Twenty six months after she posed for her last photo, an Appalachian Trail hiker whose remains were discovered in 2015 survived at least 26 days after getting lost, it has been revealed.
Twenty six months after she posed for her last photo, an Appalachian Trail hiker whose remains were discovered in 2015 survived at least 26 days after getting lost, it has been revealed.
Geraldine Largay, who was 66 at the time of her death, kept a journal of her ordeal and ultimately resigned herself to the idea she was going to die and it could be years before her remains were located, according to investigatory documents released this week by the police.
“When you find my body, please call my husband George... and my daughter Kerry,” wrote Largay, from Brentwood, Tennessee. The Maine Warden Service on Wednesday released more than 1,500 pages of documents related to the search for Largay in response to a Freedom of Access Act requests by several media organisations.
Largay’s tragic story was first reported in October 2015. The retired nurse got lost while trying to find a spot to relieve herself. But as she finished up, she turned to head back to the trail, only to find herself facing thick woods. “In some trouble,” she texted on July 22, 2013, the day she left the trail. “Got off trail to go to br. now lost. can you call AMC to c if a trail maintainer can help me. somewhere north of woods road.” But her texts to her husband warning that she’d become lost were never delivered but were retrieved from her phone after her body was found. A day later, she again pleaded for help: “lost since yesterday. off trail 3 or 4 miles. call police for what to do pls.”
After she missed a rendezvous with her husband, he reported her missing on July 24, 2013, setting off a massive search by the Maine Warden Service and other agencies. They interviewed witnesses and conducted searches.
But Largay went on to survive the elements for 26 days. The last entry in Largay’s journal was on August 18, 2013. Husband, George Largay, told wardens that the Appalachian Trail journey from Georgia to Maine’s Mount Katahdin was a bucket list item for his wife. It wasn’t until more than two years after she went missing, in October 2015, that her remains were found by a contractor conducting a forestry survey.
