Over the years, I have been asked a number of times how I got started in search and rescue, mainly for persons lost in the woods.
Actually, you might say it came about by accident.
In my early years with the U.S. Forest Service, I was assigned to do cleanup and maintenance, in the campgrounds and picnic areas on the Cheoah Ranger District in Graham County, along with Gudger Buchanan.
As we were working one spring day at the Joyce Kilmer Forest trailhead and picnic area, we noticed a school bus from Cherokee County parked there. This was not unusual, as a number of schools visited the area for field trips.
The children began returning to the bus after a trip on the Memorial Plaque Trail. Soon, we were approached by the bus driver and a teacher, who informed us that two of the young girls were missing. Somehow on the return trip, the two had gotten separated from the rest of the group.
The girls were identified as Deborah Hedrick and Becky Sweat. I was to hear the phrase “got separated from the group” many times over the next several decades.
Gudger and I had been there for some time and had not seen the girls. We concluded that the girls had gotten on another trail on their return. We felt like we should check the trail that they most likely would have taken first – you probably have guessed it, the Naked Ground Trail.
This was my first search on this trail, but there were to be dozens more in later years.
Gudger and I went up the trail to where it begins to get very steep in the switchbacks below the Naked Ground. We saw the girls ahead of us and called to them. They began running back down the trail and were very happy to see us. They were tired, but otherwise okay.
Just as we started down the trail with them, we began to hear thunder rumbling close by. In a matter of minutes, a severe thunderstorm – with heavy rain, wind and lightning – was upon us. In no time at all, we were all soaking wet.
The trail became very slick and the girls were on the ground more than on their feet. In time, we made it back to the parking lot, where the girls were reunited with their group.
This is how I got into hunting lost persons in the woods, but had no clue this would continue for around 50 years with both the U.S. Forest Service and the Graham County Rescue Squad.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He can be reached via email, mcclungs@email.com.