:55:23 – 0:55:26] Erik: He was filled with this happiness about everything.
[0:55:26 – 0:55:28] Erik: But on this night…
[0:55:30 – 0:55:32] Erik: And he begins weeping in the woods.
[0:55:33 – 0:55:34] Erik: He’s not ready to die.
[0:55:36 – 0:55:44] Erik: Knowing that once he climbs into his stump one last time, he will not have the strength to climb out.
[0:55:45 – 0:55:55] Erik: And as the sky turns black, Jason looks to the branches above him that are now swaying in the wind from the oncoming storm and says out loud, I love you.
[0:55:55 – 0:55:57] Erik: I love you all.
[0:55:58 – 0:56:12] Erik: And before crawling into his hollowed out tree for one more night, he pulls out his disposable camera and with his last photo on the roll, turns it towards himself and snaps a picture of himself with his right hand waving goodbye.
[0:56:13 – 0:56:21] Erik: From inside the hollow, a huddled Jason can feel a sense of fatigue so strong like he’s never felt before.
[0:56:22 – 0:56:26] Erik: And as he drifts off to sleep, the rain starts pattering on the outside of his log.
[0:56:27 – 0:56:38] Erik: And then, up on the rise to the west, he hears the distant strains of a mariachi band playing Mexican music deep in the dark northwoods.
[0:56:42 – 0:56:43] Adam: Obviously that was a hallucination.
[0:56:47 – 0:56:58] Erik: Throughout the hike back from Jason’s tent to the incident command, every searcher is now convinced they will continue their search and rescue efforts in the form of search and recovery.
[0:56:59 – 0:57:01] Erik: The recovery of Jason’s body.
[0:57:01 – 0:57:06] Erik: By the time they all make it back to their vehicles, they are covered in rime ice.
[0:57:07 – 0:57:16] Erik: Even further convincing themselves, even if Jason is alive, there’s no way anybody could survive a night out in those conditions, especially someone who hasn’t eaten in a week.
[0:57:18 – 0:57:20] Erik: Halloween, October 31st.
[0:57:22 – 0:57:29] Erik: After being fed the next morning, the group of searchers head back out to the tent from two different directions.
[0:57:30 – 0:57:36] Erik: Jason does manage to extricate himself one more time from his hollowed-out home.
[0:57:37 – 0:57:39] Erik: When he does, he can’t feel his feet.
[0:57:39 – 0:57:45] Erik: He’s no longer hungry, but he does have an intense thirst and manages to drink a cup of melted snow water.
[0:57:47 – 0:57:54] Erik: And he sits down on a log filled with a calm sense of essentially an egoless letting go of things.
[0:57:56 – 0:57:58] Erik: He’s still imagining sounds all around him.
[0:57:58 – 0:58:00] Erik: Voices, wolves, Mexican music.
[0:58:00 – 0:58:02] Erik: Not sure how much is real.
[0:58:04 – 0:58:14] Erik: He does know his body cannot take one more night in the log and resigns himself to believing it will make a fine coffin.
[0:58:16 – 0:58:22] Erik: So one more time, he blows his whistle after the plane flies over.
[0:58:22 – 0:58:26] Erik: At this point, the plane’s been flying over so many times, it’s not even like a
[0:58:28 – 0:58:29] Erik: He’s not even a thing anymore.
[0:58:29 – 0:58:31] Erik: It doesn’t matter that it’s flying over.
[0:58:31 – 0:58:32] Erik: It just can’t see him.
[0:58:32 – 0:58:33] Erik: You can’t see him.
[0:58:33 – 0:58:34] Erik: It can’t hear him.
[0:58:34 – 0:58:36] Erik: And he’s weak.
[0:58:36 – 0:58:40] Erik: It’s just barely an attempt at blowing a whistle.
[0:58:43 – 0:58:49] Erik: But as the group of searchers converge on the tent, they actually hear his whistle.
[0:58:50 – 0:58:53] Erik: And they hear this whistle, which at this point, they’re kind of wondering.
[0:58:54 – 0:58:55] Erik: They start radioing.
[0:58:55 – 0:58:56] Erik: Is there somebody that’s whistling?
[0:58:57 – 0:58:58] Erik: Is everybody okay?
[0:58:59 – 0:59:20] Erik: um they radioed to make sure that it wasn’t anybody else everybody’s no negative then nobody’s nobody’s whistled here and um so these dogs that are with them are now kind of ferociously on the scent uh the bear and these handlers can barely keep up these dogs are just bolting through the woods um
[0:59:22 – 0:59:24] Erik: And Jason’s just sitting on this log.
[0:59:24 – 0:59:26] Erik: He thinks he’s hearing these wolves.
[0:59:26 – 0:59:32] Erik: And then he kind of looks over and all of a sudden he sees two that are running towards him.
[0:59:33 – 0:59:35] Erik: And he goes, hi, wolfies.
[0:59:36 – 0:59:38] Erik: Feeling good that he isn’t going to die alone.
[0:59:39 – 0:59:41] Erik: And he’s like, oh, what’s your name?
[0:59:42 – 0:59:44] Erik: And then when he says, what’s your name?
[0:59:44 – 0:59:46] Erik: Somebody yells out, what’s your name?
[0:59:47 – 0:59:50] Erik: And he yells out in response, Jason Rasmussen.
[0:59:51 – 0:59:54] Erik: And the dog handlers can’t necessarily make out the response.
[0:59:55 – 0:59:59] Erik: And all they hear is… And then he yells out again, I’m lost.
[0:59:59 – 1:00:00] Erik: And they hear I’m lost.
[1:00:02 – 1:00:05] Erik: And the searchers are convinced that since they’re looking for a dead body…
[1:00:06 – 1:00:08] Erik: They’re like, who the heck else is lost out here?
[1:00:09 – 1:00:11] Erik: They’re so convinced they’re looking for a dead body.
[1:00:11 – 1:00:15] Erik: When they hear somebody yell out, I’m lost, they think it’s somebody else.
[1:00:16 – 1:00:17] Erik: Who else could be lost out here?
[1:00:17 – 1:00:18] Erik: Wow.
[1:00:18 – 1:00:21] Erik: And finally, they hear him yelling, Jason, I’m Jason Rasmussen.
[1:00:21 – 1:00:29] Erik: And at 1.26 p.m. October 31st, rescuers make contact with Jason and radio incident command that he is alive and standing.
[1:00:31 – 1:00:37] Erik: So, yeah, the Rasmussen family, which I barely even got into it all.
[1:00:37 – 1:00:43] Erik: That’s a whole, that’s a whole, if you want more on this, read the book.
[1:00:43 – 1:00:49] Erik: If you, not that you necessarily want to, to hear about what a horrible week this must have been for these people.
[1:00:50 – 1:01:16] Erik: um but they’re at home in the cities uh and over the the course of the week they’ve been back and forth between the search and rescue and they they kind of got to a point where they felt like they were maybe getting in the way of things um because as a search and rescue you’re you can’t necessarily be as honest with the family as you can with other search and rescuers so they and the family kind of noticed that so they went back down to the cities and over that week um jason’s dad had
[1:01:17 – 1:01:20] Erik: learned about as much about wilderness survival as possible.
[1:01:22 – 1:01:30] Erik: And he learned that no one has ever survived as many days up to this point at temperatures that he was experiencing.
[1:01:31 – 1:01:36] Erik: And the likelihood of finding Jason alive basically at this point is essentially zero.
[1:01:36 – 1:01:47] Erik: So the Lake County undersheriff, who’s been kind of keeping them up to date up to this point for about six days, he’s prepared to make that call.
[1:01:48 – 1:02:08] Erik: that they found his body um and obviously he gets to make the much better call and when they see that that phone this is like this is cell phone times they see that caller id and it’s from this guy and they’re just like all right here it is and he’s alive and he’s well and
[1:02:09 – 1:02:10] Erik: It’s remarkable.
[1:02:10 – 1:02:13] Erik: It’s almost incomprehensible that he’s alive and he’s well.
[1:02:14 – 1:02:19] Erik: He makes the call less than 10 minutes after they discover Jason as being alive.
[1:02:20 – 1:02:25] Erik: And over 50 people and an ambulance are waiting for Jason in the trailhead parking lot.
[1:02:26 – 1:02:31] Erik: And when he comes out of the woods, a cry goes up unlike anything that he has ever heard.
[1:02:32 – 1:02:34] Erik: He’s transported to a Duluth hospital.
[1:02:37 – 1:02:40] Erik: He lost two toes and all the tips of his others.
[1:02:41 – 1:02:46] Erik: I’m going to read just directly from the epilogue here to give you an idea.
[1:02:48 – 1:03:00] Erik: He was featured in several news stories and local news programs, even on National Geographic’s This Week, Corbin Bernson’s Wild Survival, and the Oprah Winfrey Show.
[1:03:01 – 1:03:13] Erik: When Winfrey asked Jason if the experience changed the way he lived or experienced life, he replied, sometimes I’ll be walking down the street and the wind will blow through the trees and I’m overcome by the beauty of that moment.
[1:03:14 – 1:03:15] Erik: And also there’s a feeling of real peace.
[1:03:16 – 1:03:20] Erik: I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never felt it before and it’s great.
[1:03:21 – 1:03:34] Erik: Several media outlets tried to obtain exclusive rights to Jason’s story, but he refused, considering his misadventure an opportunity to instruct so that others might avoid the pain of his ordeal.
[1:03:34 – 1:03:40] Erik: When he was well enough, he presented the details of his survival at REI and elsewhere.
[1:03:40 – 1:03:51] Erik: His parents thanked Minnesota’s volunteer search and rescue community by hosting a weekend conference at which many of the state’s volunteer groups shared strategies for coordinating future rescue efforts.
[1:03:52 – 1:03:57] Erik: Jason Rasmussen returned to medical school after the first of the year.
[1:03:58 – 1:04:01] Erik: As of 2007, this was written.
[1:04:01 – 1:04:13] Erik: So as of 2007, he’s an emergency room surgeon in residence in Sacramento, California, where he continues to repay the altruism of Minnesota volunteers by saving others’ lives.
[1:04:15 – 1:04:15] Adam: Wow.
[1:04:16 – 1:04:16] Erik: There you go.
[1:04:18 – 1:04:19] Adam: Surgeon?
[1:04:19 – 1:04:19] Erik: JRAS.
[1:04:19 – 1:04:19] Adam: JRAS.
[1:04:21 – 1:04:21] Erik: Surgeon.
[1:04:22 – 1:04:23] Erik: Yeah, he was a medical student.
[1:04:24 – 1:04:25] Erik: Emergency room surgeon.
[1:04:26 – 1:04:29] Erik: Those are the guys from like ER.
[1:04:29 – 1:04:30] Erik: Yeah.
[1:04:30 – 1:04:30] Erik: George Clooney.
[1:04:32 – 1:04:33] Adam: Anthony Edwards.
[1:04:34 – 1:04:34] Erik: Anthony Edwards.
[1:04:34 – 1:04:35] Erik: Dan Stevens.
[1:04:35 – 1:04:36] Erik: The actor, that is.
[1:04:36 – 1:04:37] Erik: Dan.
[1:04:38 – 1:04:38] Adam: Dan.
[1:04:39 – 1:04:41] Erik: Damn.
[1:04:41 – 1:04:44] Erik: Yeah, so besides the frosted tips of his toes.
[1:04:44 – 1:04:45] Adam: That was harder to listen to.
[1:04:45 – 1:04:45] Adam: Yeah.
[1:04:46 – 1:04:55] Erik: Yeah, there was a little bit more of the note on the birch bark.
[1:04:55 – 1:04:56] Erik: It’s kind of reminiscent.
[1:04:56 – 1:04:58] Adam: The picture, I think.
[1:04:58 – 1:04:59] Erik: Oh, the selfie.
[1:04:59 – 1:05:00] Erik: You want to see the selfie?
[1:05:00 – 1:05:01] Adam: Yeah, yeah.
[1:05:01 – 1:05:02] Adam: I’d love to see the selfie.
[1:05:02 – 1:05:03] Adam: There’s a picture of it.
[1:05:03 – 1:05:05] Adam: It’s a real McCandless moment there.
[1:05:05 – 1:05:05] Adam: Yeah.
[1:05:06 – 1:05:32] Erik: resignation plus the fact that was disposable camera like that really takes you back to yeah yeah it’s it’s it’s spooky it’s sad that i don’t know it’s like oh my god yeah look at those eyes i know you can tell he’s out of it but he looks uh you know he looks okay though
[1:05:32 – 1:05:33] Erik: No, he looks very well.
[1:05:33 – 1:05:38] Erik: And then there’s a picture from the next day of him after he got rescued.
[1:05:38 – 1:05:41] Erik: And it’s like, he looks great.
[1:05:41 – 1:05:43] Erik: He looks like he’s just on a camping trip.
[1:05:43 – 1:05:44] Erik: Yeah, what an adventure.
[1:05:45 – 1:05:46] Erik: Except for his toes are frozen.
[1:05:47 – 1:05:47] Erik: Missing.
[1:05:47 – 1:05:49] Erik: Yeah, they had to cut two of them off.
[1:05:50 – 1:05:52] Erik: That piney tube saved him.
[1:05:54 – 1:05:54] Adam: Yeah.
[1:05:54 – 1:05:54] Adam: It’s wild.
[1:05:55 – 1:05:59] Erik: Those are the stories of two at least written about.
[1:05:59 – 1:06:03] Erik: I know there’s been many other lost boys and girls in the Boundary Waters.
[1:06:04 – 1:06:12] Erik: I know I remember hearing about some Kakakabic hikers that have been lost since the burn and the blowdown.
[1:06:12 – 1:06:17] Erik: But those are the two that have the most extensive book written about them.
[1:06:17 – 1:06:17] Erik: Yeah.
[1:06:20 – 1:06:21] Adam: Whoa.
[1:06:22 – 1:06:24] Erik: Yeah, you’re at a loss for words.
[1:06:26 – 1:06:27] Adam: Why did he leave that tent?
[1:06:27 – 1:06:28] Erik: Why did he leave that tent?
[1:06:29 – 1:06:29] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:06:29 – 1:06:29] Erik: Are you kidding me?
[1:06:31 – 1:06:31] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:06:31 – 1:06:32] Erik: We kind of…
[1:06:33 – 1:06:34] Adam: I mean, yeah.
[1:06:34 – 1:06:40] Erik: With Dan Stevens last week, we had a pretty like… Man, there’s so many things where you just can’t really blame him.
[1:06:41 – 1:06:46] Erik: You know, a little bit, you know, the… What are you doing jumping across like a ledge with a rock or whatever?
[1:06:46 – 1:06:50] Erik: But there’s so many things here where I could just say…
[1:06:50 – 1:06:52] Erik: Didn’t have the map out on day one.
[1:06:52 – 1:06:53] Erik: What are you doing losing your map?
[1:06:53 – 1:06:56] Erik: What are you doing walking away from your tent and your food?
[1:06:58 – 1:07:09] Erik: But at the end of the day, he did inform his family of where he was going and he gave them very specific instructions on what to do if he didn’t make contact by a certain time.
[1:07:10 – 1:07:10] Erik: Good thing he did.
[1:07:10 – 1:07:13] Erik: And then good credit to his family, they followed through.
[1:07:13 – 1:07:18] Erik: It’s more than I can say on most trips, but I don’t know.
[1:07:20 – 1:07:22] Adam: Yeah, he was way over in the fungus-like PMA.
[1:07:23 – 1:07:23] Erik: Yeah.
[1:07:24 – 1:07:26] Adam: So certain was he that he was west.
[1:07:26 – 1:07:28] Adam: He was actually very far east.
[1:07:28 – 1:07:34] Adam: So similarly, the rescuers were so certain that they weren’t going to find
[1:07:35 – 1:08:00] Adam: him alive that they were confused when somebody yelled out yeah the certainty that people have yeah when they shouldn’t be yeah i think that’s what resonates yeah and that’s with both stories you know they think they know something and it’s the complete opposite but you’re so certain about it that it just clouds everything else you’re doing and thinking yeah and like his dad like he was just convinced he’s like nobody’s ever survived this long so there’s no way he’s going to you know records are meant to be broken
[1:08:01 – 1:08:01] Adam: That’s just nuts.
[1:08:02 – 1:08:05] Erik: We should turn this table so that we can just have the map in front of us.
[1:08:06 – 1:08:07] Adam: Why are we looking out this stupid window?
[1:08:07 – 1:08:09] Adam: We can’t even see the North Star.
[1:08:09 – 1:08:09] Erik: Yeah.
[1:08:09 – 1:08:11] Erik: Well, it is light out still.
[1:08:11 – 1:08:13] Adam: Yeah, but even if it wasn’t, we couldn’t.
[1:08:13 – 1:08:14] Erik: Yeah, we could have…
[1:08:14 – 1:08:17] Adam: I think we got to rearrange this so we can just sit here looking at the map.
[1:08:17 – 1:08:19] Adam: Yeah, because the whole episode I’ve been…
[1:08:19 – 1:08:20] Adam: Turning, wrenching.
[1:08:20 – 1:08:22] Adam: I fell out of a chair trying to look at the map.
[1:08:22 – 1:08:22] Adam: You did.
[1:08:22 – 1:08:23] Adam: You fell out of your chair.
[1:08:23 – 1:08:25] Adam: So, obviously, we got to make some adjustments here.
[1:08:25 – 1:08:29] Adam: But, well, thank you for the report.
[1:08:30 – 1:08:30] Erik: Yeah.
[1:08:30 – 1:08:31] Erik: Book report.
[1:08:32 – 1:08:34] Adam: I don’t know what to say about it other than…
[1:08:35 – 1:08:39] Erik: Yeah, you definitely seem a little bit more affected by that story than the last one.
[1:08:40 – 1:08:41] Erik: Well, it was a lot more dangerous.
[1:08:42 – 1:08:43] Erik: Yeah, that one got to me a little bit too.
[1:08:43 – 1:08:44] Erik: That one was close.
[1:08:44 – 1:08:47] Adam: Where the other one, it’s August and you can’t just… What’s going to happen?
[1:08:48 – 1:08:49] Adam: He wasn’t gone for that long.
[1:08:49 – 1:08:49] Adam: Yeah.
[1:08:50 – 1:08:52] Adam: They found him pretty quick relatively.
[1:08:54 – 1:08:55] Adam: This guy was out there for a week.
[1:08:55 – 1:08:55] Adam: A week?
[1:08:55 – 1:08:56] Adam: In October.
[1:08:56 – 1:08:57] Erik: Yeah, curled up in a log tube.
[1:08:57 – 1:09:02] Adam: I’ve been out camping in October with a sleeping bag and all my supplies and it’s still cold.
[1:09:02 – 1:09:02] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[1:09:05 – 1:09:06] Adam: Yeah, I don’t know.
[1:09:06 – 1:09:09] Adam: I mean, I guess every time you hear about a story like that, it’s like…
[1:09:10 – 1:09:12] Adam: I’ve been in some situations like that, too.
[1:09:12 – 1:09:19] Erik: They didn’t turn out that sour, but… Do you have time for me to tell my lost story?
[1:09:20 – 1:09:21] Adam: Yeah, let’s hear it.
[1:09:21 – 1:09:22] Erik: All right.
[1:09:23 – 1:09:36] Erik: So the and it kind of speaks to it’s a good time, I think, to do it at the end, because it really does put in perspective, like some of these things that you just are like, why would anybody ever do that?
[1:09:37 – 1:09:39] Erik: That’s such a dumb decision.
[1:09:39 – 1:09:42] Erik: You just don’t think about it in the moment, really.
[1:09:42 – 1:09:44] Erik: You think you have it figured out.
[1:09:44 – 1:09:46] Erik: You think you know where you are on a map.
[1:09:46 – 1:09:50] Erik: And then all of a sudden, there you are.
[1:09:50 – 1:09:54] Erik: And you can point to that in this story that I got myself into.
[1:09:55 – 1:10:00] Erik: Which at this point, 52 episodes into this podcast, it’s a fresh story.
[1:10:00 – 1:10:01] Erik: It’s hard for me.
[1:10:01 – 1:10:05] Erik: My life is all on tape at this point somewhere.
[1:10:05 – 1:10:06] Erik: But this, I don’t think I’ve told.
[1:10:08 – 1:10:10] Erik: So I used to work, I think…
[1:10:10 – 1:10:14] Erik: You know, obviously, I used to run dogs over out of Ely.
[1:10:14 – 1:10:25] Erik: When we’d start in like November, having the dogs pull the four-wheelers, doing some early fall training to get the miles on the dogs.
[1:10:25 – 1:10:27] Erik: And I lived down at the kennel.
[1:10:28 – 1:10:46] Erik: And one of my fellow mushers that I was working with at the time was scoping out some trapping areas and actually had set up some traps, which was right around the season of trapping beavers and minks and everything.
[1:10:46 – 1:10:48] Erik: I don’t know all the details on that.
[1:10:48 – 1:10:54] Erik: the trapping, but it was after a day of work and I didn’t really have anything else to do.
[1:10:54 – 1:11:03] Erik: He’s like, I’m going to go head out and check some of these traps and driving around and just pitch black for a service roads.
[1:11:05 – 1:11:15] Erik: Single lane, pull over, walk down to like a little gully where there’s some moving water, check a trap, see if there’s been any activity, bring it in, whatever.
[1:11:15 – 1:11:18] Erik: And we’re doing that for like a couple hours, hour and a half, whatever.
[1:11:19 – 1:11:30] Erik: And then there’s this one that we park on the side of the road that Jason Rasmussen drove out to start the powwow trail.
[1:11:30 – 1:11:31] Erik: We just park on the side of the road.
[1:11:32 – 1:11:32] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[1:11:32 – 1:11:36] Erik: And he’s like, well, we got to walk into the woods a little ways to get up to where this little creek bend is.
[1:11:37 – 1:11:40] Erik: And so I got to, whatever, throw my headlamp on.
[1:11:41 – 1:11:46] Erik: And we start walking out towards this, wherever he says that this creek is.
[1:11:46 – 1:11:50] Erik: And like 20 minutes in, 10 minutes in, he’s like, uh…
[1:11:53 – 1:11:53] Erik: Oh, no.
[1:11:54 – 1:11:54] Erik: I don’t know.
[1:11:55 – 1:11:56] Erik: We should have run into it by now.
[1:11:57 – 1:11:59] Erik: It’s like, okay.
[1:11:59 – 1:12:03] Erik: Well, it’s this fall, so it still hasn’t snowed.
[1:12:03 – 1:12:06] Erik: So we can’t, like, follow our tracks back.
[1:12:07 – 1:12:09] Erik: So we’re just, like, just headlamps.
[1:12:10 – 1:12:10] Erik: That’s all we have.
[1:12:11 – 1:12:12] Erik: Headlamps and the clothes on our back.
[1:12:13 – 1:12:13] Erik: I’m like…
[1:12:15 – 1:12:18] Adam: Okay, well, it’s just… And you didn’t, like, prepare because you figured this guy knew where he was going.
[1:12:18 – 1:12:19] Adam: No, I’m like, I’m just following this guy.
[1:12:19 – 1:12:19] Adam: Yeah.
[1:12:19 – 1:12:20] Adam: You’re just along for the ride.
[1:12:20 – 1:12:21] Erik: I’m along for the ride.
[1:12:21 – 1:12:23] Adam: So you didn’t even look at… You didn’t have a map.
[1:12:23 – 1:12:23] Adam: I had nothing.
[1:12:23 – 1:12:24] Adam: You didn’t look at the map.
[1:12:24 – 1:12:31] Erik: I was just, like, I was in and out of a warm truck cabin, you know, just, eh, sometimes I’d get out, sometimes I wouldn’t.
[1:12:31 – 1:12:34] Erik: He’d run down into the ditch and check a trap and then be back.
[1:12:35 – 1:12:37] Erik: And this time he’s like, oh, it’s just a little walk into the woods.
[1:12:37 – 1:12:39] Erik: So I’m following him and following him and then it’s all of a sudden…
[1:12:40 – 1:12:41] Erik: I’m not 100% sure.
[1:12:42 – 1:12:44] Erik: Let’s just turn back.
[1:12:45 – 1:12:53] Erik: So we start trying to turn back, and then we turn back for 20 minutes, and it’s having run into the road.
[1:12:53 – 1:12:55] Erik: Okay.
[1:12:55 – 1:12:55] Erik: Okay.
[1:12:57 – 1:13:01] Erik: So then it’s kind of like a stop and think for a second.
[1:13:01 – 1:13:02] Erik: Well, we’ll go in this direction.
[1:13:02 – 1:13:04] Erik: We’ll go in that direction for five, ten minutes.
[1:13:04 – 1:13:11] Erik: And then my headlamp does this thing where when it’s low on batteries, it starts blinking.
[1:13:12 – 1:13:14] Erik: So now my headlamp’s like blinking.
[1:13:15 – 1:13:17] Erik: And I’m just like, okay.
[1:13:17 – 1:13:19] Erik: We’re out here in the woods.
[1:13:19 – 1:13:22] Erik: I’ve got, it’s like late November.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:22] Adam: Yeah.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:27] Erik: I’ve got some gloves and boots and I’m like layered up to stay warm for a walk.
[1:13:28 – 1:13:31] Erik: I can’t like, I’m not going to be like curling up in a ball.
[1:13:32 – 1:13:35] Erik: I do remember us like checking our pockets and being like, all right, well, we’ve got lighters.
[1:13:35 – 1:13:41] Erik: Worst case scenario, we’ll like start a effing tree on fire or something.
[1:13:41 – 1:13:41] Erik: Yeah.
[1:13:41 – 1:13:42] Erik: To stay warm.
[1:13:42 – 1:13:42] Erik: Yeah.
[1:13:43 – 1:13:47] Erik: But then I was like, oh, let’s just wait and just think for a second here.
[1:13:47 – 1:13:51] Erik: And then the road we were on was like a straight east-west road.
[1:13:51 – 1:13:54] Erik: It was that road that Jason was using.
[1:13:54 – 1:13:56] Erik: Just walk south, you’ll run into it.
[1:13:56 – 1:13:58] Erik: And then I’m like, all right.
[1:13:59 – 1:14:01] Erik: And I think what happened is I heard a truck.
[1:14:01 – 1:14:05] Erik: You could hear like a semi, like Jake breaking off in the distance.
[1:14:05 – 1:14:05] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:06 – 1:14:09] Erik: And then I was like, okay, well, that’s gotta be, that’s straight West.
[1:14:09 – 1:14:11] Erik: So we just keep that.
[1:14:12 – 1:14:13] Erik: Okay.
[1:14:13 – 1:14:13] Erik: Straight West.
[1:14:13 – 1:14:13] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:13 – 1:14:15] Erik: We didn’t have compass or anything.
[1:14:15 – 1:14:18] Erik: So then I’m like, all right, we’ll keep that to our right.
[1:14:18 – 1:14:21] Erik: And if we just keep walking, it’s like a 20, 30 mile road.
[1:14:21 – 1:14:22] Erik: We can’t miss it.
[1:14:22 – 1:14:23] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:23 – 1:14:25] Erik: And so we just, we would walk.
[1:14:25 – 1:14:31] Erik: And then when we heard a truck breaking again, like then we would listen and like re pinpoint it and then like keep walking.
[1:14:31 – 1:14:31] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:31 – 1:14:32] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:32 – 1:14:37] Erik: And sure enough, like 10, 15 minutes later, we came on the road.
[1:14:38 – 1:14:44] Erik: But now we’re out on the road and we look to the left and to the right and we can’t see his truck.
[1:14:44 – 1:14:48] Erik: And so now we’re like, which direction do we walk to try to find this truck?
[1:14:50 – 1:14:53] Erik: And so he’s like, I’ll walk in this direction and you walk in that direction.
[1:14:53 – 1:14:54] Erik: Sure.
[1:14:54 – 1:14:57] Erik: And I ended up running into it like a half a mile down the road.
[1:14:57 – 1:14:58] Erik: Yeah.
[1:14:58 – 1:14:59] Erik: And starting it up.
[1:14:59 – 1:14:59] Erik: Big loop.
[1:15:00 – 1:15:01] Erik: And running down and picking them up.
[1:15:01 – 1:15:04] Erik: It was one of those things where you just like…
[1:15:04 – 1:15:04] Erik: It’s not…
[1:15:04 – 1:15:06] Erik: I didn’t go out that night thinking…
[1:15:08 – 1:15:09] Erik: I’m going to get myself into a jackpot.
[1:15:10 – 1:15:10] Erik: Yeah.
[1:15:10 – 1:15:13] Erik: I just went out like thinking I’m going to sit in a car and kind of be in the…
[1:15:13 – 1:15:13] Erik: I’m trying to get you out of it.
[1:15:14 – 1:15:14] Erik: Yeah.
[1:15:14 – 1:15:18] Erik: I’m just going to be hanging out in a truck for the night watching a guy check his traps.
[1:15:19 – 1:15:20] Erik: And I got whatever.
[1:15:20 – 1:15:20] Erik: I’m like, ow.
[1:15:20 – 1:15:21] Adam: Did you get any beaver?
[1:15:21 – 1:15:22] Erik: No.
[1:15:22 – 1:15:22] Erik: Yeah.
[1:15:22 – 1:15:24] Adam: I think it was like… Is this who I think it was?
[1:15:25 – 1:15:25] Erik: Yes.
[1:15:26 – 1:15:26] Adam: Okay.
[1:15:28 – 1:15:28] Erik: All right.
[1:15:28 – 1:15:28] Erik: Yeah.
[1:15:29 – 1:15:29] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:15:29 – 1:15:30] Adam: I never heard this story.
[1:15:31 – 1:15:32] Erik: Yeah, it was kind of scary for a second there.
[1:15:32 – 1:15:33] Erik: I was like, we were like checking.
[1:15:33 – 1:15:36] Erik: Okay, well, we’ll start a fire.
[1:15:36 – 1:15:37] Erik: We’ll stay warm.
[1:15:37 – 1:15:44] Erik: You know, but it was like, you know, it was one of those things where it’s like, okay, yeah, that sounds fine and good at the moment, but it’s been…
[1:15:44 – 1:15:47] Erik: It’s only seven o’clock at night.
[1:15:47 – 1:15:49] Erik: Are you ready for 12 hours of like…
[1:15:50 – 1:16:05] Adam: kind of trying to keep a fire going i don’t i ever did do you go back in the daylight then and like figure out where the trap actually was and where you had actually gone in like you just like you guys walked in like a one bender on the road too quick or what
[1:16:05 – 1:16:07] Erik: No, because he knew more than I did.
[1:16:07 – 1:16:12] Erik: I had no interest and it wouldn’t have been illuminating to me to be like, oh, this is where we should have been.
[1:16:12 – 1:16:13] Erik: Maybe for him.
[1:16:13 – 1:16:15] Erik: But I was like, I’m not going back out there.
[1:16:15 – 1:16:16] Adam: I’m never going trapping again.
[1:16:16 – 1:16:16] Erik: Yeah.
[1:16:17 – 1:16:17] Erik: Yeah.
[1:16:18 – 1:16:21] Erik: No, that was the thing was like, oh, yes, the road.
[1:16:21 – 1:16:23] Erik: And then I was like, oh, God.
[1:16:23 – 1:16:24] Adam: Which way is it?
[1:16:24 – 1:16:26] Erik: There’s no truck to be seen.
[1:16:26 – 1:16:30] Erik: I mean, I’ve got that big headlamp I’ve got.
[1:16:30 – 1:16:31] Erik: That thing’s pretty powerful.
[1:16:31 – 1:16:37] Erik: And there was not even the slightest hint of a reflection from like a license plate or a light or anything.
[1:16:37 – 1:16:38] Adam: Crazy.
[1:16:38 – 1:16:41] Erik: And it was like, all right, well, we’ll just walk in two different directions.
[1:16:41 – 1:16:42] Erik: Whoever finds it, come pick me up.
[1:16:44 – 1:17:11] Erik: so and that i think that’s like the most like i’ve been like kind of turned around i don’t know this doesn’t seem right oh here we are but that was the closest time where i was like geez this is all of a sudden like things just started stacking up against me it’s like i can’t believe that i’ve got myself into this situation i just i was not there wasn’t a like a looking forward to a banjo artist trip where you’re like okay i know i’m going into the woods and
[1:17:12 – 1:17:13] Erik: On this day.
[1:17:13 – 1:17:13] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:13 – 1:17:16] Erik: And I’m going to bring all these things to help myself stay alive.
[1:17:17 – 1:17:22] Erik: This was just all of a sudden, for whatever reason, I didn’t even think twice about walking 30 yards into the woods.
[1:17:23 – 1:17:23] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:23 – 1:17:25] Erik: And then almost an hour later.
[1:17:25 – 1:17:26] Adam: Happened quick.
[1:17:27 – 1:17:27] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:28 – 1:17:28] Erik: So.
[1:17:28 – 1:17:29] Erik: Thank God.
[1:17:30 – 1:17:31] Erik: Thank God for the Jake breakers out there.
[1:17:32 – 1:17:32] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:32 – 1:17:33] Erik: Keep the Jake breaking on the right.
[1:17:35 – 1:17:35] Erik: Highway one.
[1:17:35 – 1:17:38] Erik: We just kept keep highway one on your right.
[1:17:38 – 1:17:38] Adam: You’ll be fine.
[1:17:39 – 1:17:39] Erik: Yep.
[1:17:39 – 1:17:40] Adam: Wild.
[1:17:40 – 1:17:40] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:41 – 1:17:41] Erik: So.
[1:17:42 – 1:17:43] Adam: Yeah, I had a…
[1:17:43 – 1:17:43] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:17:43 – 1:17:52] Adam: I was going to maybe tell the story on Clearwater where I got lost in the snowstorm, but I wasn’t really lost so much as just, like, I’m in a snowstorm and I can’t see.
[1:17:52 – 1:17:53] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:53 – 1:17:54] Adam: And that wasn’t really lost.
[1:17:54 – 1:17:56] Adam: Like, I knew where I was the whole time.
[1:17:56 – 1:18:02] Adam: Like, if I had a GPS, which I always tell people, like, I have, like, a pretty good map in my head, and especially on…
[1:18:03 – 1:18:05] Adam: A familiar spot like Clearwater.
[1:18:05 – 1:18:06] Adam: I always knew where I was.
[1:18:06 – 1:18:08] Adam: I just couldn’t see anything.
[1:18:08 – 1:18:13] Adam: And kind of the trail just disappeared under my feet being out in the middle of the lake.
[1:18:13 – 1:18:18] Adam: So it’s hard to convince people you were lost when you’re in the middle of Clearwater Lake in the middle of a snowstorm.
[1:18:18 – 1:18:19] Erik: Yeah.
[1:18:19 – 1:18:20] Adam: With a battery.
[1:18:20 – 1:18:21] Adam: And my headlamp was dead by then.
[1:18:22 – 1:18:23] Erik: That’s a different kind of loss.
[1:18:23 – 1:18:24] Adam: That’s a different kind of loss.
[1:18:24 – 1:18:25] Erik: You know where you are.
[1:18:25 – 1:18:26] Adam: I knew where I was.
[1:18:26 – 1:18:27] Adam: So I didn’t have the super panic.
[1:18:28 – 1:18:31] Adam: where I was like, I’m totally like, I have no idea which way is which.
[1:18:32 – 1:18:35] Adam: I kind of just knew like, okay, it’s down there somewhere.
[1:18:35 – 1:18:36] Adam: Like I’ll get there.
[1:18:36 – 1:18:48] Adam: It’s just, it was like, so I had so much gear with me in the sled and just way later than I was anticipating being back that I was literally just down to like, I’m going to take 50 steps and then I got to take a break.
[1:18:49 – 1:18:51] Adam: 50 steps and then I take a break.
[1:18:52 – 1:18:54] Adam: And that’s how I ended up getting back.
[1:18:55 – 1:18:59] Adam: And that was just one where you more kind of just had to fight through it.
[1:18:59 – 1:19:04] Adam: And then I got home and just like walked through the door of the cabin and just like fell on the ground.
[1:19:04 – 1:19:06] Adam: Like, you know, just exhausted.
[1:19:06 – 1:19:08] Erik: You never thought about ditching the gear?
[1:19:08 – 1:19:09] Adam: I did.
[1:19:09 – 1:19:09] Adam: I did.
[1:19:10 – 1:19:12] Adam: But then I thought about having to go back and find it.
[1:19:12 – 1:19:14] Adam: And I was like, I know where I’m at.
[1:19:14 – 1:19:16] Adam: I’m going to keep going 50 steps at a time.
[1:19:16 – 1:19:17] Adam: That’s how I got out of that one.
[1:19:18 – 1:19:19] Adam: So that’s not so much a loss.
[1:19:19 – 1:19:23] Adam: And I believe I’ve mentioned this story on the podcast before.
[1:19:24 – 1:19:24] Erik: Yes.
[1:19:24 – 1:19:29] Adam: It was more of a blizzard where it was snowing so badly that it made you dizzy with the headlamp.
[1:19:30 – 1:19:33] Adam: And then without the headlamp, you couldn’t see anything.
[1:19:33 – 1:19:33] Adam: It was just black.
[1:19:34 – 1:19:49] Adam: so i just had like this bearing in mind of which way i should be headed and as long as i didn’t run into a shoreline i was kind of going down the lake you know it’s clear water hard to get lost on clear water it’s just big and yeah when it’s dark and snowing hard to get down there um
[1:19:50 – 1:19:55] Erik: I think it’s almost impossible to get lost on Clearwater, and I’ve always thought that.
[1:19:55 – 1:19:56] Erik: Yeah.
[1:19:56 – 1:20:02] Erik: But I’ll never forget the one group that did come back from a trip, fully outfitted, a couple of guys.
[1:20:02 – 1:20:13] Erik: I don’t know if I’ve told this one before either, but one of my favorite quotes from the early days in Clearwater, they went out, we set them out in the morning, and then it was like 6 o’clock at night they showed up, and they were like, yeah.
[1:20:13 – 1:20:13] Erik: Yeah.
[1:20:14 – 1:20:24] Erik: I don’t know what’s going on out there we weren’t able to find any portages or anything to get off of Clearwater all we were able to find were these rocky trails
[1:20:25 – 1:20:52] Adam: yes uh-huh those yeah that’s them that’s where you what did you were you looking for pavement yeah yeah so i mean it was one time i was actually lost where i like i had the fear the fear yeah and it involved the sound of vehicles was how i got back so kind of reminded me of it it’s not like i wasn’t lost for that long but i was definitely lost lost and that one was in the woods
[1:20:52 – 1:21:03] Adam: I was up at the top of the trail blueberry picking in the summer by myself, which is the familiar thing, I guess, with being lost here by yourself.
[1:21:04 – 1:21:04] Adam: Is it raining?
[1:21:05 – 1:21:06] Erik: I was going to say, it sounds like rain.
[1:21:09 – 1:21:16] Adam: So I’m out blueberry picking and you’re up on kind of this rocky ridge and I’m like following the berries down this hill.
[1:21:17 – 1:21:22] Adam: And you know how like we’ve talked like right-handed people kind of veer to the right and lefties will go left.
[1:21:22 – 1:21:27] Adam: But I think more than often you’ll just kind of subtly go downhill.
[1:21:27 – 1:21:28] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[1:21:28 – 1:21:28] Adam: As you go.
[1:21:29 – 1:21:36] Adam: And so like, you know, my truck’s over on the road over here and I was up on this ridge where I could see the truck.
[1:21:36 – 1:21:38] Adam: I was never like more than, you know,
[1:21:39 – 1:22:08] Adam: very far from the road ever it was kind of the side trail off the gunflint trail and so it’s getting dark you know when it had gone up and i was gonna just try and fill a ziploc bag before dark and up there and i’m got a pretty good pile of berries and i’m like okay i should start probably heading back it’s almost dark and i start kind of going and it’s like you’re in this stuff that was just burned this is all old ham lake burn obviously and so i’m out there and it’s like everything looks the same it’s pretty thick like growth that’s come up
[1:22:09 – 1:22:30] Adam: there’s no real big trees you can’t really tell which way is north or where’s the where was that hill i was on and then it’s like yeah there was this moment of like ah shit where am i you know it’s like i can’t be that far but it’s about to get dark here like and i should have been out by now yeah you’re like well aren’t i going the right way and i think i was just kind of going downhill
[1:22:32 – 1:22:40] Adam: it was right at this moment where I was starting to really get the fear where I was like, Oh, I could hear a car like out on the gun blend trail go by.
[1:22:40 – 1:22:43] Adam: And I was like, okay, well that’s the trails right over there.
[1:22:43 – 1:22:43] Erik: Yeah.
[1:22:43 – 1:22:46] Adam: So then my side roads got to be over to the left here.
[1:22:46 – 1:22:48] Adam: And then, but it was getting dark.
[1:22:48 – 1:22:54] Adam: So I’m kind of like almost running through the woods trying to get back, you know, and I’m like stumbling through the woods and,
[1:22:56 – 1:22:56] Adam: Where am I?
[1:22:56 – 1:22:58] Adam: And it’s like, this is crazy.
[1:22:58 – 1:22:59] Adam: How is this happening?
[1:23:00 – 1:23:00] Adam: Yeah, exactly.
[1:23:00 – 1:23:04] Erik: I’m sure that’s what everybody in these other stories you told is, how is this happening?
[1:23:04 – 1:23:04] Adam: There’s the road.
[1:23:05 – 1:23:07] Adam: Then all of a sudden, you just kind of, whoa, I’m out.
[1:23:08 – 1:23:09] Adam: It just appeared in front of me.
[1:23:10 – 1:23:10] Adam: I’m on the road.
[1:23:10 – 1:23:11] Adam: But then it was the same way.
[1:23:11 – 1:23:13] Adam: Like, wait, no, which way is the car?
[1:23:13 – 1:23:17] Adam: It’s like, well, and then kind of walked up around the corner to the left, and there it was.
[1:23:17 – 1:23:21] Adam: But I had done a huge loop, like way more than I thought I had gone.
[1:23:21 – 1:23:23] Adam: The whole time, I was like, I got to be right there, right?
[1:23:24 – 1:23:25] Erik: You’re not left-handed, are you?
[1:23:25 – 1:23:26] Adam: I’m not.
[1:23:26 – 1:23:27] Erik: Lefties get lost.
[1:23:29 – 1:23:30] Adam: I guess I just went downhill.
[1:23:31 – 1:23:32] Adam: It was a very mild hill, too.
[1:23:35 – 1:23:42] Adam: That one is more of a feeling of loss than the incident on Clearwater was me just I hadn’t given myself enough time to get off.
[1:23:42 – 1:23:43] Adam: Yeah.
[1:23:43 – 1:23:44] Adam: From a winter camping trip.
[1:23:46 – 1:23:48] Adam: And that was just a lack of planning on my part.
[1:23:49 – 1:23:49] Adam: Well.
[1:23:49 – 1:23:50] Adam: Knowing that there.
[1:23:50 – 1:23:52] Erik: The late start and the conditions.
[1:23:52 – 1:23:52] Adam: Yeah.
[1:23:52 – 1:23:55] Adam: Like then there was just like a ski trail we were on.
[1:23:55 – 1:23:57] Adam: Kind of a packed trail on the lake.
[1:23:57 – 1:23:59] Adam: And then all of a sudden I’m walking and I’m just off this trail.
[1:23:59 – 1:24:00] Adam: And I didn’t.
[1:24:00 – 1:24:08] Adam: Not a horseshoe, but I kind of just did bigger and bigger circles around my sled, trying to find any sort of packed trail underneath the new snow.
[1:24:09 – 1:24:10] Adam: Just lost it.
[1:24:10 – 1:24:13] Adam: Or the trail just disintegrated, which is probably what happened.
[1:24:14 – 1:24:16] Adam: Just turned to slush beneath my feet.
[1:24:16 – 1:24:17] Adam: And so there’s no trail.
[1:24:17 – 1:24:27] Adam: So now I was literally in this super deep, slushy snow with a very heavy toboggan, pretty tired out after a long winter camping trip, heading back by myself.
[1:24:28 – 1:24:29] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:24:29 – 1:24:36] Adam: I think one way to be smart about it is be careful when you’re by yourself or just don’t go by yourself.
[1:24:37 – 1:24:42] Adam: It’s kind of a thrilling thing to be out there by yourself, but it’s really easy to get yourself in trouble too.
[1:24:43 – 1:24:43] Erik: Yeah.
[1:24:45 – 1:24:45] Erik: Not to…
[1:24:48 – 1:24:51] Erik: I mean, I think it’s close to a lost scenario.
[1:24:51 – 1:24:53] Erik: And I think I’ve told this story too.
[1:24:53 – 1:24:58] Erik: This was just a couple of years ago, the time I lost the Caribou Rock Trail.
[1:24:59 – 1:25:00] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[1:25:01 – 1:25:02] Erik: Yeah, I’ll say it.
[1:25:02 – 1:25:03] Erik: I got rescued.
[1:25:03 – 1:25:05] Erik: Got rescued by a couple of people in a canoe.
[1:25:06 – 1:25:11] Erik: It was because of that big blowdown that came through a couple of years ago on Duncan.
[1:25:12 – 1:25:13] Erik: And they had to recut the trail.
[1:25:14 – 1:25:19] Erik: And I was like trail running slash very fast hiking from Clearwater.
[1:25:19 – 1:25:26] Erik: I was going to run up the Daniels Spur Trail to the Border Rock Trail over to Rose Falls and then down the Caribou Rock Trail.
[1:25:26 – 1:25:33] Erik: And I was going to meet my lovely wife, the geologist wife, at Hungry Jack’s.
[1:25:33 – 1:25:39] Erik: And I got, like, I was, like, well over halfway there south of Rose Falls on Caribou Rock Trail.
[1:25:39 – 1:25:45] Erik: And the trail just, like, it just ended at, like, the lake edge.
[1:25:48 – 1:25:48] Adam: This is…
[1:25:49 – 1:25:58] Erik: I walked way back to try to see if I like turned off and I couldn’t find where the actual trail continued on.
[1:25:58 – 1:26:02] Erik: So then I just ended up on the shore and I’m sitting there like thinking about, well, maybe…
[1:26:04 – 1:26:13] Erik: Maybe I’ll just get in the lake and swim over to the portage between Duncan and West Bearskin, which I know the Caribou Rock Trail crosses.
[1:26:13 – 1:26:13] Erik: Yeah.
[1:26:13 – 1:26:17] Erik: And I’ll hook into it again because I don’t really feel like running all the way back.
[1:26:18 – 1:26:28] Erik: And then right as soon as I was like about to like just kind of jump in and swim, this couple just came around the corner in a canoe with like a dog, two dogs, like two little scrappers.
[1:26:29 – 1:26:39] Erik: and I’m sure they were surprised to see me, and I kind of explained to them the situation, and they weren’t nearly as hesitant as the New Jersey… What are you going to do, rob us?
[1:26:39 – 1:26:41] Erik: What are you going to do, rob us?
[1:26:41 – 1:26:44] Erik: No, they picked me up, and they brought me over to the portage.
[1:26:44 – 1:26:45] Adam: Hitchhiking in the park.
[1:26:45 – 1:26:51] Erik: Yeah, I was literally hitchhiking in the park, and I made it back, and it all was good, but…
[1:26:52 – 1:26:53] Erik: I wasn’t lost.
[1:26:53 – 1:27:07] Erik: It was just like, all right, this is an inconvenience that I’m going to either have to backtrack and not get a tasty beverage from Hungry Jack after running all the way back, or I’m going to have to go for a weird swim.
[1:27:07 – 1:27:08] Erik: It was like mid-July.
[1:27:08 – 1:27:15] Erik: It would have been a fine swim, but I think I also had some electronic devices with me, so I was like, I don’t really want to do that.
[1:27:16 – 1:27:21] Erik: I think the only other time that I’ve ever been in a situation where I was like, eh,
[1:27:22 – 1:27:46] Adam: i’m kind of lost i know i mean i know right where i am but i just don’t know how to move forward yeah so no i think a lot is a lot of like scenarios in which someone could become lost are um averted because you just keep a calm head and know keep your bearings and keep a calm head i guess but yeah easier said than done sometimes right
[1:27:46 – 1:28:11] Adam: yeah and it’s i don’t want to i don’t want to be scaring people from the boundary waters like you’re gonna get lost if you try a hiking trip like i just think you know these are tales of caution yeah they’re interesting to discuss because like we’ve all anybody who’s spent time out there has kind of been at the start of one of these things and 99 out of 9999 out of those out of 100 you know a thousand come out right but it’s these one’s
[1:28:11 – 1:28:20] Adam: Every once in a while, this little thing goes wrong, and all of a sudden, one poor decision compounds upon another.
[1:28:20 – 1:28:24] Erik: Yeah, just between me and you, we’ve got a couple of stories of almost getting lost.
[1:28:24 – 1:28:26] Erik: I’m sure everybody’s got one.
[1:28:26 – 1:28:29] Erik: And everybody always, I think, kind of finds that, all right, whoo.
[1:28:30 – 1:28:30] Erik: you know, wipe the brow.
[1:28:30 – 1:28:31] Erik: There it is.
[1:28:31 – 1:28:34] Erik: That was a scary couple hours, scary couple of minutes or whatever.
[1:28:34 – 1:28:37] Erik: It’s just like the, you know, it’s like the story of any plane crash.
[1:28:37 – 1:28:48] Erik: There’s so many little things that go into the final crash that if one person would have said, uh, yeah, that you might want to check on this.
[1:28:48 – 1:28:52] Erik: Or if one person would have, you know, double checked some other thing.
[1:28:53 – 1:28:55] Erik: So like, it’s like so many of these things,
[1:28:57 – 1:29:24] Erik: circumstances need to align for you to like find yourself lost for a week it needs to snow six inches on your bright orange tent you know it’s it’s just like not saying that you can’t get lost like don’t underestimate it but I still can’t believe he left that tent though he just let stay in the tent and kept knocking the snow off the tent everything would have been fine well he yeah when he left the tent it hadn’t snowed
[1:29:25 – 1:29:30] Adam: No, but yeah, that was the one where it’s like, man.
[1:29:30 – 1:29:32] Erik: You’re convinced that you’re in a spot.
[1:29:32 – 1:29:33] Erik: That’s the thing.
[1:29:33 – 1:29:35] Erik: I think it was the leaving the tent.
[1:29:36 – 1:29:40] Erik: I can give him like a little bit of credit, but the leaving of the lake edge.
[1:29:41 – 1:29:45] Erik: It’s like now you have no gauge of where you are.
[1:29:46 – 1:30:03] Erik: And you’re like, yeah, you can kind of orient here with a compass out there, but you didn’t set, like you can’t like reset to head back to hit a certain point with a compass unless you have like pen and paper and are tracking every minute of your movement.
[1:30:03 – 1:30:28] Adam: i’m just looking at the map one more time too and he was at arrow lake in the fungus lake pma yeah but then uh had he kept going upstream on arrow creek he would have reached calamity lake and then eventually the powwow lake and powwow creek yeah i don’t know how many people have been up to calamity and powwow but there are not many there are campsites on uh what is that hope
[1:30:29 – 1:30:31] Adam: Yeah, that’s probably them.
[1:30:31 – 1:30:43] Adam: Most people going in the fungus PMA are going into the hope there, but that little side, little creek there that he ended up at, probably one of the few people alive or ever that have been in there.
[1:30:43 – 1:30:45] Erik: Camped on the shores of Arrow Lake, yeah.
[1:30:46 – 1:30:46] Adam: Wild stuff.
[1:30:47 – 1:30:47] Erik: Yeah.
[1:30:48 – 1:30:48] Erik: Wow.
[1:30:49 – 1:30:54] Erik: I mean, that one felt longer when I was doing the notes on it than Dan Stevens.
[1:30:55 – 1:30:58] Erik: And I think we came in under an hour, actually.
[1:30:58 – 1:31:04] Erik: And if we didn’t fill it out with our own lost stories, we’re at about the same length as the last episodes.
[1:31:04 – 1:31:05] Adam: I’m still kind of affected by this story.
[1:31:05 – 1:31:08] Adam: I don’t know if our listeners can tell.
[1:31:08 – 1:31:13] Adam: I’m a little shook just listening to the story and thinking back on some of our scary moments.
[1:31:14 – 1:31:14] Adam: Yeah.
[1:31:15 – 1:31:27] Adam: We’ve made them through and, you know, and discussing them and just kind of bringing it back up, keeping it fresh, you know, makes you maybe a little more wary out there.
[1:31:27 – 1:31:28] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:31:28 – 1:31:29] Erik: I love you.
[1:31:29 – 1:31:30] Erik: I love you all.
[1:31:31 – 1:31:32] Adam: Yeah, that picture, man.
[1:31:33 – 1:31:33] Adam: Holy moly.
[1:31:33 – 1:31:34] Adam: Yeah.
[1:31:34 – 1:31:34] Adam: All right.
[1:31:34 – 1:31:38] Adam: Well, I think we should get out.
[1:31:38 – 1:31:39] Adam: I got to.
[1:31:39 – 1:31:41] Erik: Yeah, you got some briquettes.
[1:31:41 – 1:31:42] Adam: I got some charcoal going on.
[1:31:42 – 1:31:42] Erik: Briquetting.
[1:31:44 – 1:31:48] Erik: All I’m doing now is just playing with the new microphone boom arm.
[1:31:48 – 1:31:51] Erik: So there’s no longer going to be any of those little like…
[1:31:52 – 1:31:55] Erik: You can kind of sometimes hear us handling the mics.
[1:31:56 – 1:31:57] Adam: This has been really nice, I’ve got to say.
[1:31:57 – 1:31:58] Erik: This is very nice.
[1:31:58 – 1:32:01] Erik: They just clamp onto the table.
[1:32:02 – 1:32:03] Erik: Yeah, it’s great.
[1:32:04 – 1:32:07] Erik: It feels like we have progressed.
[1:32:07 – 1:32:08] Erik: I think we’ve made it.
[1:32:08 – 1:32:10] Erik: We have made it.
[1:32:10 – 1:32:15] Erik: And we didn’t even get to the fun box that the mic stands came in.
[1:32:15 – 1:32:16] Adam: Let’s read that as we go out.
[1:32:17 – 1:32:19] Erik: Yeah, so this has been Tumble Home.
[1:32:19 – 1:32:19] Erik: Thank you.
[1:32:20 – 1:32:24] Erik: Next episode, boy, I don’t even know what next one’s going to be.
[1:32:24 – 1:32:26] Erik: That’s just going to be up in the air.
[1:32:27 – 1:32:32] Erik: This is just the couple of days before we are heading down to Midwest Mountaineering Expo.
[1:32:33 – 1:32:35] Erik: I might even try to just get this out tomorrow.
[1:32:35 – 1:32:36] Erik: Come down and say hi.
[1:32:37 – 1:32:37] Erik: Yeah.
[1:32:39 – 1:32:40] Erik: Link in the show notes.
[1:32:40 – 1:32:41] Erik: We’re at Midwest Mountaineering.
[1:32:41 – 1:32:43] Erik: That’s in Minneapolis on Cedar Avenue.
[1:32:45 – 1:32:48] Erik: Friday the 26th, 7th, and Sunday the 28th.
[1:32:49 – 1:32:52] Erik: It’s going to be a riot.
[1:32:52 – 1:32:53] Erik: It’s going to be great.
[1:32:53 – 1:32:55] Erik: I know I have some people that have said they’re coming to see us.
[1:32:57 – 1:32:59] Erik: If you want to come say hi for Tumble Home or for Clearwater.
[1:32:59 – 1:33:00] Adam: I’ve got to figure out what I’m going to wear.
[1:33:01 – 1:33:05] Erik: Yeah, I haven’t even gotten to the point of thinking about that.
[1:33:06 – 1:33:06] Erik: Hair.
[1:33:06 – 1:33:06] Erik: Yeah.
[1:33:07 – 1:33:08] Erik: Just put a hat on.
[1:33:08 – 1:33:08] Adam: I got to do a do.
[1:33:09 – 1:33:10] Adam: Yeah.
[1:33:10 – 1:33:11] Adam: Can’t show up looking like this.
[1:33:12 – 1:33:12] Adam: I don’t know.
[1:33:13 – 1:33:13] Adam: People are going to see us.
[1:33:13 – 1:33:14] Adam: You look fine.
[1:33:16 – 1:33:17] Adam: Thanks, Eric.
[1:33:17 – 1:33:18] Erik: Yeah, so I have been Eric.
[1:33:19 – 1:33:22] Erik: This has been Lost Boys series part two.
[1:33:23 – 1:33:31] Erik: For now, hopefully, the ultimate episode, the end of this series, only two.
[1:33:32 – 1:33:37] Erik: If Carrie or somebody else writes more about Lost Boys, maybe there will be a part three.
[1:33:39 – 1:33:40] Erik: And I’ve been joined by Adam.
[1:33:41 – 1:33:42] Erik: And we’re going to…
[1:33:42 – 1:34:07] Erik: get on out of here yeah happy paddling folks and uh hang on to those maps yes yeah come on just hang on to the map put them in a pocket wrap them tie them around a loop there are maps now that you can tie around belt straps do it right and just memorize your maps stare at them so much before your trip that then you will have dreams of your fisher
[1:34:08 – 1:34:20] Erik: Yeah, just constantly be working in a room that there are maps hanging on the wall or are on a table, aka become an outfitter.
[1:34:21 – 1:34:23] Erik: And then it’s always just in the back of your head generally.
[1:34:24 – 1:34:34] Erik: Not that I have any experience to say that a vague picture of a map in the back of my head would ever save me.
[1:34:35 – 1:34:41] Erik: But, you know, the music is definitely playing at this point, right?
[1:34:41 – 1:34:41] Adam: It is.
[1:34:41 – 1:34:42] Adam: I can hear it.
[1:34:42 – 1:34:42] Erik: Yeah.
[1:34:43 – 1:35:08] Adam: chip chips all right well it’s dinner time and we have been tumble home from studio k with brand new boom mics thanks for listening folks and we’ll see you down in the big city hopefully yay whoo woo woo and party horns party horn sounds all night yeah we got over there anyway so what’s this it’s a box from
[1:35:08 – 1:35:14] Erik: This is a box from China that the mic stand holders came in.
[1:35:15 – 1:35:17] Adam: I like how there’s a smiley face built into the logo.
[1:35:17 – 1:35:24] Erik: Yeah, it’s built into the logo, but they use the U in quality and the E in services as the eyes.
[1:35:25 – 1:35:27] Erik: It barely looks like a face.
[1:35:28 – 1:35:29] Erik: And their slogan?
[1:35:30 – 1:35:33] Erik: Enjoy your shopping time and our best services.
[1:35:34 – 1:35:34] Erik: Yeah.
[1:35:35 – 1:35:35] Erik: All right.
[1:35:35 – 1:35:36] Erik: I mean, that’s not bad.
[1:35:36 – 1:35:38] Adam: That’s what I think of when I think of boom mics.
[1:35:38 – 1:35:39] Erik: That’s not that terrible.
[1:35:39 – 1:35:40] Erik: But on the back…
[1:35:41 – 1:35:43] Adam: I don’t think they’re putting too much emphasis on the shopping time.
[1:35:44 – 1:35:47] Adam: Yeah, like, that’s… That’s not what I’m actually trying to enjoy.
[1:35:47 – 1:35:48] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[1:35:48 – 1:35:50] Erik: Don’t downplay the shopping time.
[1:35:51 – 1:35:53] Erik: And then on the back, there’s, like, three bullet points.
[1:35:53 – 1:35:54] Erik: Like, high quality.
[1:35:54 – 1:35:55] Erik: Five star.
[1:35:55 – 1:35:56] Erik: High recommend.
[1:35:57 – 1:36:01] Erik: Professional manufacturer with ten years experience.
[1:36:01 – 1:36:02] Erik: Communication.
[1:36:03 – 1:36:10] Erik: Welcome to contact us if you have any suggestion about improve our item, package, or service.
[1:36:12 – 1:36:15] Erik: Multiple words are just randomly capitalized.
[1:36:16 – 1:36:17] Adam: They sure like the word service.
[1:36:18 – 1:36:20] Erik: Give us a reviews when you get the item.
[1:36:21 – 1:36:28] Erik: Your true reviews will give others our references and make us do it better too.
[1:36:28 – 1:36:29] Adam: Yeah, whatever.
[1:36:29 – 1:36:32] Adam: I mean, how much Chinese do you write?
[1:36:33 – 1:36:35] Adam: I couldn’t even imagine what my Chinese would sound like.
[1:36:36 – 1:36:37] Erik: Yeah.
[1:36:38 – 1:36:40] Adam: Anyway, I always get a chuckle.
[1:36:41 – 1:36:42] Adam: Chinese.
[1:36:42 – 1:36:48] Erik: There’s a YouTube channel that they have, and there are also three instructions after each number.
[1:36:48 – 1:36:49] Erik: It’s not a period.
[1:36:49 – 1:36:50] Erik: It’s a comma.
[1:36:50 – 1:36:53] Erik: It’s the subtle things that I think is funny.
[1:36:53 – 1:36:56] Erik: Check our item on video before you buy.
[1:36:57 – 1:36:59] Erik: Study how to use the tool well.
[1:37:00 – 1:37:03] Erik: Get more discount and promotion.
[1:37:03 – 1:37:05] Erik: All of the words are capitalized.
[1:37:05 – 1:37:07] Erik: Every sentence, all of the words.
[1:37:07 – 1:37:08] Adam: Get more discount and promotion?
[1:37:08 – 1:37:09] Adam: What’s that even mean?
[1:37:09 – 1:37:10] Erik: Get more promotion.
[1:37:12 – 1:37:12] Adam: No, I will not.
[1:37:13 – 1:37:14] Adam: Quality services.
[1:38:04 – 1:38:04] UNKNOWN: Oh
[1:38:33 – 1:38:34] UNKNOWN: Thank you.
[1:39:16 – 1:39:18] UNKNOWN: Thank you.
[1:39:47 – 1:39:50] UNKNOWN: Thank you.
[1:40:25 – 1:40:26] UNKNOWN: Thank you.