They found him

I know this story hasn't gotten much play outside my immediate are, but I'm relieve that Ray LouAllen has been found:

Lawrence County [AL] residents celebrated Tuesday after a neighbor found a healthy 73-year-old Ray LouAllen, who had been lost in Bankhead National Forest for nearly four days.

Since you probably don't know, I'll give you a little background. Evidently Mr. LouAllen went to scout hunting sites for the upcoming wild boar season. If you remember my wild hog adventures in the Sipsey, you'll know I applaud that move. Anyway, Mr. LouAllen went scouting Friday morning, but he had not returned by the end of the day. After a couple days searching, the general consensus was that he was dead. Now, though, he walks out of the woods suffering only from mild dehydration and tick bites. Wow.

Since the Sipsey is located within Bankhead Forest, lots of friends and co-workers cited this story as an example of why I should not take off and explore over there by myself. While I do realize bad things can happen in the woods, I've never felt as if I were in any danger. The closest I've come to that was one of my first day-long hikes in the Sipsey. First, I'd planned WAY too long of a hike. More importantly, though, I'd taken a poorly maintained trail and wound up on a disappearing trail, trapped on a hillside full of downed trees -- a literal logjam. Seriously, I had to get down on hands and knees and crawl under, through, and over stacks of trees. By the time I got across the hill and found the faint trail again it was getting late and I was almost out of water -- still miles from "base". Even though I felt a whisper of panic, I knew where I needed to go and I'd packed extra clothing and fire building material. Even though I didn't have a water filter with me, I knew I could get pretty safe water from local creeks as well. If I had to, I knew I could spend the night and hike out in the morning. In the end I made it back to the car, though the last 2.5 miles or so were hiked in the dark. Still, that's not so bad.

When I hear stories such as Mr. LouAllen's, I usually scoff and think something like, "How can you get lost for 4 days? Just know the basic area and picture an area bordered by 2 main trails or roads. Head in that general direction and you're bound to hit one or the other. Right?" That's what I usually think, but Mr. LouAllens' story does give me some pause. Evidently he's lived most of his life around the Bankhead and he does know the area well. I'm not sure it completely invalidates my theory, but it does make me wonder. Oh well, I'm going to reassure myself by assuming he did not have a Magellan GPS receiver. Hey, it makes me feel better, so that's the story I'm going with. Still, good for the LouAllen family.