Woman Who Hiked 26 Miles in Snow to Try and Save Her Family Stranded in Snow Near Grand Cayon is a Marathon Runner

I was a peripheral member of the group that Margaret was hanging out with that week in 2004 in Flagstaff, also visiting from out of town and spending time with them up until the day before. So her story has also been personal to me and is something that I always have in the back of my mind when going out in hot weather or unfamiliar trails. Back then I didn't yet do much trail running, but one part that I've always remembered is that they were both very fit athletes, and the Flagstaff group spent most of their free time in the mountains and at the canyon. I've had brief experiences with heat exhaustion since and it's impossible to understate how quickly you can become dehydrated and disoriented in the sun, especially on unfamiliar trails. It really is like your brain stops working and up becomes down and left becomes right.

I read the story on CNN and it sounded like a classic case of someone doing a lot of the wrong things in a survival situation. She's lucky to be alive. The fact that her husband was able to obtain a cell phone connection and call for help by just moving a short distance from the stranded car makes the wife's ordeal look rather silly in hindsight. I'm impressed she was able to do what she did physically but it was a bad decision.

The real moral of the story, though: DO NOT TRUST GPS GUIDANCE SYSTEMs ON CARS!

As a Flagstaffer, I've always been in a similar position to you and approached running in remote areas with this story in the back of my mind. Gives me chills to think about Margaret while running the same route that she and her friend tackled that day. Though I wasn't involved with this group in 2004, the guy that was with Margaret on that awful day is a friend of a friend and by his account they just messed up. As the sign says upon entrance to Rocky Mountain NP: "THE MOUNTAINS DON'T CARE." Nature can be harsh, particularly in the heat of July at the Grand Canyon (and in the winter on the more remote North Rim). After running the canyon frequently the past few years, it can make a world of difference intimately knowing the area. Be prepared for the worst thing that can go wrong. Happy to hear that the individual in Wejo's post made it out and it had a happy ending, as so often it doesn't turn out that way.

amkelley wrote:

I read the story on CNN and it sounded like a classic case of someone doing a lot of the wrong things in a survival situation. She's lucky to be alive. The fact that her husband was able to obtain a cell phone connection and call for help by just moving a short distance from the stranded car makes the wife's ordeal look rather silly in hindsight. I'm impressed she was able to do what she did physically but it was a bad decision.

The real moral of the story, though: DO NOT TRUST GPS GUIDANCE SYSTEMs ON CARS!

According to one source, the husband hiked 15 miles to get cell service -- so if that's true he made a tough choice, too, to leave the car:

One of the first rules of mountaineering, which maybe applies here, is never get yourself into a situation from which you can't retreat if necessary. Seems like layers of miscalculation -- they hadn't let other people know their itinerary or researched park winter policies, they apparently didn't have supplies in their car to survive being stranded in a remote area, they weren't watching the weather, and as you say, they just trusted Google to give them a viable route. On the other hand, she was able to keep going under difficult conditions -- even apparently losing one of her hiking boots. She didn't give up, which is a big deal.

P.B.R. wrote:

I was a peripheral member of the group that Margaret was hanging out with that week in 2004 in Flagstaff, also visiting from out of town and spending time with them up until the day before. So her story has also been personal to me and is something that I always have in the back of my mind when going out in hot weather or unfamiliar trails.

I don't know you do I?

This thread reminded me of (stupid(?)) stuff I used to do when I was in Flag. I'd go run up in the mountains by myself in the snow. I remember thinking if anything happened no one would find me because I was living by myself. At the very least I should have told people where I was going, even if I just called someone outside of Flag and told them. If they didn't hear back from me in a couple of hours, they could start looking for me.

The coolest run of my life was one of these runs. I was up above the cloud cover surrounded by snow. The running was pretty safe but setting off by yourself in trails not frequented by others in bad weather is idiotic. (I think this run was east of town but there are no mountains east of town. I want to figure out where it was).

Stupidest thing I ever did was on a bike. In 2001 or 2002 after pacing at the Chicago marathon, I set off to ride a mountain bike. I never road a bike. I hated doing out and backs so the plan was to do a loop. I got stuck up on this plateau behind Walnut Canyon near Lake Mary Road (paved road with traffic). Lake Mary Road was like 300 meters parallel from the first path I was on, but the problem was I was up on a plateau and there was a big dropoff in between. So I just kept going (getting farther from where I started) because I figured at some point I'd be able to swing the right to Lake Mary road. Problem was it got dark. Now I had gone a long way and didn't want to try and retrace my steps. If I could just get to the right 300m I'd be fine. I never took a cell phone with me but I did this time as a watch and looked at the phone and couldn't believe I had coverage. I called Robert in Ithaca and was asking him what the hell to do. Finally I decided I was just going to bush whack and for some reason concluded it wasn't a steep drop anymore from the plateau to the road. I told him I was going to slide the bike in front of me down the ravine If the bike dropped suddenly I'd know there was a cliff (this was before a smart phone existed and could be a flashlight). I made it out there. I assume I could have made it through the night (and Robert could have called for help if I got stuck) if I got stuck but 2 days later if was 35 and raining at night.

The moral of the story is the fit people are the ones who often die because they can be the most careless. Please don't let it be you.

Great. A guy makes a dumb move and the guy he calls for ideas is his carbon copy.

dumb plus dumb is still dumb.

Think for Yourself wrote:

amkelley wrote:

I read the story on CNN and it sounded like a classic case of someone doing a lot of the wrong things in a survival situation. She's lucky to be alive. The fact that her husband was able to obtain a cell phone connection and call for help by just moving a short distance from the stranded car makes the wife's ordeal look rather silly in hindsight. I'm impressed she was able to do what she did physically but it was a bad decision.

The real moral of the story, though: DO NOT TRUST GPS GUIDANCE SYSTEMs ON CARS!

According to one source, the husband hiked 15 miles to get cell service -- so if that's true he made a tough choice, too, to leave the car:

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/27/mother-hikes-26-miles-in-freezing-weather-to-rescue-her-family/

Famous words in that article, " ‘I’ll just go, I’ll just walk up to the main road, I can do this, I’m a runner,"

Some accounts I've seen just say the husband hiked to higher ground to get cell coverage. Turns out he went 15 miles WITH the 10 year old? I'd like to hear their story. They didn't set out until the next day. The mother was gone for a day and a half (2 nights). I wonder when she made it to the cabin? Sounds like her problem besides going the wrong direction is she got wet. Doesn't help she started out at I think 2:30 pm and it gets dark not long after. Her husband and son must have started out the next day earlier. There has to be some hiking forum talking about this somewhere.

gotta agree with Think...

When you are hiking off trail/rock scrambling and you start realizing that you feel too exposed, you KNOW you are off route and you turn around and look for another route.

I saw the story on the Today show. The GPS got them on a mountain road and they became stuck in the snow.

How did they not start seeing that the road was not plowed? You don't just suddenly get stuck. There are warning signs along the drive that they completely ignored. why they didn't start realizing they were getting stuck and turn the car around?

Running RRR in early April, going South to North. Hit light snow about Supai tunnel. I was foolish and thought someone might be at GC lodge so I made the 1.5 trek to lodge and of course no one there. So by the time I did the 3 mile trek back/forth to lodge and the 1.7 back to tunnel the snow was too deep and trail too steep. I also thought about hiking the road instead of trekking back into canyon, glad I didn't, the temp rose and snow stopped falling as I progressed deeper. I doubt they would have found me on the road.

wejo wrote:

There has to be some hiking forum talking about this somewhere.

Hiking forum perspective here:

Unsurprisingly most of the comments are about mistakes they made in preparation i.e. not knowing that the north rim was closed.

I knew this name sounded familiar when I saw it.

She is the lady bus driver that was "bullied" on video. Went viral about 4 years ago or so.

Glad to see she moved to PA, lost some weight and is now running 'thons.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lets-give-karen-the-bus-monitor-h-klein-a-vacation--6#/

This may sound harsh, but these people were complete idiots. I'm glad they survived, but none of them are heros. Any simple internet search would have told them the Grand Canyon North Rim was closed for the season. I have a hard time believing they didn't pass signs telling them the park and roads were closed well before they became stranded. Who does no research before planning to visit a national park? It's hard to believe they were that stupid to not know the park and roads would be closed.

How many times are we going to hear this same story? "Family follows Google maps down dirt roads into oblivion beyond the reach of the nearest cell tower. Once stuck, stupid but heroic family member hikes miles through (snow, mud, thickets) to get help." You would think that one instance would be enough to educate everyone else. But no.

RossiCheated wrote:

Let's cut to the chase. Is she hot or not?

In the family photos I'm indifferent. In the hospital bed with the hat on and her hair framing her face...pretty hot.

That was because they warmed her up.

Wejo

I'm a backcountry guide here in Alaska. In my experience, externally Monday morning quarterbacking such scenarios is all but pointless. Everything is contextual.

It's useful for me to review mishaps and decisions with guides I work with, but that's because we can dig through all those contextual nuances. Those things matter.

What I can suggest is that such situations don't typically "happen". They unravel. Little things, partcpicularly left untended, become big things.

But I gave up trying to read through your post because of the way the embedly feed distorts the content container and cuts off half of what you said in every line of your post. On an iPad, Safari.

Maybe get this fixed.

Man saves stupid wife.

Wtfunny wrote:

But I gave up trying to read through your post because of the way the embedly feed distorts the content container and cuts off half of what you said in every line of your post. On an iPad, Safari.

Maybe get this fixed.

Anyone else have this problem? Embedly works great for me on chrome and my phone (Android)

letsclarify wrote:

Man saves stupid wife.

Survival:

If in a vehicle, stay with it.

Protection.

Protect yourselves.

Location.

Make the area you're in visible to searchers.

Water.

Food.

wtf,

Was getting worried about you; haven't heard from you in months. Maybe being an Alaskan guide accounts for that.

Late Merry Christmas and Early Happy New Year :-)