The Diary of a Wilderness Mantracker

I found the second man about ten minutes later, lying on his face in the snow. I turned him over and he called for his Mommy. We treated them as best we could, gave them both food and water and called for "Med-Evac" on the radio. The man Westie found seemed to be in much better condition than the one I found.  He was able to eat and drink and talk to Westie.  The man I found was much worse off.  He kept dropping the food from his hands, was shaking violently, and also was unable to tell me his name.  The look he had in his eyes was that of a steady, far away, lost look. The color of his face was ashen.  I realized than that I had a man in shock or rapidly going into shock and on the edge of death. I had never before seen this, but remembered the wilderness survival first aid class and the poem the instructor told all of us to never forget.

“If the face is pale raise the tail, if the face is red raise the head.”

I told him we had to move out of the snow and get under a tree.  It was a struggle, but we made it to a spot that was clear of snow under a nearby tree.  I broke out my sleeping bag and unzipped it.  I spread it on the ground close to a log and told him to lie down and put his feet on the log in order to elevate his lower body.  With my help, he did as he was told.  I lay down next to him and pulled the loose end of the sleeping bad over both of us.

A helicopter landed on the paved road and the paramedics carried them into it.

The following day, in the hospital, they were both interviewed by the State Police. They asked them both the same question, "Why did you not stay on the paved road and wait for help?" To the astonishment of all ,they both had the same answer. "WE NEVER CROSSED A ROAD!" Both men were so disoriented and close to death that another five or six hours would have brought tragedy to their families.