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Rescuers Find Blind Hiker Who Vanished From Appalachian Trail in Good Condition (he lit brush fire)
Fox News / AP ^
| May 3, 2009
Posted on 05/03/2009 12:12:04 PM PDT by Stoat
(edit)
Knight, a production editor for Backpacking Light magazine, set a brush fire to attract the attention of firefighters, said Ryan Jordan, the magazine's chief executive officer who had helped in the search.
(edit)
Because of his visual impairment, Knight often hiked alone and would meet up with friends at scheduled stops to camp.
The National Park Service's small search for Knight expanded greatly on Friday to include more than 100 people combing a 385-square-mile area throughout the night.
That area was whittled down to 20 square miles that were the focus of Saturday's search by about 130 emergency workers, hikers, trackers, canine and horseback units, and air patrol, said Mark Eggeman, state search and rescue coordinator.
(edit)
While not the most challenging portion of the trek, the area where Knight disappeared is a difficult hike that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway and includes 2,000-foot climbs.
"It is a horrendous area," Eggeman said. "It is extremely steep and rugged."
Eggeman said Knight's visual impairment likely played a role in his disappearance.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Outdoors; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: appalachiantrail; blindhiker; hiker; hiking; hikingwhileblind; rescue
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To: Stoat
"Making a note to self to spend Stoat Vacation Dollars in places other than Ann Arbor" About the only reason to go to Ann Arbor is to watch the Spartans make the Wolverines cry like the sissy girls they are. :)
21
posted on
05/03/2009 1:16:45 PM PDT
by
Harmless Teddy Bear
(When you're spinning round, things come undone. Welcome to Earth 3rd rock from the Sun!)
To: Tax-chick
There was a blind man who sailed across the Atlantic (I think) by himself, too. Its an ideological statement. Theres no reason they couldnt have taken someone else along. From the article, I get the impression this hiker was simply bullheaded, and felt he was proving something by going alone.It's all fine when disabled people can overcome their disabilities, but when it comes to placing themselves in the obvious path of catastrophe, the political machinery cranks up into high gear to make sure that nothing interferes with their goal of placing themselves and others at extreme risk.
In so doing, search and rescue efforts like this and so many others are undertaken which are all incredibly expensive as well as serving to pull hundredsof people out of their jobs and causing them to place their own lives on the line, all because it's become politically -incorrect to say "Um, no, you shouldn't do that" to anyone who is disabled.
Well, one hesitates to say, Let him die alone, then, but its a strong temptation.
I share the temptation.
22
posted on
05/03/2009 1:22:12 PM PDT
by
Stoat
(Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
To: Harmless Teddy Bear
"Making a note to self to spend Stoat Vacation Dollars in places other than Ann Arbor"About the only reason to go to Ann Arbor is to watch the Spartans make the Wolverines cry like the sissy girls they are. :)
ROTFLMAO!!!
23
posted on
05/03/2009 1:23:33 PM PDT
by
Stoat
(Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
To: Stoat; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
Eggeman said Knight's visual impairment likely played a role in his disappearance.A proud graduate of the Barney Fife School of Criminology.
24
posted on
05/03/2009 1:24:18 PM PDT
by
Slings and Arrows
(Can't get enough of my snarking? http://twitter.com/slingsandarrows)
To: Stoat
make sure that nothing interferes with their goal of placing themselves and others at extreme riskWell, that's the key, from an outsider standpoint. If it were just himself getting lost and killed, that would be sad, in a "too bad he wanted to die" sorta way. However, it turns out to be a huge effort and expense, putting others lives at risk, to save this putz from himself.
Of course, it's not just blind people who do this. A lot of rescue situations would have been avoided if the rescu-ees had used common sense.
25
posted on
05/03/2009 1:26:39 PM PDT
by
Tax-chick
(Stay out of Mexico. Wash your hands. Keep your pigs outdoors.)
To: Hot Tabasco
Eggeman said Knight's visual impairment likely played a role in his disappearanceObviously Eggeman stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.....
LMAO! Taking his cue from Ray Charles :-)
It seems that Ray (RIP) had far more common sense than this bullheaded oaf.
26
posted on
05/03/2009 1:26:52 PM PDT
by
Stoat
(Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
To: Stoat
Mr. Knight obviously needs a different pastime, like trying out for NASCAR racing.
Leni
To: Stoat
The entire concept of common sense is thusly rendered a non-starter and this individual who caused so much panic, monumental expense and hazard (rescue workers and firefighters get injured or killed on occasion, you know) now feels nothing but smugness in that he 'increased public awareness' of Blind Hiking and "demonstrated the need for clearer wilderness path markers" throughout the underbrush of the world.You nailed it! Watch for markers and guide ropes along trails everywhere.
28
posted on
05/03/2009 1:42:08 PM PDT
by
Inyo-Mono
(Had God not driven man from the Garden of Eden the Sierra Club surely would have.)
To: NewJerseyJoe
I'm all for people meeting and crashing through any limitations presented by their disabilities. But a blind person hiking the AT? That's just wrong. You are demonstrating Insensitivity To The Disabled Public, and as such you have been selected for 'participation' in the Diversity Gulag.
"That boy's mind ain't right"
Parts of the AT run just a few miles from my house -- and sighted people have difficulty with these rocky (often steep; sometimes muddy) sections.
But it's perfectly fine for bullheaded blind people though. "rolling eyes"
Oh, and it also helps to be able to keep an eye out for bears -- this area is Bear Central in New Jersey....
I wasn't aware of that. I love the internet! I'm guessing that from a bear's perspective, "Blind Hiker" most likely tastes quite similar to "Sighted Hiker" but is far less problematic to catch and is equally nutritious.
29
posted on
05/03/2009 2:12:09 PM PDT
by
Stoat
(Palin / Coulter 2012: A Strong America Through Unapologetic Conservatism)
To: Tax-chick
I know the rough area this happened in (I grew up about 30 miles east), and the article’s not kidding. We’re not exactly talking the Rockies here, but the area around Punchbowl Mountain is pretty rugged.
I used to help provide amateur radio logistic support for an event called the Mountain Masochist Trail Run every fall; it’s a 50-mile “ultra-marathon” that’s run from the James River Visitor’s Center on the Blue Ridge Parkway at US 501 all the way north to Montebello, VA. Looking at a Google map, I think the course ran right by where he was found; it didn’t use the AT itself, I don’t think, but it used other county roads, Forest Service roads, and hiking trails that ran very close to it.
}:-)4
30
posted on
05/04/2009 11:11:08 AM PDT
by
Moose4
(Hey RNC. Don't move toward the middle. MOVE THE MIDDLE TOWARD YOU.)
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