Inchworms Journal during 26 days lost...newest report

[poconoron]

I'll be up there in the spring and I'll take a bunch of photos especially of the tote road and various spots at near the memorial site. Curious to see how close our team got last fall too. I'll take gps coordinates of the AT up there too and we can see where it is in relation to the various maps posted Chuck T. I'll look around for rerouted AT trails. Dunno if this thread will still be up in the spring but if so I'll post that here.

Tigerslair- Could be. The tent hasn't been confirmed along with a bunch of other stuff even though media articles state that she was in a tent and it seems reasonable to conclude. Probably many details will be confirmed when the warden service releases the official file.

Starfly...........I would be particularly interested in seeing pics of those side trails branching off to the left of the AT after it crosses Orbeton stream. I'm wondering how wide those trails were as to be mistaken for the AT.

Thanks.

[Tigerslair]

Starfly...........I would be particularly interested in seeing pics of those side trails branching off to the left of the AT after it crosses Orbeton stream. I'm wondering how wide those trails were as to be mistaken for the AT.

Thanks.

I have been wondering the same thing. It does look like the tote road in question merges with the AT for a short distance before branching off. It could be that Gerry continued left along the tote road at the split rather than bearing to the right to stay on the AT. It would be interesting to see how it looks. If any of those tote road intersections are confusing, perhaps additional signage is needed to help hikers stay on the right trail.

[Grampie]

Talk about beating a dead horse, should we all think about ending this post and let Gerry RIP?

[MuddyWaters]

Gerry is resting in peace.

Some still want to know how she got to where she was, in the hope that it might prevent someone else a similar fate.

Precisely how she got to where she was
Why didnt she backtrack when realized she was offtrail

These things are unexplained still. If MWS has answer, they havent shared it.

The thread may be placed on ignore if it bothers anyone.

[ChuckT]

MuddyWaters said it before I could - we can benefit from learning more.

[Traveler]

MuddyWaters said it before I could - we can benefit from learning more.

Very much agreed. Speculations are not data and there are lots of variables in this, blaming the MWS in anyway is counter productive. I agree with the idea that learning more of how she got to that final spot may prevent others from doing so. Unfortunately there is little we can do to arrive at any factual conclusions of how that happened outside of the continual check for blazes is never inappropriate.

[timeless_man]

I've hiked that tote road twice. It's wide and graded, though grown in with weeds and an occasional sapling. There is no signage. Approaching from the south it was clearly a trail heading off the at. This was in October. In the summer I think it could still cause some confusion - but an experienced hiker would note very quickly that it wasn't the AT. From the junction of the AT and this tote road to the "campsite" where she was found is about a ten minute easy stroll. Not steep, not thick. I can't imagine why she wasn't able to backtrack. It's baffling this skidder track wasn't thoroughly searched. Maybe there was confusion as to who's job it was to search it because it's basically on the border of the AT corridor and the Navy land?

[gpburdelljr]

MuddyWaters said it before I could - we can benefit from learning more.

Unless more information is released by the officials involved we will never know more. Speculation on this forum is just that, speculation, and is not informative.

[ChuckT]

I'm hoping Starfly can contribute pictures that say "this is the current route of the AT, and this, this, and this, etc. are the intersecting, and un-maintained, other walkways".

[Starfly]

We'll see on Chuck it'll be months before I get in there. Theres others who go up there a lot and have helped us all too.

I hear what you're saying Traveler especially about the warden service. Nobody has an ax to grind concerning them. The facts of the matter are that they conducted a botched search for Gerry to put it mildly. If you feel otherwise thats fair but I'd like to hear why. We could even be specific and ask why the tote road wasn't searched or searched well during their hasty searches. I mean I'm disappointed in myself for not searching it and I'm an amateur.

If Gerry has something to leave behind for us, like a legacy or whatever you want to call it, I think a higher standard for all. Future victims and their rescuers/searchers both professional and amateur, could make better decisions for better outcomes.

[4eyedbuzzard]

I've hiked that tote road twice. It's wide and graded, though grown in with weeds and an occasional sapling. There is no signage. Approaching from the south it was clearly a trail heading off the at. This was in October. In the summer I think it could still cause some confusion - but an experienced hiker would note very quickly that it wasn't the AT.

Her prior hiking companion has stated that Gerry often got confused with direction.

From the junction of the AT and this tote road to the "campsite" where she was found is about a ten minute easy stroll. Not steep, not thick. I can't imagine why she wasn't able to backtrack.

I think there is a high probability that by the time the search began, she was at best incapacitated and/or unconscious, and likely already dead.

It's baffling this skidder track wasn't thoroughly searched. Maybe there was confusion as to who's job it was to search it because it's basically on the border of the AT corridor and the Navy land?

Or maybe the search parties simply missed it. That does happen in the real world.

[Starfly]

Well now that the medical examiners report has been out for a number of days there might be a bit of a tidal wave here. Its a pretty thorough report. A lot of questions answered in it.

Ya Buzzard mistakes do happen. There were a lot of spurs and roads to check especially considering the vastness of the original search area. It is super puzzling, however, (and I'm not trying to add gravity to any recent media articles) that the tote road wasn't searched at all. If you consider the CalTopo and its superimposed warden service searches, only a k9 team searched the tote road, and only partially at that, say 20%, AND according to the WS about two weeks after she was declared missing. Its a mistake that's becomes harder to reconcile the more you think about it.

[ChuckT]

I just read the latest Busby posting. What rot, he takes a few unrelated facts and weaves a fantasy.
One of the commentators says she probably died from a medical event and that seems most likely to me.
For the rest Busby is trying, as seems popular these days, to say that the Federal Government is this over arching, monolithic, super being that can do anything it pleases.
The truth that I've seen is that the Federal Government is _our_ government and if anyone has made it the way it is now it's us and not Hollywood.
A lot of the $$$s that it would take to make this SERE school into the torture chamber Busby's trying to make it out to be is probably not there. I'm betting that most often there's only a skeletal staff on hand until there's a class going on and then the instructors and the students are bussed in, and then out, after 6 weeks or less. So not having the personnel on hand to aid in a search is the usual not the unusual.
Why is it poorly marked? Because there's no funding to surround the place with razor wire and searchlights. There shouldn't be any and they're not needed cause _nothing's_ going on.

[4eyedbuzzard]

Here's a comment made today, Jan 28, in reply to Busby's latest article from a member of the S&R team [my highlights]:

From https://chrisbusby.bangordailynews.c...n-largay-case/
Jeffrey Kelley · Maintenance Supervisor at Shaws Distribution Center
You really have no clue what you're talking about Mr. Busby- I've hiked/hunted/etc. from Alaska to Maine, and that "Tote Road" was "Moderatly overgrown" with foliage? I was on the search the first Friday, and that "Tote Road" was surrounded with the densest growth I've ever seen. You could not see where your next step was because it was so thick. It took us 6 hours to cover less than 3 miles, all with trained, experienced searchers (and by the way, we had 2 searchers drop out because the terrain was so difficult- young men in their 20s). Elevation didn't play as much of a part in that area as the thickness of the terrain, but I'm sure you saw that on GooglMaps when you looked for information to back up your already determined view that it must be a government coverup. Your lack of knowledge on the subject is obvious based on your insinuation that she was "Right there next to the road" and the area was avoided for some Kennedy-esque, grassy knoll conspiracy reason. And I'm sure you're aware that the next day, Saturday, the SERE instructors we actually conducting searches with students along with others delaying said training that was to occur the day after she was reported missing. The real conspiracy is how you maintain a living as a reporter without so much as setting eyes on an area to pretend to know enough about to evaluate from your computer desk. I'll tell you what; strap on your Croc boots with the Ugg inserts, pull up your skinny jeans, and lets take a walk to that exact spot. If you can physically make it, which I highly doubt.

[Don H]

MWS has said that NCIS and members of the SERE training center helped in every way asked. I see no reason to doubt that.

[QHShowoman]

Wow.

Startling new details released in a report from the State Medical Examiner’s Office show the conditions Geraldine Largay was living in while search teams failed to locate her.
She was last seen in July 2013 hiking the Appalachian Trail.
Surveyors found her remains in October of last year.
The report states Largay’s remains were found in a sleeping bag inside a zipped up tent.
The area where she was found is described as a campsite in a small clearing within a heavily wooded area.
The report goes on to say that she had built a sleeping platform out of soil and pine needles.
It’s noted that visibility of the campsite from woods or air would have been very limited because of tree cover.
Search dogs were used but the report say type of materials her sleeping bag and tent were made of limited the transmission of detectable scent.
The postmortem report indicates that Largay apparently died during the summer she disappeared.

http://wabi.tv/2016/01/28/new-detail...uilt-campsite/

[hikernutcasey]

Since the last threads on Inchworm were permanently closed I hesitate to post this but it is new and public information. The medical examiner's report concluded that she died inside her sleeping bag, inside her tent, most likely from starvation and exposure. The article goes on to say that they believe because she was inside the tent and bag and so well insulated, the K-9's were not able to pick up a scent. At least this can hopefully bring the family some closure and much needed peace.

Article link: http://www.wmtw.com/news/report-hike...-tent/37689726

[Don H]

She was found in her sleeping bag outside of her zipped up tent.
It helps to read the actual report.
Just lazy reporting.

[egilbe]

She was found in her sleeping bag outside of her zipped up tent.
It helps to read the actual report.
Just lazy reporting.

Source? Ten characters

[egilbe]

There is still the original open thread on this.