I can't find a single track anywhere that I don't already know about so he had to have gone towards the river and gotten in the tamarisk and can't get back. To the north and south there are sand creek beds he must cross to continue hiking. The ones to the north are close. I checked them everyday for his prints. The ones to the south are almost to the Wind Caves. I check them everyday to see if he crossed. Going east is more difficult because the terrain is so much more hard surface and a larger area. But still to go over Hurrah Pass there are a couple choke points on the road where I would see his tracks. I checked every day. He was still inside the creek beds and half way up Hurrah. All that is left is the river and the tamarisk. I canceled or delayed all the bookings for the next ten days so I can focus completely on finding Kobae. The plan being to check the tamarisk every morning from 7 to 10 before it gets too hot and then again from 5 to 8 in the evening. Those are the times when he'd be moving. During the hotter times of the day I'll check all the other locations and look for tracks and keep shrinking the perimeter.
I've just come up the hill from the river for the second time crashing through the tamarisk. I'd decided if he was in there it would take 20 people to find him so I'd have to go in 20 times. Suzy who stayed here with friends back in May or so has driven down from Salt Lake with her dog Noodles and is ready to go. I take a shower and change clothes and explain we're going to go shrink the area to the south. I take her down to the beach so she can see Kobae tracks and know what we're looking for. Then it's off to where I had previously drawn a walk line across the south and bring it back 500 feet. We check out a couple of old tracks on the way out. Then I drop her off and ask her to stay between the road and the Anti-Cline. I drive another 1,000 feet with the same plan and we'll meet in the middle. I park the side by side and start walking towards the Anti-Cline. I'm hiking for about 5 minutes and look down and see Kobae tracks. He and I have not hiked to this location this year. Then I see human footprints walking next to them. Suzy calls on the walkie and says she has found footprints also and thinks they are his. I ask if there are human footprints next to them and she says no. I look down at the human footprints and they aren't mine. I put my foot next to them and make an imprint. They don't match. Somebody else was walking with Kobae.
Suzy says it looks like the footprints are going north, towards the lodge. Everything tells me that can't be. Kobae has never gone backwards on his own but this time that is the case. I ask Suzy to stay at the last footprint she found and I'll head up. When I get there the footprints are just going on slick rock. Suzy stays left and I stay right so one of us will find tracks when he gets off the slick rock. The trail picks up, disappears over and over. These are looking like today footprints and there is no longer somebody walking with him. We're going to find him in the next few minutes. I call Heather and tell her. I look to my right and I see what looks like Kobae's shell in the sunlight under a ledge. Then above him a giant tortoise like looking rock.
I've just come up the hill from the river for the second time crashing through the tamarisk. I'd decided if he was in there it would take 20 people to find him so I'd have to go in 20 times. Suzy who stayed here with friends back in May or so has driven down from Salt Lake with her dog Noodles and is ready to go. I take a shower and change clothes and explain we're going to go shrink the area to the south. I take her down to the beach so she can see Kobae tracks and know what we're looking for. Then it's off to where I had previously drawn a walk line across the south and bring it back 500 feet. We check out a couple of old tracks on the way out. Then I drop her off and ask her to stay between the road and the Anti-Cline. I drive another 1,000 feet with the same plan and we'll meet in the middle. I park the side by side and start walking towards the Anti-Cline. I'm hiking for about 5 minutes and look down and see Kobae tracks. He and I have not hiked to this location this year. Then I see human footprints walking next to them. Suzy calls on the walkie and says she has found footprints also and thinks they are his. I ask if there are human footprints next to them and she says no. I look down at the human footprints and they aren't mine. I put my foot next to them and make an imprint. They don't match. Somebody else was walking with Kobae. 
Suzy says it looks like the footprints are going north, towards the lodge. Everything tells me that can't be. Kobae has never gone backwards on his own but this time that is the case. I ask Suzy to stay at the last footprint she found and I'll head up. When I get there the footprints are just going on slick rock. Suzy stays left and I stay right so one of us will find tracks when he gets off the slick rock. The trail picks up, disappears over and over. These are looking like today footprints and there is no longer somebody walking with him. We're going to find him in the next few minutes. I call Heather and tell her. I look to my right and I see what looks like Kobae's shell in the sunlight under a ledge. Then above him a giant tortoise like looking rock. 
No comments:
Post a Comment