Date: 2015-04-04
From: Spence Field Shelter

To: Silers Bald Shelter
Miles today: 12.1
Weather: broken clouds

I am not sure how to write this but here I go. At about 10:00 pm a terrible storm came up with high winds and heavy rain. I was sleeping in the loft portion of the shelter with my head about 6 inches from the tin roof and the rain sounded like someone shooting a rifle.At about 3:30 am someone came into the shelter saying that he needed help. He said he had left his father and brother-in-law up on the mountain (rocky top) with hypothermia symptoms and could we help him. Immediately the guy next to me jumped up and took charge. His trail name is Fry and he is a fireman with first responder training. He and 4 other young guys took off to help. This was a very dangerous situation due to the clouds we were in, the temp and the rain still falling. One of the girls in the shelter had phone service and called 911. I can only tell you that if you are in the mountains and need immediate help you better be ready to take care of yourself because help isn't quick. About 2 hours later 2 of the guys came back carrying the brother-in- law who had messed his knee up falling while trying to go for help. He was not in good shape but we got him some hot food and drink, dry clothes and wrapped up in a sleeping bag. He was still there when we left at 8:30 waiting on the Park Rangers to come up on horseback to evacuate him.The other 3 college students who also went to help was looking for the dad. One of them came back after 3 hours and said the other 2 had passed by the dad without seeing him but he found him and did everything he could to help but came back because the dad needed much more help. Realize that during all this time the same information was given to 3 different govt organizations. I guess they still don't talk to each other.A little after daylight 2 thru hikers came through and heard the story and later found the dad to help out. When they got there 1 of the 2 hikers that had passed the dad had made it all the way to the other shelter which is a very hard hike of about 8 miles. One of them got some more equipment from those hikers and came back and found the dad. He was still there along with the 2 thru hikers when Sixty-one and myself got there. They were erecting a wind screen and trying to warm up the dad. I wish I new the college student who went to the next shelter and then came all the way back. I will tell you that there is no way I could have physically did what he did. I am confident that he saved this man's life. We heard later they were able to bring a helicopter in and evac him to a hospital after lunch when the cloud cover lifted. He was on that mountain for almost 18 hours.This all occurred due to inexperience, one of the toughest sections of the trail and improper equipment for the weather conditions. There very easily could have been three deaths on top of that mountain last night.I also want to say how proud I was of the one college students that stayed at the shelter with us. He just started praying a prayer out loud asking for God's help in this situation. He had no idea who the rest of us were but he did this out loud anyway. I bet these 4 students had no clue what they would experience on this weekend trip but they along with Fry and Fossie were heroes this night.It was a very tough day to get to our next shelter due to the climbs and weather but we did. I was so tired and I am in my sleeping bag at 5:30.What a night!!!Bean Counter