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Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 23rd, 2021, 6:21 pm
by Bosterson
:lol: Nice work, DN!

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 23rd, 2021, 6:50 pm
by Charley
Fascinating. What the. . .?????

I hate to speculate, because he seems to have had some kind of experience in the woods, and it might not be inappropriate. He still might simply be profoundly confused (maybe dehydrated?).

But I think it's clear beyond a doubt that he is an unreliable narrator, and that his photos and account don't reflect reality accurately.
Don Nelsen wrote:
April 23rd, 2021, 6:04 pm
So, I hiked the Gorton Creek Trail on the 14th to try to rid myself of a few pounds of Covid fatness. (didn't work, so far) As I started along the ridge east and above Deadwood, I looked for the spot the wayward hiker took a picture he posted on Facebook. Found it, a half dozen steps from the trail:

His photo:
Gorton 011921.jpg
My photo from exactly the same spot:
Gorton 041421 DN.JPG
He stated, in his telling of the tale on Facebook:

“This pic of Adams was taken from a narrow crumbling slope where the only available handholds were thorny brambles and that was supposed to officially be part of the trail.”

Well, I didn't see any "thorny brambles" and there's a nice fir tree right there to lean on if one wanted to. Definitely not a "narrow crumbling slope" either.

The spot where the pic was taken:
IMG_1871.JPG
Hmmmm....

13 miles 3,500' gain, hike # 31

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 23rd, 2021, 10:33 pm
by squidvicious
Obviously as a service to others who might suffer his tragic fate he came back later and filled in the slope, cut back the brambles, and planted some trees for safety.

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 9:56 am
by retired jerry
I looked at those two pictures of Don's and yes, they seem to be from the same place. The little sticks coming out of the trunk are the same (only curved upwards in Don's).

I don't think it's a good idea to debunk the guys story. That could go badly. As happens on the internet.

I like stories like this because there are lessons to be learned so we can avoid the same mistakes, but in this case I don't think there are any useful lessons.

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 10:27 am
by Don Nelsen
retired jerry wrote:
April 24th, 2021, 9:56 am
I looked at those two pictures of Don's and yes, they seem to be from the same place. The little sticks coming out of the trunk are the same (only curved upwards in Don's).
The way many of the branches curved in different directions is interesting. The only thing I can think of is that the temperature and the humidity was very different when the two photos were taken. One in mid Jan. and the other in mid April. When I was there, it was in the mid fifties with a very dry east wind.

As for lessons, don't embellish an already hard-to-believe story. You'll eventually get caught.

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 11:10 am
by Webfoot
Don Nelsen wrote:
April 24th, 2021, 10:27 am
As for lessons, don't embellish an already hard-to-believe story. You'll eventually get caught.
:lol:

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 11:14 am
by adamschneider
To give him the benefit of the doubt, there may very well have been a brambly crumbly section, but he didn't remember which photo he took from that spot. If you were freaked out and lost, you wouldn't get the details right either.

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 11:43 am
by Aimless
adamschneider wrote:
April 24th, 2021, 11:14 am
If you were freaked out and lost, you wouldn't get the details right either.
Quite true. People's memories of stressful situations are usually quite vivid. Those memories are also very unreliable concerning peripheral details, but the vividness we experience when recalling it convinces us that we remember it all correctly when we don't. There have been some interesting psychological experiments concerning eyewitness testimony that demonstrate this dynamic.

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 1:38 pm
by drm
The branches are probably upturned because with spring, there is new growth. I do note that his photo is in the shade, but it doesn't seem to be cloudy. Maybe there are clouds elsewhere in the sky, but I wonder if we can guess what time of day it was.

Re: Hiker rescued off Gorton Creek trail

Posted: April 24th, 2021, 1:51 pm
by retired jerry
This an important question to resolve (not)

The little sticks look dead, so maybe it has something to do with temperature and humidity or rain

It is (a little) interesting though. I always assume they're fixed but actually they're bending back and forth over time