Lost:..... NAKED 11 days in "ALASKA"

[Sourdough]

It seemed that the search was hampered by the assumption of fowl play. And much time was lost questioning the man you were at that time engaged to. Do you have thoughts about this.

[amy headrick]

I do. They wasted a ton of time. My car was found on the road out of gas. Locked, my stuff gone. No reason to have suspected foul play, in my opinion. Not sure about them questioning Dave. He never said much about that.

I think that so many people end up lost in alaska and that they should have suspected that first. But hey. . .the weird thing is how the dogs were able to track me up the Seward highway, but not into the woods.

I did see a trooper helicopter fly over the river early on, but I was up higher in the mountain. Officer Bowman confirmed that it was them when he came to see me in the hosiptal. The hospital was a weird experience. I would never voluntarily step foot in Providence again.

[Sourdough]

OK, Here is the big question for me, to what extent did chemicals, both legal and/or illegal play some part in this event......? Please feel free to decline to answer; However now days everyone is on some type of drug, both legal and illegal, and sometimes both. This is a example: my friends son is Bi-Polar, and is on medicine for the condition, but sometimes he thinks the medicine is making him depressed, so he quits taking the medicine. I am not inferring that you were on any medicine, but could you or would you talk about "HOW" medicines "Could" effect someones decisions........? Thank you.

[amy headrick]

Non actually. I was quite sober. I was tired, hungry and thirsty, but not on anything. There was speculation floating around that I was manic deressive, but I wasn't and aren't. No meds. My boyfriend, on the other hand, was on quite a bit while I was lost.

I could see that someone on or off meds could get lost. I just had dumb luck and wasn't paying attention after I crossed over the foot bridge. By the way, is it still there? Last time i saw it, it was pretty rickety!

[Sourdough]

I just had dumb luck and wasn't paying attention after I crossed over the foot bridge. By the way, is it still there? Last time i saw it, it was pretty rickety!

The bridge has been replaced with a new footbridge across Sixmile, Creek at the confluence with Gulch Creek. I was just up to the mining operation back Gulch Creek two weeks ago.

[amy headrick]

That's cool. Man, I love it out there. It is so peaceful and beautiful. But what really surprised me was all the trash out there. Lots of trash. And the old car. How the heck did someone get a car out there?

[Sourdough]

Amy, you or one of the forum members might want to look in the Anchorage Daily news archives for the story of the other lady that had the roughly same experience about two or three years later. (Key word would be 6 mile or Sixmile, or Turnagain Pass, or Amy) Are you a attorney there in N.M.??

[erunkiswldrnssurvival]

that many days with no clothes would be harsh, with the chill of nitetime, that would be hard to do

[trax]

Amy, I'd like to say thank you for coming to the site and thank you for sharing your perspective and your experience. There are a lot of very good common sense points you make, especially for those uninitiated to the outdoors and the north, even things as simple as how cold the river was. It's so unfortunate that we have all of these "hollywood" offerings that give people a false sense of security about the wild.

Most of all, congratulations on being a survivor and having the level-headedness you seem to have now, about the experience.

[amy headrick]

I have never taken the NM bar, but I work for a legal publishing/research/software company. Thinking about the bar this year.

The water was a notch above ice, and flood stage levels. I have no idea how I got across it. And not how I did it three times. Something happens when you go into survival mode. The brain works differently. I wasted time the first couple days, after that, I sort of learned a bunch of stuff.

[snakeman]

Who wanders around in Alaska naked?

[amy headrick]

no one usually. I had to shed my clothes after i got lost. they were cotten, it was raining and was starting to get hypothermic. better without the clothes.

[Rick]

I tell my wife that all the time. All she says is, "Shut up." It's not right, I tell ya.

[amy headrick]

I actually had a distaste for clothes for a while after. Go figure. Modesty had gone out the window.

[Sarge47]

I actually had a distaste for clothes for a while after. Go figure. Modesty had gone out the window.

Priorities get changed around real fast when the crap hits the fan!

[crashdive123]

I actually had a distaste for clothes for a while after. Go figure. Modesty had gone out the window.

Oh sure....and you wait ten years to introduce yourself.

[amy headrick]

Hee-hee. I didn't know about wilderness survival forums before last night.

[Rick]

Sitting here warm and dry it's hard to visualize me wanting to ditch my clothes. I KNOW all the rules about cotton. Still, it's almost ingrained NOT to do it. It seems counter intuitive. Yet, it was probably the best thing you could have done under the circumstances. For not having any experience or training, you sure made some smart decisions.

[amy headrick]

Sitting here warm and dry it's hard to visualize me wanting to ditch my clothes. I KNOW all the rules about cotton. Still, it's almost ingrained NOT to do it. It seems counter intuitive. Yet, it was probably the best thing you could have done under the circumstances. For not having any experience or training, you sure made some smart decisions.

Ditching my clothes was next to impossible. It was raining, and I saw the steam escaping and knew I had to do something. But with how cold I was, it was hard to do. As I felt my muscles start to contract, which can be the beginning of hypothermia, I knew they had to go.

I made some smart decisions after I got lost. And I felt I had a little divine intervention as well.

[Sourdough]

Bump........We have a lot of new members who might find this interesting. There is a lot of off subject posts, but I would suggest you start with post #26 then jump to post #34 and continue. I find it especially interesting to those who obsess about the perfect firearm, and perfect knife. I wish Amy would come back to the forum. But she has moved on with her life.