Hiker missing in the Whites

From the Associated Press, as of Monday around 10 p.m.

Frank Deland, 58, of Manchester, Mass., was missing in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, which he entered Friday, authorities said Monday.
Fish and Game Lt. Robert Bryant said Deland set off Friday to hike in the Dry River area and on Saturday planned to climb Mount Eisenhower.
Deland, whose car was found at the Dry River Campground parking lot, was expected to return home Sunday, Bryant said.
Deland was described as 5-10, of slight build with short brown hair and wearing wire-rimmed glasses.
Bryant said his officers, members of Androscoggin Search and Rescue and a National Guard helicopter searched the area Monday and expected to continue Tuesday.

Missing hiker reported to have walked out on his own.

[Greg]

Lost Mass. hiker reaches safety
By LORNA COLQUHOUN
Union Leader Correspondent

CARROLL — More than four days after losing his way on what was supposed to have been a two-day hike, Frank Deland walked out of the Dry River Wilderness yesterday, wet and cold, with a hankering for a hamburger and apple pie.

Deland, 58, of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass., is an experienced hiker who set out Friday planning to hike up Mount Eisenhower and camp in the areas of Lake of the Clouds or Mizpah huts, before returning Sunday to the Dry River campground in Crawford Notch, where he had left his vehicle.

But a day into the hike, his plans were altered by the elements.

“I lost the trail,” he said yesterday afternoon, shortly after finding his way down the Isolation trail to his car. “I was bushwhacking — it was slow going.”

With snow deep in places and no trail to follow, Deland said he “kept going — I wanted to get back home.”

When he did not return to his home as planned Sunday night, his wife called authorities in New Hampshire and a search was launched Monday afternoon. By mid-day yesterday, according to Fish and Game Lt. Marty Garabedian, about 30 searchers, many of them volunteers, had covered close to 40 miles of trails above Crawford Notch.

“The problem was that in the past two days, there was 20 inches of snow at the height of land and then it started raining,” he said. “The brooks and rivers were raging, and several searchers were not able to make it across in places (on Monday).”

The water had subsided yesterday, but, he said, there were still some areas that the searches could not ford.

The weather conditions, while wet for the past three days, were mild for the Presidential Range in November; the changing conditions became a concern as the day went on. A Blackhawk helicopter from the Army National Guard in Concord was able to fly a number of searchers to the top of the peaks yesterday morning. Fog and rain began creeping down the slopes by mid-afternoon.

“This afternoon, we’re expecting showers and snow and obviously this concerns us,” Garabedian said yesterday.

Deland said he saw the Blackhawk helicopter several times yesterday. “I knew they were looking for me, but I was just a small speck,” he said. “I waved once, and they turned around, but they were just making a turn.”

While he had plenty of gear for his planned hike, “I don’t have too much dry stuff,” he said.

“I would not survive another night,” he said. “I had bouts of hypothermia, and I wasn’t making good decisions.”

At one point, he said, he left his tent to go to a stream to get some water and when he tried to return to the tent, he said he became disoriented.

He stayed close to water, he said.

“I was not on an established trail,” he said. “I stayed close to the rivers — I knew they had to come out somewhere.”

Deland arose about 6:30 a.m. yesterday and found the Isolation trail somewhere between 8 and 9 a.m.

“That was a great feeling,” he said.

Officials said Deland had climbed the 4,000-foot peaks in New Hampshire and was experienced.

Looking back, he said, he might have paid “closer attention to my wife and not gone hiking alone.”

Deland became tearful when he looked around the parking lot at the Crawford Path trailhead and saw the vehicles of the dozens of volunteers who were out looking for him.

“I am thankful — humbled,” he said. “Thanks for caring.”

Assisting the Fish and Game Department with the search were volunteers from Androscoggin Valley Search and Rescue and Upper Valley Wilderness Rescue.

Garabedian said the area in which Deland was believed lost is in the Dry River Wilderness. Deland said he believed he was on the Dry River trail.

“There’s a sharp corner on that trail, and people miss it,” Garabedian said. “It goes into Oakes Gulf, and that is a mess with a lot of blowdowns.”

Source

[Greg]

Interesting first-hand account of this situation:

http://appalachia.outdoors.org/bbs/m...&threadid=1237

Glad you're back safe Rambler!

[Mike P.]

Thanks Greg for putting th link in for first hand account on outdoors.org. Frank was very nice to disect his trip & in hindsight which does a nice job of detailing how a few small trival errors (for the most part & errors may be too strong of a word, maybe unplanned events would be better) can add up & cause you to be overdue or worse. This time of year, the little events add up much quicker than they do in July.