Marshall McClung
I began tracking people in the woods before I started school.
My older brother Sam and our neighbor Gerald Phillips would go off into the woods – and they didn’t want a little boy tagging along. I would wait until they got ahead of me and I would follow their trail, where they had scuffed up leaves; broke a twig off a bush; kicked a small limb or stick out of the way; or other small items that had been moved from their original place.
When they got to where they were going, I was there too.
How did I manage to follow them? By the signs they left.
I didn’t realize it then and it took most – if not all – the 50 years that I was involved in search and rescue for it to dawn on me that there is a spiritual parallel to the physical one when it comes to leaving signs.
We all leave signs along the trail we call life, just as we do in the woods. There is someone following us, just as there was either me – or another searcher – following the signs left by a lost hiker. All of us – but especially parents and grandparents – need to take heed as to what signs we are leaving and what trail we are on, since some little boy or girl is following us and patterning themselves after us.
Our pastor Brian Stevens often asks the congregation, “Where are you?" – referring to our spiritual walk with God. Several times – when I would come to four trails taking off in four different directions – I would say, “Which one do I take, Lord?"
Every time, I would choose the correct trail and eventually find them. In reaching crossroads in life, I must say that sometimes I didn’t ask for guidance and took the wrong trail.
I noticed a pattern developing as to where people got lost in some areas of the woods – especially the upper reaches of Joyce Kilmer Forest. On one search for two ladies, I got them to calm down and describe how it looked by asking where they were; if there a stream; how steep was the trail; or was it making a turn to another direction. They answered all the questions.
I told them that they were on the Naked Ground Trail below the switchbacks, and to sit down in the trail and wait: Frank Cline and I would be there to get them.
They said, “In the morning?"
I replied, “No, tonight.”
They wanted to know if we could find them in the dark – and I told them that we did it all the time. We located the ladies within a few yards of where I thought they would be. They wanted to know if we could see them on a game camera or something.
Isn’t it nice to have a God who knows where we are and when we need rescuing?
Are you leaving signs?
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the U.S. Forest Service and can be reached via email, mcclungs828@gmail.com.