A 39-year-old hiker, Robert Schock, who went missing at the end of July in the North Cascades, was found alive on Friday, Aug. 30.
Schock’s mother, Jan Thompson, who lives in North Carolina, told CDN on Sunday that she had spoken to him and while he was weak from malnourishment, he was uninjured. His parents are giving him time to readjust and recover in the hospital before flying out to see him.
Schock was last seen on July 31 on the Chilliwack River Trail with his dog Freddy. Five days later on Aug. 4, Thompson was contacted by the Whatcom County Humane Society because Freddy was found on the trail by a forest ranger. She reported her son missing one day later. Three searches of the 17-mile trail were conducted, including a helicopter search, with no luck.
But last Friday afternoon, a trail crew with the Pacific Northwest Trail Association was working in the field and heard Schock yelling for help, Thompson said. The team called for a helicopter to short-haul him out to a waiting ambulance, which transported him to United General Hospital in Sedro-Woolley.
The Chilliwack River Trail has a difficulty rating of “hard,” according to the Washington Trails Association. It starts at the Hannegan Pass Trailhead and after 5 miles, the trail forks to the right, becoming the Chilliwack River Trail.
Five miles after the fork is a river crossing. There is no bridge and hikers are encouraged to use the hand-pulled cable car. However, the trail to the east of the cable car is closed due to the Chilliwack wildfire.
Schock has lived in Mount Vernon in the past and frequently visits the area to camp, but he told Thompson the trail after the river crossing had changed since his last excursion, leading to his confusion and disorientation.
Thompson said her son isn’t fully recovered so she hasn’t heard the full story of his experience in the woods, without provisions, for a month.
“He’s in a lot of pain and he isn’t speaking very well, but he’s coherent and seemed in pretty high spirits,” she said. “I didn’t push him too much.”
Thompson said when she received the call from the forest ranger, she assumed the worst and was surprised to get such good news instead.
“We’re really in disbelief about this,” Thompson said.
On Sept. 4, Jeff Kish, the executive director of the nonprofit Pacific Northwest Trail Association that helps the U.S. Forest Service manage and maintain the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail, made a public post on Facebook to dispel some of the speculation he had seen online. Kish said that the young trail crew members who found Schock had already worked a strenuous 10-hour day in the backcountry when they heard his barely discernible calls over the sound of the Chilliwack River.
While Kish said the details of the hiker’s extremely depleted condition were Schock’s alone to share, he added, “There is nothing that can fully prepare anyone to handle the mental and emotional burden of providing aid to someone like Robert under the circumstances that they found him in.”
Kish lauded the young trail builders, as well as the helicopter crew and the staff at the hospital, for their efforts in what he called an “improbable and heroic rescue.”
“This crew was trained and tasked to build and maintain trail,” Kish continued. “They had Wilderness First Responder training to protect themselves and others from incidents in the backcountry, but what they did this weekend was above and beyond anything that I think anyone could have reasonably expected of them. They saved Robert’s life against improbable odds, and at great psychological toll.”
This story was updated at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 5 to include Jeff Kish’s account of the rescue.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
