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This trail is a death trap · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: Today's story is about a hidden message found on the
0:03
Speaker 1: side of a mountain and how its contents changed the
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Speaker 1: lives of three people forever.
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Speaker 2: But before we get into.
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Speaker 1: Today's story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark,
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0:30
Speaker 2: Alright, let's get into today's story.
0:32
Speaker 1: 24 year old Gina Allen and her brand new boyfriend
0:47
Speaker 1: 28 year old Brandon Day could not believe their luck.
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Speaker 1: For the past 48 hours they had been stranded in
0:54
Speaker 1: the rugged wilderness of the San Jacinto mountain range in
0:57
Speaker 1: California when they looked down into this ravine and they
1:00
Speaker 1: saw a campsite. There was a tarp that had been
1:02
Speaker 1: strung up between two trees and so they ran over
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Speaker 1: to it hoping that the owner of this campsite would
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Speaker 1: be in there and they could help them get out
1:10
Speaker 1: of these mountains and but when they got to the.
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Speaker 2: Campsite, there wasn't anyone there.
1:15
Speaker 1: But from the looks of it, it looked like someone
1:17
Speaker 1: had been living in this site fairly recently. Underneath this
1:20
Speaker 1: makeshift roof from this tarp was a sleeping pad, there
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Speaker 1: was a warm sweater, there was shoes, there was a
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Speaker 1: disposable razor, some kitchen utensils, and there was a yellow backpack.
1:30
Speaker 1: Without any hesitation, Brandon and Gina, who were totally famished
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Speaker 1: and they're exhausted and they're desperate, They just start rifling
1:38
Speaker 1: through the different things in camp, hoping to find some
1:41
Speaker 1: things that will help save their life, like a cell
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Speaker 1: phone or a radio or even just a lighter or
1:46
Speaker 1: some matches or some food. And so Brandon focused on
1:49
Speaker 1: all the items that are just kind of laying out
1:51
Speaker 1: under the tarp, and Gina focused on the contents of
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Speaker 1: the yellow backpack. And so Gina, she opens up this
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Speaker 1: backpack and she starts pulling out all these maps that
2:00
Speaker 1: are inside. And she notices on the margins of these
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Speaker 1: maps in the white space there is handwriting and it's
2:06
Speaker 1: done in pen and it looks like it's been written
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Speaker 1: fairly recently. Now at first she didn't read any of
2:11
Speaker 1: the notes that were on these margins. She was just
2:13
Speaker 1: kind of pulling them out and stacking them on the
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Speaker 1: ground next to her and continuing to rummage through this bag.
2:19
Speaker 1: But at some point out of the corner of her
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Speaker 1: eye she noticed on the top map that was sitting
2:24
Speaker 1: on the ground next to her there was a particular
2:26
Speaker 1: note at the top of the page that as soon
2:29
Speaker 1: as she saw it, she stopped what she was doing,
2:31
Speaker 1: she turned and looked at it. She couldn't believe what
2:34
Speaker 1: she was seeing. And in fact, she didn't wanna get
2:36
Speaker 1: her hopes up, but she slowly reached over, she picked
2:39
Speaker 1: the map up and she put it right in front
2:41
Speaker 1: of her face And as soon as she was reading it,
2:43
Speaker 1: she just started laughing. She was so happy. She was
2:46
Speaker 1: so relieved. She yelled to Brandon to come over and
2:49
Speaker 1: look at this. And so Brandon stopped what he was doing.
2:51
Speaker 1: He turned around and he bent down and he looked
2:53
Speaker 1: exactly where she was looking. And when he read what
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Speaker 1: she had read, he started laughing too.
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Speaker 2: They were saved.
3:00
Speaker 1: There at the top of this map, there was a
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Speaker 1: note that was dated the same date as the day
3:06
Speaker 1: they were there, May 8th. And so they knew whoever
3:09
Speaker 1: had written this had written it at least in the
3:11
Speaker 1: last couple of hours because it was May 8th. And
3:14
Speaker 1: so they had to be around here somewhere. And so
3:16
Speaker 1: Gina and Brandon, they stand up and they start yelling
3:19
Speaker 1: out for the owner of this camp to please come
3:21
Speaker 1: out and help them. But in their excitement, Brandon and
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Speaker 1: Gina had overlooked a critical detail in this note. And
3:29
Speaker 1: it would turn out that critical detail would change their
3:32
Speaker 1: lives and the life of the man who owned this
3:34
Speaker 1: camp forever. Before Brandon and Gina ever began their doomed
3:38
Speaker 1: hike into the San Jacinto Mountain Range, another man, one
3:42
Speaker 1: which neither of them knew, was gearing up for a
3:45
Speaker 1: hike of his own that would take him through the
3:46
Speaker 1: San Jacinto Mountain Range. His name was John Donovan, and
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Speaker 1: on April 19th, 2005, which was the day he would
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Speaker 1: begin this journey, he was 59 years old. John had
3:57
Speaker 1: absolutely no family. He was born an only child, and
4:00
Speaker 1: by the time he was 10 years old, he had
4:02
Speaker 1: been orphaned, and basically had to raise himself from that
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Speaker 1: point onward. By the time John was in his 20s,
4:07
Speaker 1: he had moved to Virginia, where he had taken a
4:10
Speaker 1: job as a social worker. And despite making a fairly
4:13
Speaker 1: decent salary, he refused to spend any more money than
4:16
Speaker 1: he absolutely had to. It was a habit he had
4:19
Speaker 1: developed as an orphan child trying to make ends meet
4:22
Speaker 1: with virtually no money whatsoever. And as an adult, that
4:26
Speaker 1: habit just never left him. So as a result, for
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Speaker 1: his entire life, all the way up until he left
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Speaker 1: for that hike in 2005, he never had anything nice.
4:36
Speaker 1: He basically wore the exact same outfit virtually every single day.
4:39
Speaker 1: He never owned a car. He never owned a phone.
4:42
Speaker 1: He never owned a computer. And when it came to
4:44
Speaker 1: where he chose to live, he would always live in
4:47
Speaker 1: the most absurdly cheap dwellings possible. which included at one
4:51
Speaker 1: point living in a partially burned-down, abandoned savings bank with
4:55
Speaker 1: no heat. John was a proud Irish Catholic, he drank
4:59
Speaker 1: lots of whiskey, he swore like a sailor, and he
5:01
Speaker 1: had no problem speaking his mind no matter who he
5:04
Speaker 1: was talking to. While he was a lovely person once
5:07
Speaker 1: you got to meet him, his unorthodox lifestyle and his
5:11
Speaker 1: at-times gruff exterior made it pretty difficult for him to
5:15
Speaker 1: make friends for most of his life. But when he
5:17
Speaker 1: was in his 40s, he wanted to lose some weight,
5:20
Speaker 1: and so he decided to join a hiking club. And
5:22
Speaker 1: to his surprise, the other members of this hiking club
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Speaker 1: adored him. They thought he was hysterical, and he made
5:29
Speaker 1: being out on the trail so much more fun and enjoyable.
5:32
Speaker 1: And before long, all these members of this club became
5:36
Speaker 1: John's family that he never had. And so John would
5:39
Speaker 1: go on every single trip this hiking club went on,
5:42
Speaker 1: no matter what. That was the most important thing to
5:44
Speaker 1: him in his life.
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Speaker 2: When it came to hiking, though, John was a bit
5:48
Speaker 2: of an anomaly.
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Speaker 1: Even though he would hike sometimes over 4,000 miles in
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Speaker 1: any given year, he would still routinely get lost on
5:56
Speaker 1: trails he had been on dozens and dozens of times.
6:00
Speaker 1: But despite being totally self-aware of this fatal flaw in
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Speaker 1: his hiking abilities, John rarely did anything to compensate for it.
6:07
Speaker 1: For example, he didn't bring with him on most hikes
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Speaker 1: a compass, which would be the first thing you would
6:13
Speaker 1: think to bring with you to stay oriented. Also, because
6:16
Speaker 1: he refused to buy a phone, he didn't have that
6:19
Speaker 1: to aid him either, if he ever got lost. In fact,
6:22
Speaker 1: John rarely brought much of anything on any hike he
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Speaker 1: went on, because John is what you would call a
6:27
Speaker 1: ultralight backpacker. Which basically meant you would only pack the
6:30
Speaker 1: absolute bare essentials, and in John's case, sometimes less than
6:35
Speaker 1: the absolute bare essentials. And despite his friends trying repeatedly
6:39
Speaker 1: to get him to pack more equipment so he was
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Speaker 1: more prepared... he would always say, no, he knows what
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Speaker 1: he's doing and everything is good. And the truth is,
6:47
Speaker 1: John always did manage to get from point A to
6:50
Speaker 1: point B on all of his hikes, some of which
6:52
Speaker 1: included extremely difficult hikes, like the time he hiked the
6:57
Speaker 1: 500-mile-long Colorado Trail or the time he hiked the 2,175-mile-long
7:03
Speaker 1: Appalachian Trail. Now, John would tell you that was all skill,
7:06
Speaker 1: but his friends would say John was extremely lucky. He
7:11
Speaker 1: would get lost, and then at the last second, he
7:12
Speaker 1: would find the trail again, or he would lose some
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Speaker 1: piece of critical equipment, and then just someone on the
7:18
Speaker 1: trail would happen to walk by that had an extra
7:20
Speaker 1: set of whatever it was that John needed. And then
7:23
Speaker 1: one time when John was in Poland on a hike,
7:26
Speaker 1: he slipped on this icy embankment where earlier that day,
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Speaker 1: two other hikers had slipped and fallen to their deaths.
7:33
Speaker 1: And John has now slipped on this same embankment. He's
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Speaker 1: careening down the sides. He's flailing. He can't stop himself.
7:39
Speaker 1: and then the drawstring on his pants gets caught up
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Speaker 1: in a tree and that arrests his fall and it
7:45
Speaker 1: saves his life. And so from that point on, John
7:47
Speaker 1: would only wear those pants when he went hiking and
7:50
Speaker 1: he called them his lucky pants. In the spring of 2005,
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Speaker 1: John and one of his very close hiking friends named
7:56
Speaker 1: Ken Baker was roughly his age, decided they were going
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Speaker 1: to hike the 2,650 mile long Pacific Crest Trail. This
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Speaker 1: trail spanned the entire west coast of the United States.
8:08
Speaker 1: It starts in Southern California right on the border of
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Speaker 1: Mexico and it goes all the way up to the
8:13
Speaker 1: very northern end of Washington State right on the border
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Speaker 1: of Canada. It takes the average hiker, if they're going
8:19
Speaker 1: to do this entire trail in one go, about five
8:22
Speaker 1: months unless there's bad weather conditions that impede them along
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Speaker 1: the way. John had been excitedly planning this epically long
8:29
Speaker 1: hike for the better part of the last year. He'd
8:32
Speaker 1: actually typed out six pages on his typewriter of this
8:35
Speaker 1: itinerary that planned out every single detail of this hike.
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Speaker 1: down to how many ounces of coffee he would need
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Speaker 1: at every stop along the way. John was especially excited
8:45
Speaker 1: about this particular hike because it was going to be
8:48
Speaker 1: the very first hike he would be doing after his
8:51
Speaker 1: retirement from being a social worker. And apparently John had
8:54
Speaker 1: huge plans for his retirement. He wanted to travel all over.
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Speaker 2: The United States. He wanted to go to Australia, to China,
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Speaker 2: to Russia.
9:01
Speaker 1: He basically wanted to hike at least six months a year,
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Speaker 1: every single year, until he was too old or too
9:07
Speaker 1: weak to continue to do so. But just a couple
9:09
Speaker 1: of days before John and Ken were supposed to fly
9:12
Speaker 1: out to California to begin the Pacific Crest Trail, Ken
9:15
Speaker 1: told John that he thought they should actually postpone the
9:18
Speaker 1: start of this trip by about three weeks. He said
9:21
Speaker 1: Southern California had experienced their snowiest winter in decades, and
9:25
Speaker 1: so it would make sense to wait a little bit
9:27
Speaker 1: of extra time to make sure all the snow had melted,
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Speaker 1: and that they didn't get caught in any sort of
9:32
Speaker 1: late snowstorm. Now, John was totally not having this. He
9:36
Speaker 1: had spent so much time thinking about this trip. He
9:39
Speaker 1: was so excited about it that he just couldn't wait
9:42
Speaker 1: any longer. And so he told Ken, I'm sorry, I'm
9:45
Speaker 1: going on the current timeline, whether I go alone or not.
9:49
Speaker 1: And so on April 19th, 2005, John made his way
9:53
Speaker 1: to his office where he was a social worker. His
9:55
Speaker 1: coworkers threw him a very small retirement party and he
9:58
Speaker 1: literally left the office went straight to the airport, and
10:01
Speaker 1: he flew to Southern California all alone. When he got there,
10:05
Speaker 1: he took a chance and reached out to one of
10:07
Speaker 1: his other hiking friends, a 48-year-old tool salesman named Lynn Padgett,
10:11
Speaker 1: and asked him, you know, of the Pacific Crest Trail
10:18
Speaker 1: with me. I'm going to start here in the next
10:20
Speaker 1: couple of days. And John was extremely excited when Lynn said,
10:23
Speaker 1: you know what? Sure, I'd love to come along with you.
10:26
Speaker 1: And the two of them made their way over to Campo, California,
10:29
Speaker 1: which is right on the border of Mexico. And they
10:31
Speaker 1: began their hike along the Pacific Crest Trail. But after
10:34
Speaker 1: going only about 100 miles, Lynn's feet started swelling so
10:38
Speaker 1: badly that he could not go any farther.
10:40
Speaker 2: And so from that point onward, John would be alone.
10:42
Speaker 1: The San Jacinto Mountain Range is the first major mountain
10:46
Speaker 1: range that the northbound Pacific Crest Trail hikers will encounter.
10:50
Speaker 1: And statistically, it's actually the most dangerous portion of the
10:53
Speaker 1: Pacific Crest Trail as 15% of all the fatalities that
10:58
Speaker 1: occur along this huge trail occur in the San Jacinto
11:01
Speaker 1: Mountain Range. It's a very steep mountain with a rapid
11:04
Speaker 1: rise in elevation from the desert floor all the way
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Speaker 1: up to over 10,000 feet, which means in the summer,
11:10
Speaker 1: Even when it's extremely hot down around the base of
11:13
Speaker 1: this mountain, it will probably be windy and snowing at
11:17
Speaker 1: the top. John reached the base of the San Jacinto
11:19
Speaker 1: mountain range on May 2nd. And as he began his
11:22
Speaker 1: slow climb up, all of the hikers he was encountering
11:26
Speaker 1: were all talking about the same thing. There was apparently
11:29
Speaker 1: some big snowstorm that was due to hit the San
11:31
Speaker 1: Jacinto mountain range in the next couple of days. And
11:34
Speaker 1: so all of these hikers were actually evacuating the mountain
11:38
Speaker 1: to go to this little town to wait out the storm.
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Speaker 1: Everyone's fear was they would get caught on Fuller Ridge
11:44
Speaker 1: when the storm hit. Fuller Ridge is towards the top
11:47
Speaker 1: of the San Jacinto mountain range, and it's probably the
11:50
Speaker 1: most dangerous part of the entire mountain range. It's basically
11:53
Speaker 1: this totally exposed, very steep section where if you lose
11:56
Speaker 1: your footing, there's nothing to stop you from tumbling.
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Speaker 2: Down to your death.
12:00
Speaker 1: But when John heard this, he wasn't fazed at all.
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Speaker 1: He was not about to evacuate because of some storm.
12:05
Speaker 1: He was just gonna continue up this mountain, go over
12:07
Speaker 1: Fuller's Ridge, and carry on along the Pacific Crest Trail.
12:11
Speaker 1: And so for the rest of the day, he just
12:13
Speaker 1: continued up the mountain and eventually made camp about halfway up.
12:16
Speaker 1: He actually stopped near two other hikers that were also
12:19
Speaker 1: going to push through despite this storm. It was a
12:22
Speaker 1: 46-year-old nurse from Canada named Connie Davis and her son,
12:26
Speaker 1: 20-year-old Alex. And they were both very experienced high-altitude climbers,
12:31
Speaker 1: and they had all the right gear, and they were
12:33
Speaker 1: very well prepared. And so that night, after both parties
12:36
Speaker 1: had set up their camp, they struck up a friendly
12:38
Speaker 1: conversation during which John made some dismissive comments about Connie's
12:43
Speaker 1: parenting style that really agitated her, although it didn't seem
12:46
Speaker 1: like John really noticed he had upset her. And so
12:49
Speaker 1: needless to say, the next morning, Connie and her son
12:52
Speaker 1: had packed up and were long gone by the time
12:54
Speaker 1: John was waking up. So John just got up, he
12:57
Speaker 1: looked at the sky, it was still clear, although he
12:59
Speaker 1: did see some gray clouds rolling in, so he could
13:01
Speaker 1: sense that, yes, a storm really is on the way,
13:04
Speaker 1: But he decided he was still just going to continue
13:06
Speaker 1: on towards Fuller Ridge. So he put his backpack on
13:09
Speaker 1: and he began walking up the trail. And a little
13:11
Speaker 1: while later, when he was nearing Fuller Ridge, but was
13:14
Speaker 1: still several miles away, three very well-equipped hikers that he
13:18
Speaker 1: had not seen before came charging down the path towards him.
13:21
Speaker 1: And John stopped them and he said, hey, you know,
13:23
Speaker 1: how is it up there? What's the weather like? What's
13:25
Speaker 1: Fuller Ridge like? And they kind of looked at John
13:27
Speaker 1: and sized him up, looking up and down, and they
13:29
Speaker 1: saw that You know, he's got light clothes on.
13:31
Speaker 2: He's got sneakers on. He doesn't have trekking poles.
13:35
Speaker 1: He just looks totally ill-prepared for what he's walking into.
13:38
Speaker 1: And they said to him, you know, I don't think
13:40
Speaker 1: it's a good idea for you to continue on here.
13:43
Speaker 1: This storm is going to hit any time now, and
13:46
Speaker 1: we're not going to Fuller Ridge. We're actually turning around
13:48
Speaker 1: and leaving because of the storm, and we have all
13:51
Speaker 1: the right gear. I mean, you should really consider turning
13:54
Speaker 1: around and leaving. But these three hikers would say there
13:57
Speaker 1: was just no way they were going to change John's mind.
14:01
Speaker 1: He was totally dead set on carrying on to Fuller Ridge.
14:04
Speaker 1: And so the three men that had told him not
14:06
Speaker 1: to go eventually just said, okay, you know, good luck.
14:08
Speaker 1: And they carried on down the trail and John continued up.
14:11
Speaker 1: But despite John's earlier confidence in his plan to go
14:15
Speaker 1: to Fuller Ridge and continue through San Jacinto Mountains, when
14:18
Speaker 1: the snow actually started to fall sometime in the mid-afternoon,
14:22
Speaker 1: John started to have.
14:23
Speaker 2: Doubts about his plans.
14:24
Speaker 1: There was already a lot of snow on the ground
14:27
Speaker 1: where he was from previous snowstorms, and that was making
14:30
Speaker 1: it hard to see the trail as it was. And
14:33
Speaker 1: now with all this additional snow starting to dump down,
14:36
Speaker 1: he was worried it was going to totally cover up
14:38
Speaker 1: the trail and he would lose it. And since he
14:40
Speaker 1: knew he kind of had a penchant for getting lost
14:43
Speaker 1: on trails, This was a real concern, but he was
14:46
Speaker 1: still very stubborn. And so despite these second thoughts, he
14:49
Speaker 1: just continued on along. And so after a while, he
14:51
Speaker 1: got to within maybe one or two miles of Fuller
14:54
Speaker 1: Ridge when he spotted up ahead of him two other
14:57
Speaker 1: hikers that seemed to be going in that direction. And
14:59
Speaker 1: so he ran up to them and he yelled for
15:01
Speaker 1: them to stop. And at this point, the snow is
15:03
Speaker 1: really starting to come down and the trail is completely
15:06
Speaker 1: wiped out and he can barely see in front of him.
15:08
Speaker 1: And these two hikers, they stop. And so he runs
15:10
Speaker 1: up to them. And when he gets up close, he
15:12
Speaker 1: can see It's actually Connie Davis and her son Alex
15:15
Speaker 1: from the night before. And so Connie is obviously not
15:18
Speaker 1: thrilled to see John again, but when he explained that
15:21
Speaker 1: he was having a really hard time staying on the
15:22
Speaker 1: trail and, you know, could he just tag along with them,
15:25
Speaker 1: Connie said, you know what, that's just fine, we're happy
15:27
Speaker 1: to have you. But she explained to him she was
15:30
Speaker 1: not going up to Fuller Ridge. Instead, she was taking
15:33
Speaker 1: a more circuitous route that would bypass the ridge, it
15:37
Speaker 1: would take a lot longer, but it would be safer
15:39
Speaker 1: given the weather conditions. John assured her that that was
15:42
Speaker 1: totally fine. He would just trail along with them. And
15:44
Speaker 1: then at some point he would break off on his
15:46
Speaker 1: own and he would go up to Fuller Ridge and
15:49
Speaker 1: they could go their separate way. And so Connie, her son,
15:51
Speaker 1: and John begin walking along together. Now, Connie and Alex,
15:55
Speaker 1: they had crampons on their shoes, which are basically like
15:58
Speaker 1: metal cleats and allow you to very easily grip the
16:00
Speaker 1: snow and ice. They had trekking poles. They had all
16:03
Speaker 1: the right warm gear. And so they're easily moving along
16:06
Speaker 1: through these weather conditions. Meanwhile, John didn't have trekking poles
16:10
Speaker 1: or any high-speed equipment. He did have crampons that he
16:13
Speaker 1: tried to put onto his shoes, but because he had
16:16
Speaker 1: sneakers that were not lined up to this type of crampon,
16:19
Speaker 1: they didn't really fit right, and so it caused him
16:22
Speaker 1: to constantly stumble and fall on the ground. And so
16:24
Speaker 1: that's how it went for a while until Connie and
16:27
Speaker 1: Alex reached this critical point. It was at this creek
16:30
Speaker 1: where they needed to go down and around, which would
16:33
Speaker 1: take them away from Fuller Ridge, And if John was
16:36
Speaker 1: going to continue like he said he would up to
16:38
Speaker 1: Fuller Ridge, that would be the point where he would
16:41
Speaker 1: break off from them and go up the mountain.
16:43
Speaker 2: Towards this ridge.
16:44
Speaker 1: And so Connie and Alex wait at the stream. They're
16:46
Speaker 1: turned around and they're looking back down the trail at John,
16:50
Speaker 1: who's fallen way behind at this point. And as they're
16:52
Speaker 1: looking at him, they're thinking this is going to take
16:55
Speaker 1: a long time for him to finally catch up to us.
16:58
Speaker 1: And so Connie, who really wasn't all that keen and
17:01
Speaker 1: hanging around John that much longer anyways, She figured, you
17:04
Speaker 1: know what, John has made his intentions completely clear. He
17:07
Speaker 1: said he is going up to Fuller Ridge, he is
17:09
Speaker 1: an adult, he is healthy, he can do whatever he wants.
17:13
Speaker 1: And so she yelled and waved to John and signaled
17:15
Speaker 1: that she and her son were going to go down
17:18
Speaker 1: this creek and this way to Fuller Ridge, so best
17:21
Speaker 1: of luck to you. And then Connie and Alex disappeared
17:23
Speaker 1: around the corner. Once John's hiking partners had gone, John
17:27
Speaker 1: got up to that creek and he was going to
17:28
Speaker 1: try to go up to Fuller Ridge. But by that point,
17:31
Speaker 1: the snow was practically blinding. And so at this point,
17:33
Speaker 1: John decided, you know what, I do need to turn
17:36
Speaker 1: around and go back down the mountain and evacuate to
17:39
Speaker 1: that town where everybody else had gone to to avoid
17:41
Speaker 1: the storm. And so John turns around and starts trying
17:44
Speaker 1: to backtrack along this trail back down the mountain. But
17:48
Speaker 1: the trail is gone. The snow has completely whited it out.
17:51
Speaker 1: And there's no other hikers anywhere nearby. And even if
17:54
Speaker 1: there were, he wouldn't be able to see them. And
17:56
Speaker 1: so for several hours, while it was still light out,
17:59
Speaker 1: John did his best to navigate down the mountain. And
18:02
Speaker 1: then when the sun went down, he really had no
18:04
Speaker 1: idea where he was. And so instead of trying to
18:07
Speaker 1: stay on this trail that at this point he really
18:10
Speaker 1: didn't think he was on, he looked out away from
18:12
Speaker 1: the mountain and way down below, he saw this big,
18:16
Speaker 1: bright cluster of lights. Even through the falling snow, he
18:19
Speaker 1: could clearly see Those were lights of a city. And
18:22
Speaker 1: so he decided he would use that as kind of
18:24
Speaker 1: like his North Star, and he would just continuously walk
18:27
Speaker 1: downhill towards those lights. And so for several hours, he
18:31
Speaker 1: just began walking towards these lights, narrowly avoiding huge drop-offs
18:34
Speaker 1: and climbing over boulders and avoiding.
18:36
Speaker 2: Trees and animals.
18:37
Speaker 1: And finally, he got to this very critical point in
18:41
Speaker 1: his journey down to these lights. He reached this area
18:44
Speaker 1: called Long Valley, where he had a decision to make.
18:47
Speaker 1: He could either continue down the mountain, which would require
18:50
Speaker 1: jumping down into this ravine that once he did, he
18:54
Speaker 1: would not be able to climb.
18:55
Speaker 2: Back out again.
18:56
Speaker 1: It was too steep. Or he could turn around and
18:59
Speaker 1: hike way back up the mountain and go some other direction.
19:03
Speaker 1: But at this point, he had really no idea what
19:06
Speaker 1: direction was the best direction. All he knew is he
19:09
Speaker 1: needed to go down the mountain because his situation was
19:12
Speaker 1: getting worse and worse by the second. If he didn't
19:14
Speaker 1: find shelter soon, he might get hypothermia and just die
19:17
Speaker 1: out here.
19:18
Speaker 2: And so he decided he would jump down into this ravine.
19:21
Speaker 1: And so he laid on his stomach, he lowered himself
19:23
Speaker 1: down over the edge, and he dropped down into the
19:25
Speaker 1: valley below. Once he stood up, he just continued walking
19:28
Speaker 1: down the mountain. And at some point, he spotted a
19:30
Speaker 1: stream that he began to follow along. And as he
19:33
Speaker 1: followed this ravine, which was taking him straight down the mountain,
19:36
Speaker 1: he noticed the ravine walls, these huge walls on either
19:39
Speaker 1: side of him, seemed to get closer and closer to him,
19:42
Speaker 1: like this ravine was kind of coming to a point.
19:45
Speaker 1: And then after a while, he noticed up ahead, the
19:47
Speaker 1: stream just kind of disappeared. And so he walked a
19:49
Speaker 1: little bit farther, and then he came to an abrupt stop.
19:52
Speaker 1: The water had disappeared because it had flown off a
19:56
Speaker 1: 100-foot cliff that he was now standing in front of.
19:58
Speaker 1: He had come to the edge of this huge waterfall,
20:02
Speaker 1: and there was absolutely no way to lower himself down
20:05
Speaker 1: over it. It was an absolute fall to the death
20:08
Speaker 1: if he attempted to go down this waterfall. And so
20:10
Speaker 1: he looked to his left and he looked to his
20:12
Speaker 1: right and these huge canyon walls that had followed him
20:15
Speaker 1: all the way to this edge from when he dropped down,
20:19
Speaker 1: they were sheer cliffs. There was no way to climb those.
20:22
Speaker 1: And his initial drop into this ravine was unclimbable. He
20:26
Speaker 1: knew that going in. And so he was boxed in,
20:30
Speaker 1: he was trapped, and he likely knew that it would
20:32
Speaker 1: be at least a week or more before anybody figured
20:35
Speaker 1: out that he was even missing. And so totally disheartened,
20:39
Speaker 1: John left the edge of this cliff, this waterfall, and
20:42
Speaker 1: walked back up to a relatively flat area farther up
20:45
Speaker 1: the ravine, and he began to set up camp. He
20:48
Speaker 1: pulled out his green tarp, he put some line between
20:50
Speaker 1: two trees, he made a makeshift roof, he laid out
20:53
Speaker 1: his bed mat underneath, And then he climbed underneath the
20:56
Speaker 1: tarp and he settled in for a long night. The
20:59
Speaker 1: next morning when the sun came up, John attempted to
21:02
Speaker 1: make a fire, but none of the wood he was
21:04
Speaker 1: finding was dry enough. So all of his fires just
21:07
Speaker 1: kind of smoldered but didn't really catch. He had a mirror,
21:10
Speaker 1: a signal mirror, and he was prepared to flag down
21:13
Speaker 1: any aircraft that flew overhead, but no aircraft.
21:16
Speaker 2: Did, so he didn't flag anyone down.
21:19
Speaker 1: And so by the end of that night, he was
21:21
Speaker 1: back under his tarp, having made no progress, settling in
21:24
Speaker 1: for another freezing cold, sleepless night. The next morning, when
21:28
Speaker 1: the sun finally came up again, John was totally disheartened,
21:31
Speaker 1: and he decided to start jotting notes down on the
21:34
Speaker 1: margins of his map, which was the only place he
21:37
Speaker 1: had space to write.
21:38
Speaker 2: He figured he would keep a sort of diary.
21:40
Speaker 1: That way, if he didn't get out of here, someone
21:42
Speaker 1: would figure out what happened to him. And so his
21:44
Speaker 1: first entry was that day, May 5th. And he wrote
21:47
Speaker 1: that his friend Ken was right. He should have postponed
21:50
Speaker 1: this trip by three weeks and avoided the bad weather.
21:53
Speaker 2: Ken was the smart one.
21:54
Speaker 1: And also in this May 5th entry, he took an
21:57
Speaker 1: inventory of his food supply. He said he only had
22:00
Speaker 1: 12 cheese crackers left. And then on May 8th, John
22:04
Speaker 1: wrote a note that said, Down is a gorge, no
22:11
Speaker 1: way out. This was the message that Gina and Brandon
22:14
Speaker 1: discovered when they stumbled on this campsite. But the significance
22:17
Speaker 1: of this note was not literally what he wrote, but
22:21
Speaker 1: rather when he wrote it. On May 6th, Brandon Day
22:25
Speaker 1: and his girlfriend, Gina Allen, were in Palm Springs for
22:29
Speaker 1: a business convention. Brandon was a financial advisor, and so
22:32
Speaker 1: he was out here for business. And Gina was his guest,
22:35
Speaker 1: so she was really just vacationing. And so towards the
22:37
Speaker 1: end of the convention, when Brandon had some free time,
22:40
Speaker 1: he and Gina decided to leave the hotel and go
22:43
Speaker 1: on a hike somewhere. And so they actually linked up
22:45
Speaker 1: with a tour group that was leaving the hotel, that
22:48
Speaker 1: was heading over to this tram station, where they were
22:50
Speaker 1: going to take a tram car all the way.
22:52
Speaker 2: Up to the top of the San Jacinto mountain range.
22:55
Speaker 1: A tram car is basically like a ski lift, except
22:57
Speaker 1: once you ride it to the top of the mountain,
22:59
Speaker 1: You don't do any skiing.
23:00
Speaker 2: You just do sightseeing.
23:01
Speaker 1: And so Brandon and Gina, they get to this tram car.
23:04
Speaker 2: They hop inside.
23:05
Speaker 1: They get to the top. And it's totally amazing.
23:07
Speaker 2: Beautiful view.
23:08
Speaker 1: There's snow at the top. And they're told they have
23:10
Speaker 1: about 20 or 30 minutes before their group is going
23:13
Speaker 1: to take the tram car back down again. And so
23:15
Speaker 1: Brandon and Gina decide to kind of venture off away
23:18
Speaker 1: from the main group and.
23:19
Speaker 2: Have some alone time before they leave again.
23:22
Speaker 1: And as they kind of venture off, they start to
23:24
Speaker 1: hear what sounds like a waterfall. And so the two
23:26
Speaker 1: of them are kind of looking around, asking if they
23:28
Speaker 1: can see it or if they know where it is,
23:30
Speaker 1: and they don't. And so they say, hey, do you
23:32
Speaker 1: want to just leave the trail and walk towards this waterfall?
23:35
Speaker 2: It can't be far.
23:35
Speaker 1: It sounds like it's only maybe a couple of minutes away.
23:38
Speaker 1: We'll take some pictures, we'll come back, and then we'll
23:40
Speaker 1: catch the tram back down again. And so they decide
23:42
Speaker 1: this is a great idea. They leave the path and
23:44
Speaker 1: they start walking towards the sound of this waterfall. But
23:47
Speaker 1: after walking for a pretty significant distance, they realize the
23:51
Speaker 1: sound of this waterfall is not getting any closer. it
23:54
Speaker 1: seems to actually just be getting farther and farther away.
23:57
Speaker 1: And what they didn't know was happening was the sound
24:00
Speaker 1: of the waterfall was actually echoing off the walls of
24:03
Speaker 1: this mountain.
24:03
Speaker 2: It was basically playing a trick on them.
24:05
Speaker 1: The acoustics made it seem like it was really close,
24:08
Speaker 1: but really it wasn't.
24:09
Speaker 2: It was pretty far away.
24:10
Speaker 1: And so by the time they finally did locate this waterfall,
24:14
Speaker 1: they knew they had ventured fairly far off the main trail,
24:17
Speaker 1: and they really needed to hustle to get back up
24:19
Speaker 1: to the tram station to meet their group and catch
24:22
Speaker 1: that last car out. And so they took a couple
24:24
Speaker 1: of pictures of this waterfall and then quickly turned around
24:27
Speaker 1: and began booking it back towards the station. But on
24:30
Speaker 1: their return trip, which they believed they were going in
24:32
Speaker 1: the right direction, they started hearing the sound of voices
24:36
Speaker 1: coming from the tram station, but they were coming from
24:39
Speaker 1: a different direction.
24:40
Speaker 2: And so Gina and Brandon stopped and they're thinking, you know,
24:42
Speaker 2: I think.
24:42
Speaker 1: We got to go this way, but clearly that's the
24:45
Speaker 1: sound of the other people in our group coming from
24:48
Speaker 1: that direction. And so they decide to follow the sound
24:51
Speaker 1: of the voices. But just like the sound of the waterfall,
24:54
Speaker 1: the sound of the voices were not coming from that direction.
24:58
Speaker 1: That was just an echo bouncing off the walls. It
25:00
Speaker 1: was basically a trick the mountain was playing on Brandon
25:03
Speaker 1: and Gina. So they start walking in the wrong direction.
25:06
Speaker 1: And after walking for quite a while and not getting
25:09
Speaker 1: anywhere near the tram station, the voices just finally stop
25:13
Speaker 1: and they look at their watches and they realize they
25:16
Speaker 1: missed the cutoff.
25:17
Speaker 2: They missed the last tram. All those tourists they were with,
25:20
Speaker 2: they've left.
25:21
Speaker 1: They are now alone somewhere out in the middle of
25:23
Speaker 1: the mountains.
25:24
Speaker 2: But they did not panic.
25:25
Speaker 1: They figured, you know what, we'll just make our way
25:27
Speaker 1: to the tram station and we'll either catch the next
25:30
Speaker 1: tram or, you know, maybe there's a payphone or something
25:32
Speaker 1: up there we can use and, you know, we'll figure
25:34
Speaker 1: it out. Now, it's important to mention that that Brandon
25:37
Speaker 1: and Gina did not expect to spend very much time
25:41
Speaker 1: out in the elements.
25:42
Speaker 2: They expected to get on.
25:44
Speaker 1: A tram, stay at the top of this tram station
25:46
Speaker 1: with a bunch of other tourists where there was a
25:48
Speaker 1: restaurant and a bar, and then they were going to
25:50
Speaker 1: ride that tram car back down and be back at
25:53
Speaker 1: their hotel before dinnertime.
25:54
Speaker 2: As such, they didn't bring any supplies. They didn't even
25:58
Speaker 2: have their cell phones.
25:59
Speaker 1: They had left those in the hotel room because they
26:01
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure they were focused on each other.
26:03
Speaker 1: And so all they had were the clothes on their back,
26:06
Speaker 1: which were very light. They had tank tops and some
26:08
Speaker 1: sweatpants on. They each had a very light jacket as well.
26:11
Speaker 1: And they had a wallet and some chapstick. They had
26:14
Speaker 1: no water.
26:15
Speaker 2: They had no food.
26:16
Speaker 1: And so Brandon and Gina, they begin walking around in
26:19
Speaker 1: search of this tram station. And for several hours, despite
26:22
Speaker 1: their best efforts, they don't find it. And then before long,
26:26
Speaker 1: the sun is going down and the temperature is dropping rapidly.
26:30
Speaker 1: And so eventually, after it becomes too dark to continue
26:32
Speaker 1: to move around, the couple winds up going into a
26:35
Speaker 1: cave where they huddle up all night, barely avoiding becoming hypothermic.
26:40
Speaker 1: The next day, when the sun comes up, they haven't
26:42
Speaker 1: slept at all. They climb out of their cave and
26:45
Speaker 1: they continue walking around the mountain in hopes they find
26:47
Speaker 1: this tram station. But eventually, they get to one of
26:50
Speaker 1: the higher points of the area they were in And
26:53
Speaker 1: they have a pretty good vantage point around them. And
26:55
Speaker 1: when they start looking out, they don't see the tram station.
26:58
Speaker 1: They don't see anything but wilderness in all directions. And
27:02
Speaker 1: so they decided their best bet was just to walk
27:05
Speaker 1: straight down the mountain and try to just walk off
27:08
Speaker 1: the mountain. And they figured as they began walking down
27:10
Speaker 1: the mountain that the tour guide had probably recognized they
27:14
Speaker 1: were short two people the day before. And so certainly
27:17
Speaker 1: a search had been launched and there were people looking
27:19
Speaker 1: for them. and probably they would be found long before
27:23
Speaker 1: they ever had to actually walk off this mountain. But
27:26
Speaker 1: little did they know, their tour guide that had brought
27:28
Speaker 1: them onto the tram and then brought that group down,
27:31
Speaker 1: they had recognized they were short two people, but they
27:34
Speaker 1: assumed those two people must have just taken an earlier tram,
27:37
Speaker 1: and so nothing was reported. Nobody was looking for them.
27:40
Speaker 1: And so all day, Brandon and Gina made their way
27:43
Speaker 1: down this very steep mountain, falling half the time, smashing
27:46
Speaker 1: into rocks and trees, and getting cut up on manzanita bushes,
27:50
Speaker 1: It was just this awful experience. And by the time
27:52
Speaker 1: the sun was going down, they had no sense of
27:55
Speaker 1: how close they were to the bottom. They didn't have
27:57
Speaker 1: a good viewpoint. They were just kind of trapped inside
27:59
Speaker 1: of the wilderness. So once again, they huddled up for
28:02
Speaker 1: the entire night. This time they didn't have a cave
28:04
Speaker 1: to protect them from the wind. And so it was
28:06
Speaker 1: just another absolutely miserable night. And so finally the sun
28:10
Speaker 1: comes up on the third day and Brandon and Gina,
28:13
Speaker 1: they're up and they're moving straight down this hill. They
28:15
Speaker 1: want to get out of there as soon as they can.
28:17
Speaker 1: And after smashing into more boulders and more trees and
28:20
Speaker 1: getting more banged up, they finally arrive at the same
28:24
Speaker 1: drop off down into a ravine in Long Valley that
28:27
Speaker 1: John had gotten to. And so they're standing over this
28:30
Speaker 1: ravine debating whether they should make the leap and jump
28:33
Speaker 1: down into this ravine, even though it means they can't
28:36
Speaker 1: climb out again. And so they're looking around, they're figuring,
28:39
Speaker 1: you know what, we don't really have a better choice.
28:41
Speaker 1: We don't really have the energy to climb all the
28:43
Speaker 1: way up and try to go a different way. And
28:46
Speaker 1: we don't even know if those ways.
28:48
Speaker 2: Are more advantageous.
28:50
Speaker 1: And so just like John, they turn around onto their stomachs,
28:53
Speaker 1: they grip the top of this drop off and then
28:55
Speaker 1: slip down into the ravine. Once they stand back up,
28:57
Speaker 1: they start walking down this ravine and they spot a
29:00
Speaker 1: river and they run over to the river and they
29:02
Speaker 1: drink as much water as they possibly can.
29:04
Speaker 2: And it's a huge morale booster.
29:07
Speaker 1: And then they get back up again and they're continuing
29:09
Speaker 1: walking down the stream when off in the distance, they
29:12
Speaker 1: notice a green tarp strung up between trees.
29:15
Speaker 2: It was John's campsite.
29:16
Speaker 1: And so Brandon and Gina, they run over to this
29:18
Speaker 1: campsite and they eventually come across John's notes on the
29:22
Speaker 1: margins of his maps. But after standing up and yelling
29:25
Speaker 1: out for this owner to please come out here and
29:27
Speaker 1: help us, we need your help, we're lost.
29:30
Speaker 2: And then no one came out of the woods. No
29:32
Speaker 2: one heard them.
29:33
Speaker 1: No one responded. Brandon went back to the note and
29:36
Speaker 1: he looked at it again and that's when he noticed it.
29:39
Speaker 1: The note had been written on May 8th. However, it
29:43
Speaker 1: had been written on May 8th, 2005. The year that
29:47
Speaker 1: Brandon and Gina were reading it was 2006. So this
29:51
Speaker 1: note was one year old. John had just happened to
29:55
Speaker 1: get lost and write a note. on the exact same
29:58
Speaker 1: calendar day that Gina and Brandon arrived at his campsite
30:02
Speaker 1: and discovered the note. In their initial excitement and joy
30:06
Speaker 1: that they might get saved, they did not pick up
30:08
Speaker 1: on that year discrepancy. The couple began looking more closely
30:12
Speaker 1: at all of the gear underneath the tarp and they
30:14
Speaker 1: noticed all of the metal objects like the forks and
30:17
Speaker 1: spoons and the pots and the pans, they were all
30:20
Speaker 1: starting to rust And some of the other objects, like
30:23
Speaker 1: these shoes, looked like they had been sitting in the
30:25
Speaker 1: same spot for a really long time. They both started
30:28
Speaker 1: to get a really bad feeling about this campsite, like
30:31
Speaker 1: something terrible had happened there. Gina emptied the yellow backpack's
30:35
Speaker 1: contents onto the ground, and that's when they found a wallet.
30:38
Speaker 1: They opened it up, and they pulled out an ID card,
30:41
Speaker 1: and it was John Donovan's ID card.
30:43
Speaker 2: So now they.
30:43
Speaker 1: Knew who had written the note and who owned this camp. Afterwards,
30:47
Speaker 1: Gina and Brandon laid out all of the maps to
30:50
Speaker 1: see if there were other messages that they had not
30:52
Speaker 1: read yet.
30:53
Speaker 2: And there were.
30:53
Speaker 1: There were two other additional messages after the May 8th message.
30:57
Speaker 1: On May 11th, John said he was celebrating his 60th
31:00
Speaker 1: birthday and that unfortunately he was down to his last
31:04
Speaker 1: two cheese crackers. And then in his final message on
31:07
Speaker 1: May 14th, John wrote, headed down to Creek for water, goodbye,
31:12
Speaker 1: love you all. Devastated, the couple knew what they were
31:15
Speaker 1: reading were almost certainly John's last words and his body
31:19
Speaker 1: was most likely somewhere around here. And then it dawned
31:21
Speaker 1: on the couple that if John, who seemed like an
31:24
Speaker 1: experienced hiker who had all this gear, if he had
31:27
Speaker 1: gotten trapped and died out here, then how did they
31:30
Speaker 1: stand any chance with no experience and no equipment? And
31:34
Speaker 1: so not knowing what else to do, Gina just rounded
31:37
Speaker 1: up all of John's things, She stuffed them into his
31:40
Speaker 1: yellow backpack and then she shouldered the pack. And then
31:42
Speaker 1: she and Brandon just walked away from John's campsite and
31:45
Speaker 1: continued walking downhill, hoping that up ahead there was not
31:49
Speaker 1: going to be some gorge like John had mentioned in
31:53
Speaker 1: his May 8th note. But unfortunately, after walking for a
31:56
Speaker 1: little while, they reached that cliff with the 100 foot
31:59
Speaker 1: drop with the waterfall going off the side of it.
32:02
Speaker 1: And they realized that they were trapped, same as John.
32:05
Speaker 1: There was nothing they could do. And so totally speechless
32:08
Speaker 1: and shocked, they just both sat down. They didn't look
32:11
Speaker 1: at each other. And they just sat there wondering what
32:13
Speaker 1: was going to happen next. And they both were thinking,
32:16
Speaker 1: you know, this could be the place where I die.
32:19
Speaker 1: At some point, Gina kind of snapped out of her
32:21
Speaker 1: trance and she took John's backpack and she began rifling
32:24
Speaker 1: through it, pulling everything out all over again. And Brandon
32:27
Speaker 1: asked her, you know, what are you doing? And she said, well,
32:30
Speaker 1: you know, maybe there's something in here that we missed.
32:32
Speaker 1: Maybe there's a secret pocket or something in here that
32:35
Speaker 1: could help us. And so she rifles to this bag
32:38
Speaker 1: and sure enough, she finds inside of a small pocket
32:40
Speaker 1: in the bottom of the bag was another bag, a
32:43
Speaker 1: little plastic bag. And inside of it were matches and
32:47
Speaker 1: they were still dry. And so immediately the couple pull
32:50
Speaker 1: them out and they start to round up logs to
32:52
Speaker 1: try to make a fire.
32:53
Speaker 2: And as soon as they light it, it doesn't catch because.
32:56
Speaker 1: All the logs in the area that were on the
32:58
Speaker 1: ground were wet from previous snowstorms and rainstorms. And so
33:02
Speaker 1: all night they tried lighting these fires, but they all
33:04
Speaker 1: just kind of smoldered out. And so eventually after the
33:07
Speaker 1: sun went down, Gina and Brandon, who were totally disheartened,
33:10
Speaker 1: they went back up to John's campsite and they went
33:12
Speaker 1: under his tarp and they huddled together for another freezing
33:15
Speaker 1: cold night. The next morning, Brandon woke up because he
33:18
Speaker 1: actually did fall asleep and Gina was still sleeping. And
33:22
Speaker 1: so Brandon decided to just leave the tarp and go
33:25
Speaker 1: out and get a breath of fresh air. He knew
33:27
Speaker 1: they were in a terrible position, but he just wanted
33:29
Speaker 1: to clear his head. So he stood up and he
33:31
Speaker 1: could barely stand. He was so achy and tired and
33:34
Speaker 1: he was so hungry and he decided he would just
33:36
Speaker 1: walk down to the edge of this cliff and look
33:39
Speaker 1: out into the valley to see if maybe there was
33:42
Speaker 1: a way down. And so he walked along the river,
33:44
Speaker 1: stopping periodically to get a sip of water until he
33:47
Speaker 1: got to the very edge. And when he got there,
33:50
Speaker 1: he looked down and he saw something that he had
33:52
Speaker 1: not seen the day before. There in a pool of water,
33:55
Speaker 1: all the way down, a hundred feet down, was a
33:58
Speaker 1: body lying face down in a pool of water, and
34:01
Speaker 1: that body belonged to John Donovan. Brandon was too far
34:04
Speaker 1: away to actually confirm if that really was John, but
34:08
Speaker 1: he instantly knew. But instead of being scared or saddened
34:11
Speaker 1: or depressed by the sight, it kind of invigorated Brandon
34:15
Speaker 1: and reminded him that if he doesn't act, he and
34:18
Speaker 1: Gina were going to die too. And so Brandon decided
34:22
Speaker 1: he wasn't gonna set some small campfire to try to
34:24
Speaker 1: signal someone, He was going to try to light the
34:27
Speaker 1: entire forest on fire. And so he walked back up
34:30
Speaker 1: to the campsite and he got the matches out from
34:32
Speaker 1: the backpack. And then he walked into the forest a
34:34
Speaker 1: ways that was right near the river and near their campsite.
34:37
Speaker 1: And he found this tree that was obviously dead. And
34:40
Speaker 1: he walked around gathering as much dry wood as he could.
34:43
Speaker 1: And he propped it up against this dead tree. And
34:45
Speaker 1: then he put as much kindling as he possibly could
34:47
Speaker 1: into this hole in the trunk of this dead tree.
34:51
Speaker 1: And after doing all this prep work, he got his
34:53
Speaker 1: mattress out and he lit some of the kindling. And
34:56
Speaker 1: to his surprise, the tree caught on fire almost immediately.
35:00
Speaker 1: In fact, it burned so quickly and so big that
35:03
Speaker 1: Brandon had to run away so.
35:05
Speaker 2: That he didn't catch on fire.
35:07
Speaker 1: And before long, all these trees are catching on fire
35:10
Speaker 1: and he had to run all the way back to
35:11
Speaker 1: the campsite and wake Gina up. So he grabs Gina,
35:14
Speaker 1: they get up and they run all the way over
35:16
Speaker 1: to the edge of the waterfall and And they turn
35:19
Speaker 1: and they're just watching half an acre just completely erupt
35:22
Speaker 1: in flames. And all this black smoke is billowing up
35:25
Speaker 1: into the sky. And then about an hour later, after
35:29
Speaker 1: the fire had eventually just kind of died out on
35:31
Speaker 1: its own, Gina and Brandon heard the distant rumblings of
35:34
Speaker 1: a helicopter. They had seen the smoke and they were
35:36
Speaker 1: coming to rescue them. Gina and Brandon would be airlifted
35:39
Speaker 1: out of the ravine and would make full recoveries. John
35:42
Speaker 1: Donovan's body would be recovered three weeks later. His cause
35:45
Speaker 1: of death could not be determined. Some say that final
35:48
Speaker 1: note he left on May 14th, where he said he
35:51
Speaker 1: was going down to the creek to get water and
35:53
Speaker 1: then said goodbye, I love you all, that that was
35:56
Speaker 1: sort of a suicide note, that he actually threw himself
35:58
Speaker 1: off that cliff to end his suffering. Others say he
36:01
Speaker 1: just walked down to the edge of this waterfall and
36:04
Speaker 1: was trying to get a drink of water from the
36:06
Speaker 1: creek when he slipped and then fell over the edge
36:08
Speaker 1: to his death.
36:09
Speaker 2: But we'll never know for sure.
36:11
Speaker 1: What we do know for sure is that in 2005,
36:14
Speaker 1: when John Donovan was still alive and missing, had he
36:17
Speaker 1: been rescued, he would have left the valley with all
36:20
Speaker 1: of his supplies, including those matches, which would have meant
36:23
Speaker 1: in 2006, when Brandon and Gina found themselves in that ravine,
36:28
Speaker 1: there wouldn't have been a way to start that fire,
36:31
Speaker 1: and so they would have died. In fact, the helicopter
36:33
Speaker 1: pilot that did come up and rescue Brandon and Gina,
36:36
Speaker 1: he would say there was nobody planning to search that area.
36:40
Speaker 1: This was not an area they believed Brandon and Gina
36:43
Speaker 1: would be. And so it really was only because of.
36:46
Speaker 2: That fire that those two lived.
36:48
Speaker 1: As such, the couple said they owe their lives entirely
36:52
Speaker 1: to John Donovan himself.
36:53
Speaker 2: And his unbelievable sacrifice.
36:55
Speaker 1: On July 11th, 2006, a funeral was held for John
36:59
Speaker 1: in Virginia. 80 people showed up for it. Most of
37:02
Speaker 1: them were his hiking friends from his club. After the
37:04
Speaker 1: service was over, they all kind of poured out onto
37:07
Speaker 1: the cemetery lawn around John's grave site. And as the
37:10
Speaker 1: bagpipes played Amazing Grace, Lynn Padgett, the man who had
37:14
Speaker 1: done the first 100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail
37:18
Speaker 1: with John before his feet swelled up and he had
37:20
Speaker 1: to leave, He walked around the crowd handing out red
37:23
Speaker 1: solo cups filled with a tiny bit of John's favorite whiskey.
37:27
Speaker 1: And then after making sure all of the adults had
37:29
Speaker 1: their drinks, Lin went to the head of his very
37:32
Speaker 1: good friend's grave and he delivered a beautiful eulogy. In it,
37:36
Speaker 1: he tells the crowd that he thinks of John all
37:38
Speaker 1: the time, he misses him terribly, and at night he
37:41
Speaker 1: has the same dream. He's walking down this trail next
37:44
Speaker 1: to a stream and then the stream bends off to
37:46
Speaker 1: the side and as soon as he walks around the bend,
37:49
Speaker 1: he sees this green tarp. And he knows it's going
37:52
Speaker 1: to be John. And so he yells, hey, comrade, hey, comrade.
37:55
Speaker 1: And as he's walking over to the tarp, he realizes
37:57
Speaker 1: John isn't there. All it is is a tarp, a pack,
38:00
Speaker 1: and some shoes on a rock. As for Brandon and Gina,
38:03
Speaker 1: they did stay a couple after the ordeal, but they
38:06
Speaker 1: would ultimately break up two years later.
38:08
Speaker 2: So that's going to do it, guys.
38:09
Speaker 1: If you found the secret in today's episode, let us
38:12
Speaker 1: know in the comments section what it is and where
38:14
Speaker 1: you found it.
38:14
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38:16
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38:17
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38:20
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38:22
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39:25
Speaker 2: And until next time, that's going to do it. See ya.