When to go hiking
When Hiking Goes Wrong
Number 10 Amanda Eller
In 2019, hiker Amanda Eller survived for 17 days in a thick Hawaiian forest. Eller’s harrowing
story began with a 3-mile hike. She’d chosen a different path than usual and stopped to meditate
and take a nap. The woman, a 35-year-old yoga instructor, hadn’t taken her phone with her
and could no longer find the way back to her car when she awoke. For over two weeks, Eller
remained alive by eating berries and guava, when she could find them, while trekking through the
forest. She drank river water but only when it was clear enough, so that it wouldn’t make her sick.
Aside from basic concerns, like food and shelter, Eller would also struggle with a broken tibia
and horrific sunburn, which had become infected. She had to walk barefooted after her shoes were
swept away in a flash flood. Eller finally reached a spot where the terrain didn’t allow her to walk
forward. There was little food in the area and the woman feared she would die there. Thankfully,
she was spotted by a search helicopter as she came out of a ravine and was airlifted out of
the forest. Eller had lost 15 pounds and suffered several infections as well as a broken foot
but doctors believed she would fully recover. Number 9 Ioana Hociota
In February of 2012, Ioana Hociota was attempting to become the youngest person to hike the Grand
Canyon end to end. When she was in her teens, Hociota moved to the US from Romania and was
introduced to the canyons by a man who would later become her husband. The couple got married in a
ceremony that overlooked the valleys, before the 24-year-old set off on her record-breaking
attempt. Hociota and her hiking partner were on different trails, roughly 20 yards apart, as they
crossed the southern rim of the Owl Eyes Cannon. At that point, Hociota was about 80 miles from
accomplishing her goal. She was higher up when her partner suddenly heard small rocks falling
from above. A loud thud followed. Hociota’s lifeless body was discovered on a rock ledge,
to which she’d plummeted from 300 feet. While not much is known about the circumstances of the fall,
it’s believed that she’d slipped on a loose rock. Devastated by her passing, Hociota’s husband
stated that he’d be completing the final length of her hike while carrying a lock of her hair.
Number 8 Chessety Kroeze In August of 2020, Dutch woman
Chessety Kroeze lost her life while hiking, during a holiday trip to Spain. At the time,
the 27-year-old was accompanied by her boyfriend, Justin, and they were exploring a region in the
Catalan province of Lleida. Kroeze, who was about to graduate as a medical practitioner,
suffered a devastating fall. There’s little information on what had preceded the accident,
but the impact caused her fatal injuries. The couple was in an area without cellphone coverage
so Justin tried to get help. The woman was ultimately airlifted out of the region. In
the incident’s aftermath, hundreds of condolence messages were expressed on Kroeze’s social meda.
Number 7 Jordan Brashears A day after he’d become separated from his
hiking companions, the body of 29-year-old Jordan Brashears was found in Boyton Canyon, Arizona. On
October the 8th of 2020, Brashears and two friends were exploring the ancient ruins in the canyon.
The man, who was hiking barefoot at the time, reportedly disappeared after rounding a corner.
His companions shouted his name and looked for him for about an hour before calling the emergency
services. Rescuers carried the search into the night and resumed it the following morning. They
eventually found Brashears’ body and determined that, after his companions had lost sight of him,
the man suffered a deadly fall. He was most likely attempting to climb a rock ledge when he slipped
and plummeted over 100 feet. Number 6 Donald MacGillis
In October of 2020, 74-year-old Donald MacGillis was hiking through Maine’s Katahdin Mountain,
alongside his nephew, Paul. MacGillis, a former editor for the Berkshire Eagle and Boston Globe,
knew the mountain well but both men became disoriented in conditions of powerful winds
and heavy fog. They called for help and were told to shelter in place for the night, as temperatures
were rapidly dropping. Then, at around 3 am, Paul called rangers and told them that his
uncle had suffered a 50-foot fall. MacGillis had sustained injuries to his chest and leg.
The men, who’d begun to develop hypothermia, were advised on how to stay warm. The following day,
the rescue effort was joined by a Blackhawk helicopter. At around 9:30, a ranger reached
the hikers and MacGillis was airlifted to a hospital after the fog cleared. Unfortunately,
his wounds proved fatal. Paul was treated for exhaustion and hypothermia but was set to recover.
Number 5 Michael St. Laurent
Experienced hiker Michael St. Laurent spent 9 days stranded on a trail in North Vancouver,
Canada. The 45-year-old had set off on the Grouse Mountain hike for what he expected to
be an 8-hour, round-trip. St. Laurent was delayed by bad weather and had to spend the night on the
mountain. He’d brought a tarp and a dry change of clothes which aided him in surviving the cold.
The following day, he became further disoriented and, after veering off the marked trail,
he sprained his hip and his knee. Hypothermia had also started setting in.
St. Laurent remembered losing track of time by day three and believing he’d been lost for nearly a
month. By the end of the first week, St. Laurent was shaking uncontrollably, overcome by pain
and plagued by vivid hallucinations as he wandered through the frigid woods.
He had trouble distinguishing what was real but did have the presence of mind to cover up with
the tarp at night, which likely saved his life. St. Laurent’s feet were ravaged by frostbite and
he could feel his organs shutting down by the time he reached a helicopter landing area. It was there
that he was found by an off-duty rescue volunteer and her boyfriend. They administered first aid
and the man was eventually airlifted out of the forest. In the incident’s aftermath,
St. Laurent claimed that the experience had taught him to always leave word with a friend,
no matter how minor the hike would be. Number 4 Steven Gastelum
In September of 2020, Steven Gastelum and a friend were hiking along Devil’s Cauldron,
on the Oregon Coast. When they reached an area north of Manzanita, Gastelum climbed a tree,
located on the edge of a cliff, to pose for a photo. The 43-year-old was sent
plummeting into the ocean below after the branch he’d climbed on collapsed beneath his weight.
Rescuers riding jet skis as well as a Coast Guard helicopter were part of the search effort. After
he was found, Gastelum was pulled to shore and airlifted to Tillamook Regional Medical Center,
where he was later pronounced dead. Number 3 Geraldine Largay
In 2013, Geraldine Largay and a companion took on a portion of the famous Appalachian Trail,
a marked hiking route that stretches between Springer Mountain, in Georgia, and Maine’s Mount
Katahdin. The 66-year-old retired nurse and her friend, Jane Lee, had set off from West Virginia.
They were meant to trek over 1,100 miles together with Largay’s husband meeting them along the way
with supplies. Lee had to abandon the hike, in late June, due to a family emergency. Largay
was firm in her resolve of finishing the trip on her own. Several weeks later, the woman was just
200 miles short of her destination, in northern Maine. A photo of her, taken by a fellow hiker,
would mark the last time that anyone saw Largay alive. On July the 22nd she tried sending a text
to her husband to say that she’d gotten lost but, due to poor cellphone coverage, the message didn’t
go through. A search was launched but no trace of Largay was found. It would take two years before
the woman’s campsite and her body was discovered by a logging surveyor. The woman had died zipped
up in her sleeping bag, inside her tent. She’d continued to write in her journal, throughout her
ordeal, up until mid-August, 2013. With little hope for rescue and dwindling supplies, in one
of her final entries Largay wrote that she hoped whoever found her body would notify her family.
Today's topic was requested by Keyofyouandme12, Guerrila Warfare and Darren Chambers.
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comments section below. Number 2 Cassandra Bravo
While out hiking a trail on California’s Mount Whitney, 34-year-old Cassandra Bravo fell 100
feet. The woman sustained severe injuries in the fall, which impaired her mobility.
Still, she managed to pull herself into a log shelter. It offered her some protection from
the wind chill. While only wearing leggings and a tank top, Bravo spent two nights in
subzero temperatures. When rescuers found her, they were shocked that the mother-of-two was
still alive. She was airlifted to Antelope Valley Hospital, in Lancaster. Unfortunately, her
injuries and the cold exposure had taken a heavy toll on Bravo. She passed away in the hospital.
Number 1 Michael Knapinski In November of 2020, Seattle man
Michael Knapinski and a friend were on a snowy hike through Mount Rainier. The 45-year-old and
his partner then became separated. Knapinski chose to snowshoe down a slope towards Paradise
while his friend continued on skis. The alarm was raised with emergency services after Knapinski
failed to arrive at their rendezvous point, later that evening. The man had been caught in whiteout
conditions and a rescue helicopter found him the following day. Knapinski was unconscious when he
was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center, in Seattle. As doctors started treating him,
he went into cardiac arrest. Experts then bypassed his heart and lungs to connect him
to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, or ECMO, one of the most advanced
forms of life support in the world. In simple terms, it involves pumping blood
outside of the body into a machine that takes out carbon dioxide and pumps oxygen-rich blood
back into the body. The technique essentially brought Knapinski back from the dead, after his
heart had stopped for over 45 minutes. Knapinski didn’t remember much about the incident and,
judging from the scrapes and bruises on his body, assumed he’d fallen during the whiteout. After his
recovery from clinical death, Knapinski claimed he’d be devoting his life to helping others.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather hike through a tiger’s territory or swim across
a crocodile-infested river? Let us know in the comments section below!
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