Los Angeles – Two lost hikers who survived three nights in rugged terrain were rescued after they scavenged supplies from the campsite of another hiker who vanished last year and is presumed dead.
The pair found a backpack containing clothing and matches in the deserted campsite of John Donovan, almost a year to the day after he disappeared in the San Jacinto Mountains.
Donovan’s abandoned gear “gave us the means to get out,” hiker Gina Allen said Wednesday in a telephone interview.
Allen, 24, and Brandon Day, 28, of Dallas, were in Southern California for a financial convention. They got lost Saturday west of Palm Springs after wandering off a trail during a day hike.
Prepared for only a brief hike, they wore light jackets and sneakers and had no food, spare clothing or cellphones.
With night closing in, they took shelter in a small cave between boulders and spent the night sleepless, cold and hungry.
For two more days they kept moving, with “the mantra from night one: ‘We’re going to get out of here. We’re not going to die. It’s not our time,”‘ Day said.
On Monday, they discovered Donovan’s campsite. There was a foam sleeping mat, a poncho, a backpack. The experienced hiker had been following the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, from Southern California to the Canadian border, when he vanished May 2, 2005, in icy weather.
His journal, in the form of notes written on sketch paper and on the back of maps, depicted a man without hope of rescue, Day said.
“His last journal entry was one year ago to the day that we found it, which was very eerie,” Day said. “Nobody knew where he was, nobody knew to come looking for him, so he was preparing for the end. We were looking at the words of a man who was passing.”
Day and Allen found salvation in his backpack: a warm sweater for Allen, dry socks for Day and matches. On Tuesday morning, they came to a large culvert choked with dried-out vines. Day struck a match.
“The whole acre or two caught fire, created a really big smoke signal” that finally alerted a helicopter crew, he said.
Day wants Donovan’s relatives to know that his demise helped save them. “With tragedy comes rebirth,” he said. “We have a real special thanks for that person.”
