"Lost" Hawaii Hiker "Found" After 2 Weeks?

Is there a reason we shouldn't be?

Strava or it didn't happen.

Maui is not big enough to get lost for two weeks. This is a meth binge psychotic episode.

It's not like you're going to starve to death there or be eaten by bears etc.

Nothing to see here.

“Dirty and slightly injured”? Her legs look really bad and infected! When I first read another article about this I was a bit skeptical since they made it sound like she was totally fine and just a bit dirty. But after seeing those pictures, it definitely looks worse.

What if you break your leg and are basically unable to move, and nobody is around to hear you shouting? There are some rugged parts of Hawaii.

howli wrote:

What if you break your leg and are basically unable to move, and nobody is around to hear you shouting? There are some rugged parts of Hawaii.

You crawl to water, eat fruits etc. and wait for a chopper to go by.

Here's a more detailed story on the NY Times. It's behind a pay wall so here's the short version. Went for a short hike so left water bottle and phone in car. Went off the trail to rest. When she returned, she got turned around. Kept following "her intuition." Kept walking until midnight. Day 3: Started looking for water. Fell off a 20 ft cliff. Hurt leg. Next day, shoes were swept away during flash flood. Initial search was a 1.5 mile radius. She was found after searchers expanded the search radius to 7 miles.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/hawaii-hiker.html

Jko98 wrote:

“Dirty and slightly injured”? Her legs look really bad and infected! When I first read another article about this I was a bit skeptical since they made it sound like she was totally fine and just a bit dirty. But after seeing those pictures, it definitely looks worse.

Looks like Jungle Rot or Trench foot but that's nowhere near as bad as it can get.

Strava or it didn't happen wrote:

Strava or it didn't happen.

+1

This is why I prefer to read the news on LRC.

I suspect a case of VBF- "Vegan Brain Fog".

After reading her description of the ordeal in the NYT article, it seems plausible. My wife and my training partner both have zero sense of direction. They probably would both stubbornly hike until midnight trying to find their way out and instead get hopelessly lost.

The ironic thing is that if she'd had even the most basic wilderness skills, she'd have found her way out in a day or so or found her way to a clearing and waited for a rescue helicopter. And now she has a million dollar book deal... sometimes life just isn't fair.

Poor woman had ZERO sense of direction, and possibly even less common sense. There is virtually NO place on Maui more than a days hike out of, that is if you have the presence of mind to follow downward slopes and flowing water.

Maybe because of the source of the link, the NYTimes thought I'd be interested in this one -- seems right up letsrun's alley. Hilariously unimportant records that nobody would care about if they weren't obsessed with the sport. Apparently it's even a misdemeanor to catch a fish the wrong way.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/us/fishing-records-cheating.html?action=click&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=U.S

.

alpha wrote:

Poor woman had ZERO sense of direction, and possibly even less common sense. There is virtually NO place on Maui more than a days hike out of, that is if you have the presence of mind to follow downward slopes and flowing water.

This.

I checked out the park on google maps. It's narrow but surprisingly long and runs mostly northwest to southeast. Her car was parked on the westerly side of the park. If she had simply gotten some rough bearings at sunrise and walked west, southwest, or south, she could have been out of the park in half a day.

I couldn't find the waterfall where she was found on google maps, but it sounded like it was several miles in a general north direction from where she parked her car.

She also walked off a 20 foot cliff.

fisky wrote:

alpha wrote:

Poor woman had ZERO sense of direction, and possibly even less common sense. There is virtually NO place on Maui more than a days hike out of, that is if you have the presence of mind to follow downward slopes and flowing water.

This.

I checked out the park on google maps. It's narrow but surprisingly long and runs mostly northwest to southeast. Her car was parked on the westerly side of the park. If she had simply gotten some rough bearings at sunrise and walked west, southwest, or south, she could have been out of the park in half a day.

I couldn't find the waterfall where she was found on google maps, but it sounded like it was several miles in a general north direction from where she parked her car.

Yep. I was super-curious, too, so I also checked the map. It's a freaking *loop* trail, for Chrissake, and not all that long, either.

Comments say it's pretty well-marked. There's no way there's not a sign at the 'stem' of the 'lollipop.'

Even if you got turned the wrong way on the loop, you'd just keep going, and end up back at the stem in an hour or two, and then you'd hit a sign that probably says 'Parking Lot This Way, 0.4 miles,' or something like that.

The entire loop is quite close to roads and houses on the West. (In some places, like a hundred freaking yards. You can probably *hear* people or cars on much of this.)

Even if you hopped off the trail to answer the call, and somehow managed to horribly lose your way back to the trail, worst-case-scenario, you'd follow the setting sun, and either run back into the trail real quick, or stumble into someone's back yard.

I'm glad she's alive, and maybe she's a wonderful gal, but holy sh*t, people *THIS* incompetent shouldn't be allowed on trails. They shouldn't be allowed to operate a fork and knife.

(OR, this whole story's a crock, and there's something else going on.)

I’m in Hawaii and there seems to be more to this story...trust me.

How so? Any links to read?