A forester was doing his rounds when he found something strange along the way. He noticed a tent among the trees, which was surprising since nobody usually camps out this deep into the woods. Curious, he called out a hello. When no one responded, he moved closer to inspect.
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As he approached, he saw that the tent was already worn out. He took a look inside and found a worn-out journal among the belongings. After reading the last few entries, he just realized something and immediately called the police.
Meet Gerry
Geraldine Largay was a 66-year-old woman from Atlanta, Georgia, who was all for living life to the fullest. All her friends called her Gerry and she has been known to always be up for any kind of adventure in the great outdoors.
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Gerry was quite popular and well-loved. She was one of Atlanta’s most involved citizens. As an outdoor lover, she was very active when it came to the Nature Conservancy group. Their group did a lot of things not only in the city but also in the state.
The adventurous social butterfly
Among Gerry’s many adventures, hiking was her favorite. She loved seeing different kinds of fauna and it was therapeutic for her. It was a great way to reconnect with nature. Gerry also loved befriending fellow hikers she would meet along the way.
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Gerry would often share her passion by inviting people along whenever she went on a hike. Her family would join her sometimes. There was her husband, George, her daughter, Kerry, and even Kerry’s kids would come if it was a short hike.
Taking on a challenge
Despite being a senior, Gerry decided to go on a hike on the Appalachian Trail – one of the most iconic hiking trails in America. The Appalachian Trail was 2200 miles long, stretching from the Springer Mountain in Georgia up to Mount Katahdin in Maine.
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This was a hike that even younger hikers could not complete because of its length. It was definitely a long and challenging hike that will eat up a lot of time and energy. In fact, completing the entire trial will take about 5 to 7 months.
There was one problem
When Gerry announced her desire to take the Appalachian trail, her family knew this was one hike they couldn’t do with her. But Gerry was determined to do the challenge even if she had to do it by herself. She started plotting a course and started planning her trek.
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Gerry was very excited but then she remembered one problem. This hike would take months. She will have to carry with her full gear and lots of supplies. The thing is, she had suffered a back injury from years before. This would mean she would have difficulty carrying large and heavy objects.
Checkpoint meetings
George, being the ever-supportive husband that he is, offered a solution or his wife. He told Gerry that he could run supplies up to her on various checkpoints of her hike so that she would not have to carry everything. It also was one way to make sure that she would not run out of supplies.
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Now that a solution was presented for her back problems, Gerry started doing practice trials before she officially started her hike on the Appalachian Trail. She wanted to make sure that her body and her stamina were up for the challenge.
The challenge begins
Gerry officially started her journey in the Appalachian Trail on April 23, 2013. Her friend, Jane Lee, joined her in the challenge. They started out in Harpers Ferry in West Virginia where they hiked north towards Mount Katahdin. They planned to catch a ride back to the starting point where they will take the southern half of the trail towards Springer Mountain.
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Gerry and Jane were having fun when they started the hike. It rained a bit but they did not mind. Gerry kept with her a hiker’s journal and she wrote all about having the time of her life on the hike as she got to see a lot of different flora and that she got to meet other hikers along the way.
Lone hiker
But then, two months into their hike, Jane received bad news. There was a family emergency and she had to cut the hike short. She had to end her adventure in late June. Gerry chose to stay and continue the challenge – even if she had to do it alone. Jane had no choice but to leave her alone on the trail.
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Gerry did not let her friend’s absence put a damper on her spirit. She still made the best out of her time on the trail. She had experienced making temporary shelters when she had to spend the night on the trail and there was no town nearby.
Supportive husband
George initially did not like the thought of his 66-year-old wife doing a long trek all by herself. But Gerry was stubborn and she was very determined to finish the trail. She claimed this may be the last hike that she will ever get to do.
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Besides, she had always arrived in time to meet him in the checkpoints so far. And Gerry assured him that there were a lot of other hikers around. George knew that this was Gerry’s passion and he could never talk her out of it so he decided to be supportive about it.
Seeing to her needs
In the times when she is scheduled to meet up with George for supplies in the checkpoints, George would insist that they would spend the night together at nearby campsites or motels. It was the only way he could ensure that his wife would be getting enough rest and sleep.
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With Gerry doing this hike all by herself, George made sure that she had everything she asked for and needed. He made sure his wife would be prepared for any situation that may come up while hiking the Appalachian Trail. Sometimes the whole family would come with him to the checkpoints to check on Gerry.
Rough road ahead
By July, Gerry was able to hike 900 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Gerry was close to completing the northern part of the trail – 200 miles more and she would be reaching Mount Katahdin. But the next part of the trail was known to be rough terrain. She would have to go through that on her own before she gets to meet George again. The next checkpoint was 22 miles away.
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Gerry knew that the 22 miles would take at least two days for her to hike. So, for this part, she got a cot from the Poplar Ridge just in case she needed to sleep on the trail. It was a smart move as she was unable to find a campsite nearby when darkness fell. She was able to get a good night’s sleep despite that because of the cot.
Lost in the woods
But things went downhill starting from July 22. Gerry wandered off the trail as she was looking for a place where she can relieve herself. She looked for a spot with a lot of foliage so that if a hiker passes by, she would still be covered.
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She, unfortunately, stumbled into an old logging site where the trees all around her looked the same. She did not realize this until she was done relieving herself. When she was ready to get back on the trail, Gerry could not tell which direction she came from. She was lost.
Asking for help
With no trail marks or a hiking path around, Gerry had no idea where she was. Even then, she tried her best to calm down. She took out her phone to send George a message. “In some trouble. Got off trail… now lost. Can you call AMC to see if a trail maintainer can help me? somewhere north of woods road.”
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Gerry hoped George can get someone from the Appalachian Mountain Club to help her out. As an experienced hiker, she knew there were people stationed out in different parts of the trail. She hoped that there was one nearby.
She was off-grid
Gerry had difficulty sending the message. Her phone kept notifying her that her message can’t be delivered. She realized she was too deep in the woods and there was no cellular service available. She tried to go to the higher ground hoping she would get a better signal there but she still was off-grid.
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Realizing that this meant she was on her own, Gerry decided to call it a night and set camp in the area. She would sleep this crisis off and find a solution the next day. And she did just that. When she woke up the next day, she tried to send another message to George. Still, the message did not go through.
She did not show up
Meanwhile, George was already at the checkpoint on their agreed time and date, waiting for Gerry to show up. It had rained the night before so he was not concerned when she did not show up at their agreed time. He had no idea that his wife was lost in the woods.
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On the second day, George went up to the checkpoint with the supplies once more and waited all day. Still no sign of Gerry. This was unlikely. He tried calling her phone but could not get through. He then started to worry that something went wrong.
The search party
George immediately called the authorities for help. The Maine Warden Service set up a huge search and rescue team. News broke that a senior hiker went missing on the trail and there were multiple hikers already on the trail volunteering to help look for her as well. The community wanted to find Gerry immediately.
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The search party started on the trail nearest to where she was supposed to meet George. Unfortunately, the search team had received a lot of misinformation while the search party was going on. Some hikers were calling in saying that they have seen Gerry but her last sighted locations were pointing in different directions.
Running low in supplies
Meanwhile, Gerry was running out of supplies. She tried to ration out her food. This meant she could no longer waste energy moving around. She decided to focus on staying put and making a better campsite that would be visible in case a search party was sent out for her.
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Gerry was confident that George would have contacted the authorities since she was not able to meet him at the checkpoint. Given that it has been days, a search party must have been looking for her in the trail by now.
Setting up camp
Gerry tried to look for an area where her tent could be spotted from above in case a search helicopter would be used. She was so deep in the woods and there were so many trees around her. It looked like she had wandered off to the dense part of the woods.
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Gerry set up her tent in a spot where she thinks there were lesser trees. Gerry then cut up her blanket into strips and tied them in the trees around her hoping it would attract the attention of a hiker passing by.
Keeping herself busy
Days passed but no one came to rescue her. The worst part was that Gerry heard planes and helicopters hovering above. She rushed out of the tent and called out every time but they did not see her. It was discouraging.
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Gerry tried to occupy herself while waiting. She had a novel in her backpack and she even made sewing patterns with her dental floss. Writing in her hiking journal also helped her stay calm and focused.
Calling off the search
Meanwhile, the search party continued looking for Gerry. The search party covered 23 square miles of the trail near the checkpoint, including the very remote areas where Gerry could have wandered off. Every team came back empty-handed.
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With all efforts coming up with nothing and expenses piling up, the local authorities had to call off the search party on July 30, 2013. With no signs of Gerry anywhere, George and the rest of the family had to make peace with the fact that they will never see Gerry again. It was a sad day for the family realizing they had to mourn without a body.
She was still alive
Meanwhile, Gerry had no idea that the search party was called off. Nobody was looking for her anymore. She had tried to make the best out of the experience as she waited for anyone to come and rescue her.
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On August 6, Gerry’s phone was on the brink of losing its power. She tried to send a message to George one last time. As expected, the message was not delivered. It was now her 15th day being lost in the woods.
Stumbling into her camp
On October 14, 2015, two years after Gerry was missing, a forester noticed a worn-down tent while he was making his rounds. When he moved closer to inspect, he stumbled into a sleeping bag with a corpse in it. Terrified, he called the local authorities.
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A crew filming an episode of North Woods Law was around when Officer Kevin Adam received the call. They were interested in the story and asked if they could come along. Officer Adam recalled being in a search party two years ago for a missing senior hiker. He had a feeling that the body was probably the old lady they were searching for.
They finally found her
When Officer Adam looked through the belongings next to the body, it was confirmed that they finally found Gerry. Her ID badge was in the bag right next to her sleeping bag. They also found her journal. It looked like Gerry had passed away in her sleep.
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Finding Gerry two years after was very hard for Officer Adam. Warden Kris Maccabe, who also responded to the call and took part in the search party for Gerry two years ago also felt sorry that they were unable to save her.
Search party regrets
When they found Gerry’s journal, it almost broke their hearts to read the last entries that documented Gerry’s last days. The last entry was on August 18, 2013. She was still alive when the search party was called off! She had lasted for 26 days in the woods before she passed away zipped up in her sleeping bag.
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Realizing this emphasized the tragedy of the situation. The fact that her body was found just 2 miles into the woods off the trail was heartbreaking. The search party had started in Poplar Ridge where George last met up with her up to Spaulding Mountain.
The journal
From Gerry’s last entries, it was clear that she was aware her end was near. She had written messages to her family in the journal, telling them how she does not regret a thing. She had her final request written in one entry.
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“When you find my body, please call my husband, George, and my daughter Kerry. It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you find me – no matter how many years from now … Please find it in your heart to mail the contents of this bag to one of them.”
Closure found
When George and the family got the news that Gerry’s body was found, the feelings of loss came back for the family. Gerry’s belongings were delivered to their doorstep and they were mourning once again. But reading Gerry’s hiker’s journal gave them comfort. A memorial marker was placed in the spot where she was found.
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In the end, they were grateful for this form of closure. Mourning for Gerry without seeing her body had haunted George with so many questions. George was just glad that Gerry had passed away doing exactly what she wanted to do, which was to hike and be in the great outdoors.
