A Wonderful Rescue Story from Hawaii

[ChrisB]

Here is a wonderful story about an amazing rescue on Maui in HW.

What's cool is how the community mobilized and kept going after the "official" rescuers gave up.

A gofundme page paid for helo time and the volunteer rescue leader lost his job because of time off!

But after three weeks they found her injured but very alive in a drainage.

And as a coda, her dad wrote some GIS software to assist in the search, which he now plans to develop into a commercial product.

Aloha spirit indeed! Go Hawaii!

cb

 

[CaptCaper]

Here is a wonderful story about an amazing rescue on Maui in HW.

What's cool is how the community mobilized and kept going after the "official" rescuers gave up.

A gofundme page paid for helo time and the volunteer rescue leader lost his job because of time off!

But after three weeks they found her injured but very alive in a drainage.

And as a coda, her dad wrote some GIS software to assist in the search, which he now plans to develop into a commercial product.

Aloha spirit indeed! Go Hawaii!

cb

Her story seems fishy. I mean two weeks in that part of Maui? I know that area. Very tiny and a few miles from roads and or homes.

 

[Billy]

Her story seems fishy. I mean two weeks in that part of Maui? I know that area. Very tiny and a few miles from roads and or homes.

I agree, her story is bogus. Look at her feet....looks like she just got a pedicure.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Crazy lady wanders into the woods following voices with nothing but the clothes on her back. Heartwarming.

 

[DayTrip]

Her story seems fishy. I mean two weeks in that part of Maui? I know that area. Very tiny and a few miles from roads and or homes.

I don't know if I'd call it "fishy" but in the interview she did on Today show she really embellished the hell out of her decision to live or die and seemed pretty fond of herself. I think there is already a book deal in the works and I fully expect she'll monetize the hell out of this. I found her interview very self-serving. Did she stage the whole thing for this purpose? I don't know or really care for that matter but it felt less than genuine to me to on some level.

 

[ChrisB]

I don't know if I'd call it "fishy" but in the interview she did on Today show she really embellished the hell out of her decision to live or die and seemed pretty fond of herself. I think there is already a book deal in the works and I fully expect she'll monetize the hell out of this. I found her interview very self-serving. Did she stage the whole thing for this purpose? I don't know or really care for that matter but it felt less than genuine to me to on some level.

Wow, it never occurred to me that she might have staged the whole thing! So you guys think she jumped off the cliff to break her own leg has part of the charade? OMG.

The scenario here is similar to the Geraldine Largay AT accident in Maine: step off trail for a nature call, get disoriented, get lost.

I hope the true story will eventually be told.

(I also hope the responses to this thread are not the usual Internet misogyny evident in lots of other forums.)

cb

 

[JoshandBaron]

Wow, it never occurred to me that she might have staged the whole thing! So you guys think she jumped off the cliff to break her own leg has part of the charade? OMG.

The scenario here is similar to the Geraldine Largay AT accident in Maine: step off trail for a nature call, get disoriented, get lost.

Except this woman wasn't an experienced hiker who wandered off trail for a nature call in a large wilderness. She wandered off trail in a park smaller than the Fells because she was compelled to by a "feeling" and somehow got lost for weeks. If I went out for a bushwhack in Lynn Woods with absolutely nothing the only topic of conversation would be when I'm getting my rescue bill.

This woman deserves no glorification, especially if what she states is true. She had some hippy impulse that impacted a lot people (and boars), cost at least one person their job, and cost thousands of dollars. She wandered into the woods equipped with nothing, admittedly not knowing where she was going, then expects to be treated like a hero for somehow not dying.

 

[DayTrip]

Wow, it never occurred to me that she might have staged the whole thing! So you guys think she jumped off the cliff to break her own leg has part of the charade? OMG.

The scenario here is similar to the Geraldine Largay AT accident in Maine: step off trail for a nature call, get disoriented, get lost.

I hope the true story will eventually be told.

(I also hope the responses to this thread are not the usual Internet misogyny evident in lots of other forums.)

cb

I'm not saying she staged it. Probably worded that poorly in previous post. By "staged" I meant more that she was faking emotions and drama when talking about it not so much that the whole event was planned in advance. My bad. Embellished would probably have been a more accurate description. I'm saying she is really going out of her way to make it known to anyone who will listen what an awesome and inspiring person she is. I think she is exploiting her ordeal for material gain and exaggerating every detail to monetize it. That was my take anyway. Could be totally wrong but the whole thing just has a fake feel to it on some level.

 

[DayTrip]

Except this woman wasn't an experienced hiker who wandered off trail for a nature call in a large wilderness. She wandered off trail in a park smaller than the Fells because she was compelled to by a "feeling" and somehow got lost for weeks. If I went out for a bushwhack in Lynn Woods with absolutely nothing the only topic of conversation would be when I'm getting my rescue bill.

This woman deserves no glorification, especially if what she states is true. She had some hippy impulse that impacted a lot people (and boars), cost at least one person their job, and cost thousands of dollars. She wandered into the woods equipped with nothing, admittedly not knowing where she was going, then expects to be treated like a hero for somehow not dying.

Yah totally agree. Feels like she is acting for a role on some crap network TV special.

 

[Rhody Seth]

Tough crowd around here.

 

[JoshandBaron]

There is a difference between being a victim of someone else's recklessness and a victim of your own. This isn't blaming some assault victim. She was wholly responsible for the situation she found herself in and neglected to take even the most basic of precautions.

I suppose an "ideal victim" would be a victim of circumstances outside of their control.
Not many people deserve to have bad things happen to them but they certainly don't deserve to be glorified for their recklessness, either. You think she went on the Today show for free?
Following a voice and blindly going in the wrong direction aren't necessarily different. Only she knew she wasn't going the right way when she set off down that path and did it anyway.

 

[sierra]

I have no idea if this story is true or not. That being said, if it is, staying alive in a situation like that is no easy task. If the story is true, I give her a lot of credit.

 

[egilbe]

She's another silly touron who couldn't read warning signs and caused a lot of people much grief.

 

[TCD]

their mistakes should be forgivable I think, especially given the price some of them paid... [Ralston] claims he got his will to live from a hallucination of himself playing with his future child

Agree, their mistakes are forgivable. I don't scorn them. But they also should not be lionized, and get famous and rich for making a dumb mistake. That only encourages more of the same.

Eller was local (not a tourist), and should have been smart enough to at least take her phone. Heck, taking the phone (and not much else) is considered "entry level dumb" in most areas.

Ralston made one really dumb mistake. He chose to not tell anyone where he was going. (Also, he borrowed the "hallucination of playing with the future child" story directly from the Lord of the Rings movie, which had just been released the year before...)

So yes, sympathy for having undergone a tough experience. But that's it.

 

[dug]

I go for walks in the woods all the time and have all my life. I don't plan on carrying my full safety gear all the time. While I often will have my phone with me, not always and coverage where I live is spotty anyway.

Her story isn't a "hiking survival story" it's a "survival story" and should be treated as such. We can't try to pigeon hole her experiences into what many of us do every day.

Sometimes...a walk in the woods is just a walk in the woods.

 

[ChrisB]

Crazy lady wanders into the woods following voices with nothing but the clothes on her back. Heartwarming.

When I started this thread I was more intrigued with the community response to the rescue than with the specific circumstances of the victim.

To me the story was a refreshing change from our pat White Mountain (and VFTT) rescue response that follows a predictable pattern of:

ANALYZE --> CRITICIZE --> VILIFY --> PUNISH & FINE

The fact that her community on Maui did not give up hope was uplifting to me. Their success in finding her alive even better.

Still the case.

 

[griffin]

The fact that her community on Maui did not give up hope was uplifting to me. Their success in finding her alive even better.

Still the case.

My response as well. Also love the idea that the software/code they developed might help future searches. Pretty cool stuff.

 

[CaptCaper]

I knew it had to be fishy
https://www.facebook.com/skdonato/videos/10219508481730516/UzpfSTE0MzE0MjYxMDM6MTAyMjA1NzY1Njg0NzA3OTI/?epa=SEARCH_BOX