Deep Creek – Members of Graham County Fire and Rescue and Stecoah Fire and Rescue were involved in a 12-hour search for a lost hiker in the Deep Creek area of Graham County on Aug. 28.
The Graham County 911 Center received a phone call around 5 p.m., Aug. 28 from James Clark. The 41-year-old Atlanta man said that he had gotten off the Deep Creek Trail and was lost in a dense thicket of briers and Mountain Laurel bushes over head high. Clark had entered the trail from Maple Springs Road – known by local residents as the “Old Wagon Train Road” – around noon. He reported that he was exhausted, was low on water and food, and didn’t have a light.
Searchers were sent into the lower and upper section of the area, and they too were in some of the same type of terrain as Clark. A large fire burned very hot in that area in 2016, resulting in a dense understory. The temperature dropped into the 40s that night, which proved to be chilly for the hiker – who was dressed in shorts.
Around 10:30 p.m., searchers Larry Crisp and Hamilton Boxberger reported that they could hear the hiker yelling. A short time later, searcher Frank Cline said he also heard Clark yelling.
Shortly after 11 p.m., Cline located the hiker – who was about 100 feet off the trail and 6/10 of a mile from an area known as “Hudson Deaden." Other than being covered in numerous scratches and being exhausted from crawling through the brush, Clark was okay.
Most of the searchers were back home by 4:30 a.m., Friday, after a long and tiring ordeal.