Free Republic

AUGUSTA, Maine —Documents show an Appalachian Trail hiker whose remains were found last year in Maine survived at least 26 days after getting lost. During that time, her texts went undelivered because of poor cell reception. The Boston Globe reports Geraldine Largay kept a journal in which she acknowledged that she expected to die and that it might be years before her remains were found.

Geraldine Largay knew she was doomed. It had been two weeks since she left the Appalachian Trail to go to the bathroom and lost her way; two weeks since she had wandered deeper and deeper into the woods of northwest Maine in search of a cellphone signal to message for help; two weeks since she had pitched her tent underneath a copse of hemlock trees atop a ridge; two weeks since she was supposed to meet her husband, waiting for her in his SUV on Route 27. Largay’s food was running low. Her water, too. So the 66-year-old retired nurse...

(CNN)For two years, the whereabouts of Geraldine "Gerry" Largay had confounded authorities in Maine. Largay, a 66-year-old experienced hiker from Brentwood, Tennessee, disappeared while trekking the Appalachian Trail in July 2013. Hundreds of people searched for her. There wasn't a single clue. On Wednesday, a single person, a surveyor, came across bones, clothing and gear just over a half mile from the trail.