Yesterday I traveled to Dolly Sods to try and help find Jacob Allen, who has been lost in the wilderness since Sunday afternoon.  He does not have food or water, and time is running out.  "Jake," has a severe case of autism, which is described quite well in the Moose Droppings blog, which highlights some of the challenges of our search.   I joined up with staff from the Alldredge Academy, who are highly trained search and rescue experts.  Kevin, who I backpacked with two weeks ago, works with Alldredge and even set me up with a search and rescue t-shirt to make me look official.  We were given a very challenging part of the wilderness to search that was full of dense young Spruce and Rhododendron.  I am beat up, but it was worth it to knock off some of the grid and at least find where Jake is not, so we can narrow down where he is. It was a long day. I went through periods of great hope and tremendous frustration. 

There were some real high points and moments of inspiration.  Most of this involved participating in such an incredible operation with so many committed people.  It is a massive operation that is only a few days old - kudos to those who are in charge.  Trevor Harris, my dissertation advisor, drove me there and participated in the search himself.  Trevor just beat cancer for a second time and is barely off of chemotherapy.  He had no business trying to tackle this, but Jacob is his neighbor and there was nothing stopping him from crawling under "Rodo" and through Spruce in search of him.  The local community has rallied behind the effort and is providing vans for transportation from the Canaan Lodge to the base camp and from base camp to the wilderness using fire roads.  I heard some terrific stories of heroism.  One young man arrived Monday planning to search through the night.  An hour in, the sole of his shoe fell off, yet he searched through the night anyway, and nurses had to attend to him when he came off the mountain.  Tuesday morning, as he slept in a cot at the Emergency Operations Center (formally known as the ski lodge), another hiker, who had to go back home, left his boots next to the man's cot and slipped out quietly in bare feet.  This guy is still out there looking for Jacob!

There were also some real challenges and trying times.  The man just to right of me in my first search line, whose name was John, was eliminated from our team in only 1/2 hour when he stepped on a yellow jacket nest deep in the wilderness.  We had to rush him out because he was allergic and had been stung 12 times - we had to get him down the mountain quickly.  Soon afterward, we found a pair of soiled boys underwear in the woods.  One of our key roles is looking for "clues," so we reported this to headquarters.  It took nearly two hours for the experts to find us and verify that this was not Jacob's underwear.  So, our highly trained team (with me as the exception!) just sat around and did nothing for two hours while we waited.  Had the underwear been Jakes, it would have been a frightening but helpful clue.  As it turns out, some kid crapped himself in the woods, stashed his underwear, and inadvertently held up a search and rescue team for hours.

I had to come home today due to child care issues, but I am absolutely going back in the morning.  I have been spreading the word all day to try and recruit as many people as possible to join me in the effort.  So, if you are within a four or five hour radius please come!!!  If you are local to Harrison County then meet us at 5:30 tomorrow morning in the back of the Wal-Mart parking lot at Newpointe in Clarksburg.  Bring enough food and water for a day, rain gear, a compass, and a light source.  Hopefully they will find him today, but if they don't I will look forward to seeing you in the morning.  :)