Cheoah – Holidays are usually busy times for rescue personnel.
This Labor Day weekend was no exception.
Graham County 911 dispatchers received a cell phone call shortly after 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, from a couple in the Joyce Kilmer Forest, stating that they were lost.
David and Judy Kochanski, both 57 of Aragon, Ga., had intended to hike the Memorial Loop Trail, but missed the trail and became lost.
Tory Lynnes of the U.S. Forest Service began looking for the couple at 7 p.m. and found them above Indian Springs Branch on the Naked Ground Trail. The couple was not injured; just lost and afraid it would get dark before they were located.
Lynnes escorted them back to their vehicle shortly after 8 p.m.
The couple told Lynnes that they had hiked the lower loop of the Memorial Trail before and had intended to hike the upper loop this time, but mistook the Naked Ground Trail for the upper loop, despite signs indicating the direction they should have gone.