National Park After Dark - An Incredible Rescue: Lake Clark National Park and Preserve

Episode Date: May 15, 2023

Join us this week in the Alaskan Wilderness to the site of a plane crash on Redoubt Volcano. Four military men find themself stranded for weeks in a place where no rescue team has ventured to before.For the latest NPAD updates, group travel details, merch and more, follow us on npadpodcast.com and our socials:Instagram: @‌nationalparkafterdarkTikTok: @‌nationalparkafterdarkSupport the show by becoming an Outsider and receive ad free listening, bonus content and more on Patreon or Apple Podcasts. Want to see our faces? Catch full episodes on our YouTube Page!Thank you to this week’s partners!Lumi Labs: Use code NPAD to get free shipping and 30% off your first order.For a full list of our sources, visit http://npadpodcast.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Close your eyes. Listen to Monday.com. Feel the sensation of an AI work platform. So flexible and intuitive, it feels like it was built just for you. Now open your eyes, go to Monday.com. Start for free and finally, breathe. Girl, winter is so last season. And now Springs got you looking at pictures of tank tops with hungry eyes. Your algorithm is feeding you cutoffs. You're thirsty for the sun on your shoulders. That perfect hang on the patio sundress. Those sandals you can wear all day and all night. And you've had enough of shopping from your couch. Done hoping it looks anything like the picture when you tear open that envelope? It's time for a little in-person spring treat. It's time for a trip to Ross. Work your magic. Alaska is fondly known as the last frontier due to its expansive landscape and its uninhabited lands.

Many parts of this state aren't accurately chartered or mapped. And many areas have never been explored. It is filled with untamed wilderness with wildlife as diverse as its landscapes. Alaska is surely a magical place, but it is a place you certainly would not want to get lost in. Because in this wilderness, there are surprises around every turn. And you have to keep your wits about you if you're going to survive. Welcome to National Park After Dark. Are you back at it again with the survival story?

Back at it again, baby. We're back with another survival story. Surprise, surprise. They're my favorite. I love to do them. And we're going to Alaska this time, which we have done Alaska a lot, not recently, but we're going to a completely different park. We've never visited this one before. Hmm. Okay. So we've been to Denali, Cat Mai, Rangel, St. Elias. And now we're going to Lake Clark National Park in Preserve. Oh, nice. There's like a really famous picture of a bear on the shore of. that park that literally gets circulated through my feed every quarter. I'm like, oh, here it is again. Well, fun fact, it is one of the best places to see a bear. Well, that would make sense then. This isn't a bear episode, though. We've had a lot of bear episodes recently, and this is not it. It's a survival story, and I kind of came across this when I was looking for inspiration,

and I was like, you know, it's time we go back to Alaska. We're going to be there pretty soon. I mean, so soon. Coming up in July. So soon, yeah. Maybe. Maybe. that's the inspiration behind this. I'm like, Alaska, Alaska, Alaska. I'm ready to go. We're not going to this park while we're there, at least for the trip, maybe extend it a little bit and go. It's hard to get to. We'll get into it. I'll just plan this trip. It'll be like, surprise, we're going to Lake Clark National Park while we're there as well. Well, I know that we're going to end up somewhere in the in-between of the two trips. So I just don't know where yet. I was planning on coming back home because I'm like, I need a little break, but I don't know, maybe I'll just end up living in Alaska

for three weeks with you. I've done it once before and it was amazing. I feel like you're going to get there and you're going to be like, I'm going to stay. But I miss my dogs. I know, there is that. But Alaska in the summertime is just a totally different magical experience in itself. All right, we'll talk about it later. We'll see what happens. We'll come back to you guys after our trip when I have forced Danielle to go to all the National Parks and not go home for our week off. You know what I feel like? Squidward. Squidward, why? Like, I'm always grumpy.

I'm SpongeBob. Like, I'm ready. I'm ready. I'm just like, I hate this. Anyway, all right, let's do it. Okay, so we are going to Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. It is, like I said, located in Alaska. It is about 100 miles or 100.

and 60 kilometers southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. But it's not accessible by road. So this national park is not accessible by road because of its extremely rugged train to get there. There is the ocean and sound and tributaries and stuff come between Alaska. If you look at it on a map, you can see what I'm talking about. But ways to get there are either by boat or by plane. Many visitors will take a small aircraft leaving from Anchorage, Keenai, or Homer. And once inside the park, there are lodges that offer boating and kayaking excursions to experience while you're there. But a fun fact is that this park is actually one of the least visited national parks in the United States. Each year less than, actually, I'm going to make you guess. You always make me guess numbers. I guess how many people visit this park

every year? A hundred thousand. No. Warm, cold, like, what? Like freezing. Freezing? Okay, but it's less than 100,000. Yeah. Okay, it's less than 27,000. Yes, it is less than 27,000. But more than 12,000. Yes. Okay.

So what is it? Each year, less than 20,000 people make their journey to Lake Clark. And how big it? Did you say how big it is yet? I haven't got into that part. But it is amazing. I'll get to that. It's further down in my list of things that I want to

talk about, but here there are towering snow cap mountains, glaciated volcanoes, massive tundra landscapes, and like I said before, it's one of the best places in the world to see bears. And this is such a wonderful place to see bears because Lake Clark is here, and it is home to an intact ecosystem of sock-eye salmon, which is a major food resource for them. In fact, in this area, in the Bristol Bay watershed, there is the largest sock-eye salmon run in the entire world. And, and the most, accounts for over 46% of the entire world's population of wild sock eye salmon. Each year, around 372,000 sock eye or red salmon swim up to the New Whalen River and enter into the waters of Lake Clark National Park. And here is where they are fiercely preserved. Although there is

fishing and things, it's very regulated. It was actually Lake Clark National Park was created because of these salmon populations and they turned it into a national park and preserve for them in 1980. For the fish. You know, the first was the pupfish. Now it's the sock eye salmon an entire national park just for them. And everyone else benefited. Yes. Now the people who are benefiting and visiting this park, they can come there to fish.

Like I said, it's regulated. Bear viewing is a huge activity here. Kayaking, rafting, bird watching, and experienced backcountry hikers like to come here because of the vast wilderness. Answering your question how big the park is, it preserves over 4 million acres, which is 1,630,000 hectares of Alaskan wilderness. It extends from the Cook Inlet across the Chigmint Mountains and the Nicola Mountains. Lake Clark is a namesake to the largest lake inside of the park, Lake Clark, and it extends 40 miles long, which is 64 kilometers and 5 miles or 8 kilometers wide. This park is also home to two active volcanoes, one of which Mount Redoubt is a major

location of our story today. I don't, I'm trying to pinpoint the survival aspect. So is it climbers that we're climbing this? I'm assuming it's a glaciated volcano. It is a glaciated volcano and it's really funny because I'm doing a plane crash episode. What? What? Those are reserved for you. I know. Me and me only. That's okay. I'm happy. I'm happy. handing off the reins because every single time I'm on a plane now, which is very often, I just, I can't help but think about it. You know, I feel like it crosses everyone's mind from like, you know, this would suck, you know. What would I do? I go over scenarios in my head of like, what would I do if the plane started to go down? See, I don't because I just feel like there is nothing

to do. What are you going to do? You're going 700 miles an hour into the ground. Like you, you I think right before you hit the ground, you just have to jump up a little bit. So you don't hit the ground. Okay. That's what I've come to in my consensus of survival. Yeah, it's not great. And you don't even have an impact. You just jump up a little bit.

I feel like, yeah, you don't feel the impact no matter what. Unless you're on like a puddle jumper and there's a chance for survival, it gets different. I'm talking about commercial airplanes. I'm not talking about like a small, like, two-wing, eye plane or whatever, you know, because that's a whole different, is that what we're doing? I just saw your eyes, like, open a little bit. Like a smaller plane? Yeah, it's a smaller plane. All right. Not a charter plane or anything. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories,

and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, sterling point and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. So we're going to be going to Mount Redoubt, which is the highest peak in the Aleutian Range located in the Chigmat Mountains. It stands at 10,197 feet, which is 3,108 meters tall. And it is an active stratovolcano. So if you're not familiar with the strato volcanoes from third grade and you forget i'm with you but they are characterized by their steep cone shape built by many layers of hardened lava so the terrain on this volcano is extremely steep with it attaining 9,150 feet or 2,790 meters of elevation in just over five miles which is

eight kilometers so just think of that if you're hiking you hike five miles and you gain a feet or 2,000 feet validation over that. This is 9,000. Yikes. Extremely steep. In 1976, the National Park Service deemed it a national natural landmark. So four years before it became a national park, it was deemed a national natural landmark. Say that three times fast.

Since Mount Rudow has been being monitored, it has actually erupted four times. Eruptions were observed in 1902, 1966, 1989. and as recently as 2009, and some of these eruptions were very significant. In 1902, the volcano erupted just shy of six months long. It was reportedly ejecting flames from its crater and covered 150 miles or 240 kilometers in ash and lava. In 1989, it erupted for over six months long and caused over $160 million in damages. In 2009, the area experienced a six months.

series of volcanic earthquakes at one point reaching several per hour when it finally erupted after three months of activity, the volcano sent a plume of ash at least 65,000 feet above sea level. Because Mount Redoubt is so remote, covered in glaciers and has steep terrain, climbing it is a major endeavor and should only be done by very experienced expeditioners. Being so difficult to get to, getting into trouble up here may take rescuers days to get you, which takes me into our story today of a military crew who found themselves in need of rescue when they became stranded on the volcano side. It was 2 o'clock in the morning on June 17th, 1942 when a fishing boat arrived in the port of Anchorage under the Alaska nighttime summer

sun with two very unlikely passengers on board. U.S. Army forces sergeants Don Harris and Charles Michaelis were disheveled, dirty, and injured. They belonged to a military crew of four men who had been missing for more than two weeks. Their last known location had been the inside of a bomber aircraft above the mountainous region west of Redoubt volcano. Then, the crew of four disappeared. Extensive aerial search and rescue teams were sent out to search the area of any evidence of the missing aircraft, but with no luck. At this point in time, the aeronautical maps of this area did not exist. In fact, this entire region was left blank on maps except for the giant lettering that read unsurveyed. With no idea of where the plane could

have gone and no one knowing the area, it made it extremely difficult to locate this plane. What year was this again? This was in 1942. It's like the worst place to crash. No one knows what anything is over there. Like, well, we just don't know. Like we've flown over it maybe before and we've seen like kind of, but we don't know the landscape. We don't know the territory. We don't know elevations. We don't know anything. And it's also, I think, important to note that in 1942, Alaska was an estate within the United States. So data on the landscapes and this region in general were very unknown to the United States. And it's also important to note that in 1942 was the middle of World War II. And military troops were occupying Alaska because of what

was happening with Pearl Harbor and everything going on with that, which we won't get into for this episode, but there's a lot that went on in Alaska in 1942. Wow. With news of these two sergeants' arrival, authorities were contacted immediately, and both Don and Charles sat down with them to explain what had happened. On June 1st, 16 days prior, they had been flying in a B-18 aircraft, which is a heavy bomber for the United States Army that was built to carry bomb loads. The aircraft was very slow moving and when they experienced issues in the mountains, they crashed into the side of Mount Redoubt. In the crash, Don and Charles experienced minor injuries, but both the pilot and co-pilot had survived the crash, but were too injured to leave the plane. The pilot, Lieutenant Edward Clark,

had a severe injury to one of his ankles that rendered him unable to walk. The co-pilot, Lieutenant Joe Donaldson, had suffered a compound fracture of his lower left leg and the men reported that something was wrong with his eyes, but they couldn't figure out what. Both Don and Charles had stayed with them for two days, helping them and caring for their wounds, and during those days, they were able to take shelter inside of the broken aircraft because there were severe storms that were also coming through. When they realized that the co-pilot and pilot were not going to be able to leave the aircraft and moving on this extremely steep terrain to find help was very far away.

Also to note, they landed right next to a 200-foot crevasse that they had to maneuver around. With all of this in mind, the lieutenants ordered Don and Charles to leave them and to try and find help. Inside the bomber plane, they had supplies and food that would be able to keep the two of them alive for a while. Don and Charles took what they needed for their journey and left. It took them five whole days to get down from Redoubt volcano. The steep and treacherous terrain made it for an arduous journey through glaciers, rock climbs, and maneuvering landscapes they had very little experience in. When they did get down, they eventually found themselves on the coast and discovered a shelter cabin. They sought

refuge here, but it was empty. There were no people, there was no line of communication, and they just had to sit and wait. It took seven more days before they saw another person, but they were finally able to signal a fishing vessel who saw them and rescued them. Would you rather be the people who are left behind or the people who have to go out in search of help in a situation like this. To go out and search for help for sure. Because you're probably the less injured of them, which I would prefer. And also, I think sitting, waiting, not knowing with nothing to do, just your mind wondering if you're going to die would be really, it would be mentally and physically tough, I think. Yeah, I agree. 100%. That would be your choice too. Yeah. Even though it's a more

arduous scenario and there's a lot riding on you like it's you a lot of pressure yeah you're you're it there's no one coming for you yeah i think i would definitely be i would rather be in that position than sitting and waiting as well yeah i think that if it went badly and the people i was with died because of a decision i made maybe i would feel a lot different but not knowing the outcome not knowing what's going to happen i would say i would prefer to be the less injured well i guess actually now that I'm thinking about it. I would prefer to be the less injured, but say I was with someone who is in a lot better shape than me, like if I got on a plane crash and it was between me and Al, and it was between

me and Al to get over all of this and get down, I would 100% be like, break my ankle, Al, you can go. I would trust that he would have a lot better of a chance to save me than I would have of a chance to save him. That's fair. But it would still suck to sit and just like munch on snacks and the freezing cold for days on end. If you have snacks.

Well, these people have snacks. Yeah, I guess I was adding that in. Yeah, if you have snacks. Okay, anyway. That's tough. Anyway. So when they finally got back and were able to report everything that had happened, they were asked, do you think that the lieutenants could still be alive?

And they explained, you know, I have no idea. They were both injured, but they're both left with enough provisions that they could survive for probably a week, two weeks, maybe three. if you stretch it out, but definitely possible. With this news, they immediately sent out a scouting flight in attempts to find the exact location of the crash, because now they had an idea of where they were. When they arrived to the volcano, the weather was overcast,

and there were clouds covering everywhere. There was almost no views of the volcano at all. But for a moment, the clouds opened up just enough for the recon crew to get a glimpse of the plane. It was located at 7,500,000. feet or 2,286 meters in elevation on the southwestern side of the mountain. The glimpse they were able to get of the crash was so short-lived that no one was able to discern if there was any movement from Joe or Edward and had no further insight if they were still alive. On the recon aircraft was

Major Milo H. Fritz, a man in his 30s who worked as a command surgeon for the Air Force. Later in life, he would be renowned for his work as a doctor for Alaskan native communities, but he He was a very well-known, renowned doctor. He reported the findings and was designated to lead the rescue mission. He put a team together of six more men. Of the military crew, there was Sergeant L. Robinette Jr., Corporal Earl E. Karnatz, brothers, Darrell E. Prince and Miles H. Prince, Castello, Pettullio, and John Gardner. The issue was, these men did not know the Alaskan landscape at all.

They all had limited military training and minimal rescue skills. But they were all young in their mid-20s, smart, determined, and they were in very good shape to go on a mission like this. Because of their lack of experience, they added Lee Waddell to the team, who was an outdoorsman in his 50s to be their guide. He had experience in the landscape, had trapping skills, and more survival skills in this train than the rest of them. Not knowing the severity and extent of the two pilots' injuries, Milo gathered a lot of medical supplies to bring along.

He brought three units of plasma, two ampules of 50% glucose, 23 rolls of prepared plaster splints, dressings, antiseptic solutions, two Thomas splints, adrenaline and ampules, and two stoke litters. A stoke litter is a wire basket that conforms to the shape of a human body, and it weighs about 25 pounds. It is used to carry injured or sick people and it has a way to safely strap them in. So this would be what they would use to carry both men down the mountain. The crew packed up tons of tin food, sleeping bags, tents, extra clothing, and any gear they could think of that they might need for this journey. Their plan was very simple. A boat would take the crew across the inlet to Redoubt Bay.

They would leave from there, hike 12 to 15 miles to the mountain, climb it, locate the bomber aircraft, rescue the pilots, and then return to Redoubt Bay. they would leave from there, hike 12 to 15 miles to the mountain, climb it, locate the bomber aircraft, rescue the pilots, and then return to Redoubt Bay to bring them back to Anchorage. Super simple, right? On paper, seems to be. On paper. But, of course, they didn't understand the severity of the task they were undertaking. By 2 p.m., only 12 hours after Harris and Michaelis had arrived in Anchorage, the rescue mission was underway. It wasn't long before they discovered their first problem, though.

After crossing the bay and arriving on land, they realized they had packed far too many supplies. If they were to carry every single thing that they brought with them, they would need a crew twice their size. Considering the weight issues, they decided that they needed to leave some things behind. And they decided they would leave the splints, most of their tin food rations, and some of their extra clothing behind. Still, their packs were very heavy. It was 5 a.m. when they started heading on foot inline towards the volcano. Lee, their guide, carried 35 pounds or 15.8 kilograms of supplies and equipment. Milo carried about 50 pounds, just 22.6 kilograms of gear, while the other men were carrying

around 60 pounds or 28 kilograms, in addition to taking turns carrying the heavy litters as well. They each had a sleeping bag, head net, 45 caliber pistol, knife, gloves, tin rations, candy bars, and some extra clothing with them. With no real trails, to follow, the crew walked old hunting and trapping trails. Lee led them in the general southwestern direction of the volcano with the intention of getting to Redoubt Creek, which they could then follow upstream to the base of the mountain. The trek was much more arduous than expected, and they had severely underestimated the intensity of this terrain. The brush and trees were so thick in places that they needed to bushwhack. The mosquitoes were intense, and they had bug bites covering

their arms and legs and their packs were very heavy. By 5 p.m. that day they were exhausted and had to make camp. While the others slept, Lee stayed awake and he started bushwhacking a trail that would bring them to Redoubt Creek. He finished at 2 a.m. and woke the rest of the crew, reiterating the importance that they keep moving and get to the pilots as soon as possible. So he basically went in and was like, hey, surprise, I built you a trail, get your shit. We're going. No excuses. No excuses. No sleep, we got to go. And he's right. It's a dire circumstance. You got to keep moving, but you also need sleep. As they packed up their belongings, they decided that they needed to leave even more gear behind. They stashed their sleeping bags and more of their food to lighten their loads, and then they

headed out. Only an hour into their hike, their crew member, Gardner, was experiencing pain around his kidneys. He had been wearing an infantry pack with a heavy weight and had not properly strapped it to his body. And it was so tight on his waist that he was actually causing severe pressure on his kidneys. He was in so much pain that he couldn't continue and they ended up making the joint decision that he had to be sent back to camp and wait out further instruction. So when one of the rescuers needs rescuing, it's always a tricky situation. Especially at the beginning. Yeah. They really have just started. I mean, they've hiked a lot for sure and they have a lot of weight on them and it's been difficult to get where they are, but they're not even on the mountain yet, or the volcano

yet. It's not looking good. No. The rest of the crew eventually did make it to Redoubt Creek and got their first sight of the plain wreckage on the volcano. While it looked close now, they still had to cross the river, hike several miles until the base of the volcano, and then they had a boulder-strewn glacial landscape that they had to cross. Up steep terrain, I'll add. Their leather shoes that they were wearing were very ill-fitted for this journey down the stream, and they were forced to cross in sections in extremely cold water, which soaked through to their feet. In their supplies, they had never thought to bring an extra pair of shoes. So after they trudged through the river, they also had to trudge on for 10 more miles until they reached the base of the volcano with

soaking wet feet. They reached it at about 8 p.m. that night. After evaluating their mission and how far they had trekked so far, they realized that they really needed to quicken their pace and that they needed to get to the wreckage site faster than they were moving. And with that, they decided that they needed to lighten their load some more and shed some more gear. So at this point, they took out the rest of their food supplies, except for a couple small tin cans and candy bars and the rest of their clothing. They then continued on. They climbed up the boulder strewn moraine. And as they gained elevation, the landscape became covered in snow. They were more exposed now, with gusting winds, freezing temperatures, and snow up to their hips in some places.

They took turns carrying the litters and slowly but steadily made their way up the mountainside. At one point, they took shelter from the wind behind a huge boulder at the top to stop and eat some of their candy bars and tin can for energy. They saved two of the candy bars in anticipation to give them to the pilots when they arrived. And I'll also say these were their last two candy bars. And this was if they were still alive when they got there. They pushed on until they met the final ascend before the crash. The train was steep, rocky, and dangerous.

The last haul would be a combination of hiking and climbing on snow-covered terrain. The plane now was visibly on the very edge of a 200-foot-wide crevasse. It was decided that Milo, the doctor of the group, would go ahead first without the crew. He would bring medical supplies and test the terrain for safety. When he got to the plane, the plan was to let them know if there were any survivors by a gunshot. which would alert the rest of them that he had won, made it to the plane crash, that it was safe, and that there was someone to save up there. After they heard the gunshot, then they could follow him and the rest of the crew could arrive. By this time, they had been traveling on for about 48 hours.

It was sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. on June 20th, 1942. And remember in Alaska, in June in Alaska, there's not really a sunset. Right. Yeah. It's light. It's like dusk looking at this time. Twilight, if you will. Twilight, yes. It's funny. June 20th is my birthday, and I think I just did another story where something happened on my birthday, too. You did? And I almost said something.

Was it the Hot Springs one? Maybe. Yeah, maybe the Hot Springs one. It must have been because it was really recently. And it was your story. I don't remember what it was now. But it was my story, and I remember it was June 20th. I think it had to do with Al Capone.

That would make sense. Is that his birthday? No. I feel like I was talking about an event that happened. Oh. Oh. Like maybe he was arrested. I'm typing in Al Capone June 20th.

Sorry, we're going on a left hand. We're like, I just fully researched this and I do not remember. I'm so bad with dates, though. Yeah, no, I don't know. I have no idea. I don't know. It was in that episode. Everyone listening is like, I heard it last week.

It was this idiot. Anyway, it was June 20th, 1942. I was not alive just so it wasn't even my birthday. And he decided that he would leave most of his gear behind from this point as well, just carrying medical supplies and the two candy bars for when he got up there. He wanted to get there as soon as he could and he knew that the weight of this bag would definitely slow him down as they had already been moving pretty slowly. He began his climb up in around the crevasse and intense winds and snow swirls.

He was slow moving and he was exhausted. He was so exhausted from this climb that he found himself stopping every few feet to catch his breath. And he could definitely feel the effects of the higher elevation that he was at now. But now the plane was clearly in sight, so he kept moving. He rounded the side of the crevasse to the plane. He slid himself down to the wreckage and peered inside. There was no movement or sounds, but in the corner, he saw something. It appeared to be in the shape of a person rolled up in a sleeping bag near the pilot section of the plane.

And in that moment, he feared the worst, that there were no survivors here. He carefully inched his way, climbing through the wreckage, and closer to the sleeping bag to investigate. Then, all of the sudden, the sleeping bag cover whipped back and a voice inside said, Who's there? Like, who's there? Excuse you. Who enters my airplane wreckage? Who dare?

Who dare enter my domain? It's such an odd reaction instead of like, thank God. You're here. It's like, who's there? Who dare? Well, it was Lieutenant Donaldson. He was under the covers. And he was amaciated.

He was covered in filth from three weeks without any type of shower. And this man who was normally a clear-cut military man had grown a beard in that time. His eyes were super swollen and they were bright red. Milo was relieved to find him alive, but almost immediately he could smell the sick, Swedish stench of gangrene. Oh no. He handed him the two chocolate bars he had brought with him and the lieutenant immediately began eating them. Milo then stepped out of the tent and fired his pistol to signal to the others. After speaking with the lieutenant, he told Milo that the other pilot had left five days earlier

on his own for the coast to find help. Oh no. After they had been waiting for two weeks, they weren't sure if the other men had even made it to safety or found help. And so he decided that the best course of action to survive was to go out and find help himself. Shortly after this news, three more members of the crew arrived and they fashioned the litter with breaking mechanisms for the descent and strap Donald Sid in and began making their way down immediately. It was very slow moving and they had to adjust straps and make breaks and make it

safely to bring him down because this area is so steep that if they're not attached to him and they let him go, like he could go sledding down the volcano essentially. It would be really bad. After a short distance, they found more of the crew members and discovered that one of the men actually had to turn around and go to the bottom. He hadn't been appropriately dressed and he had to go back for warmer clothing. It wasn't safe for him to be up in these snowy conditions and hip height snow with these wind gusts in what he was wearing. With that, they all began sharing the duties of carrying the litter down and surprisingly they moved easily through this soft snow. They successfully made it to the bottom and then continued for more miles. It wasn't until 10 p.m. that night that they finally made camp

and stopped to tend to Donaldson's wounds. And remember, they were up there at, he got up there, he found them around like four or five o'clock in the morning, and now it's 10 p.m. and they're still moving with this guy before they set up camp. So they finally stopped and they look at his wounds, and it was clear that he was suffering from a bad infection from his shattered left leg.

His open gash was now filled with maggots and had a horrid rotting smell. Milo did not have any antibiotics or anything to treat that, but he did administer plasma and glucose to help with his extreme fatigue from malnutrition and dehydration and from any blood loss from his injuries. The next morning, they attempted to continue carrying Donaldson, but it was extremely slow-moving difficult. Their packs were still too heavy. They had gathered more of their supplies that they had dropped, but now they were running out.

They had eaten too much of their food that they had brought with them, and now they had no food left, and they needed help. It was eventually decided that Lee, their guide, would go ahead of them and get back to Anchorage quickly and help and get supplies. So on his own, he left. But he did know this area better. He was an outdoorsman and he got back to the coast fairly quickly now that he didn't have all that luggage behind. Now that he wasn't carrying Donaldson, he was able to get back quickly. It was on June 22nd when Lee came back in a small civilian plane and flew over the area that the rescue team was in.

And then he dropped a parachute down to them. filled with food and supplies. So this is turning into like a whole other adventure too. It's like now the rescue people need to be rescued because they don't have food. They don't have enough supplies anymore. They're still miles and miles out. There's no way out. So he's basically come back and dropped enough supplies for them to survive while they're still

out there and heads out. After he drops them off, he does go back to Anchorage and he actually picks up 13 volunteers and then comes back to the area. Lee then led them to the spot of the rescue team and this new crew took over. They hiked Donaldson for the remainder of 10 plus miles and loaded him onto a small plane. And it was finally at 3.30 a.m. on June 24th, four days, four days after my birthday, June 20th. Okay. Thank you. For the reminder. After my birthday, my birthday's coming up, by the way, everyone. Just kidding. So it's been four days now since they originally found him. And finally,

Finally, at 3.30 in the morning on June 24th, he arrived at Station Hospital in Anchorage. But now one big question still remained. Because where had Lieutenant Clark gone? There was no word from him, and they feared that he might have gotten lost and died from the elements while he was out searching for help alone. All they knew of his injuries was that he had an extensive ankle injury that he was now moving on by himself through this horrible terrain. But surprise, surprise, the very next day.

After Donaldson had been in the hospital, Lieutenant Clark appeared at the hospital. Just like the other sergeants, he had managed to walk all the way to the coast and signal a boat ride to Anchorage. He had several bruises and scrapes. He was dehydrated, malnourished, and had traveled on a broken ankle. But otherwise, he was doing kind of okay. So basically, if he had stayed and not moved, he would have been rescued a day earlier. See, that's the, they always tell you to just stay putts. They put, but, you know, it's, that's hard too.

I know. It's so hard. I don't know if I could do that, honestly. Yeah. Well, especially because he had no idea if anyone had even found help. Right. Well, that's the thing. Yeah.

But I'm sure once he was there and realized, it's like, oh, they rescued you and you're here, you've been here for a day. I just walked here. I just walked here in a broken ankle and you're eating a sandwich and a nice cozy bed in the hospital. Like, maybe in retrospect. But when you don't know, obviously there's no way he could have known. Right. That that was going to happen.

And to be fair, that rescue out of there would have been so much more difficult with two people. Very true. They already had to send in a second team because they were carrying one person, never mind if he had actually been there. And it would have been a lot more dangerous to get down. So, I mean, he could have made actually the right decision. Despite the extent of Lieutenant Donaldson's injuries, his leg did not actually need to be amputated. He spent an extended time in the hospital and required rehab, but he was able to keep his leg. And part of that was attributed.

They said that the infection was half eaten away by the maggots that were feeding on his open wounds. Just going to say that. I'm like, I bet you it's because of the maggots. It is. I mean, it's pretty sickening, but. It is sickening. It is. But, I mean, that's something that's been heard of time and time again.

and used to be used in medicine. It might still even be used in medicine. We're putting maggots on. Actually, I think it is. I think I obviously have never worked in human medicine. But for burn victims, I've heard that they put maggots on to burn victims because they know they only want dead skin. They have no interest in living tissue. Yeah, they just go after the necrotic tissue.

And obviously, it's like in a very controlled environment, you know, because too many maggots is a problem as well. So I unchecked maggot. Yeah. Anyway, he got to keep his leg. Thank you, maggots. When the news broke of this story, Dr. Milo Fitz was accredited mostly for the rescue mission, but he didn't agree with that.

People were like, Dr. Milo Fitz saved the day, and he publicly gave recognition to everyone. Everyone who set up the flights, everyone who came along with him, everyone who coordinated and helped him with a parachute drop, but he especially gave credit to Lee Waddell, their guide, who he extensively went into detail that without him, the mission would have failed because he was the one who guided them. He was the one who went back. He was the one who got the supplies.

He was the person who, without him, it never would have worked. Now, that is my story of what happened. And while when this story took place, it was not a national park. It is now. It is Lake Clark National Park and Preserve. You can visit the Lake Clark Visitor Center, but it does remain closed seasonally from September to May. But the park itself is open 24 hours per day year round. And most people, if you are among the less than 20,000 people who visit,

between the best time to visit is between June and October when the weather is warmer and there's more lodging and transportation to the park that is available and more people around if you find yourself in any sort of trouble. Yeah, because with more than 12,000 but less than 20,000 people, a year. I forget the number you said. Your chances are kind of slim if something's to happen to you. There's really not a lot. But it's like a paradise if that's what you're after. Like going to a park with beautiful. No people. I wonder if I can like send you. Do you know the picture I'm talking about with the bear? Is it during the salmon run? No, I think it's someone that was just in a canoe like happened to take the picture. Oh, okay. Because I know during the salmon run every year is like one of the best times to

sea bears because there's so many of them that are out obviously because there's hundreds of thousands of these fish just in the river. Oh and it was a black bear also that was um that the photograph I'm thinking of but oh do you want to know a fun bear fact that I just learned today from tooth and claw of course I do because it has to do with bears and salmon and um I'm sorry Wes if I butcher this you're like listen to this fact I heard from Wes on tooth and claw podcast Exact words. Exact words. Quote unquote.

Okay, so it's about, you know, the black bears in British Columbia, like Vancouver area, like Great Bear Rainforest that are called like spirit bears because they're white in color. Yeah. So there's a leading theory out there that, so it's a recessive trait. So it's between like 20 and 25% of the population that expresses the white gene. But they're thinking that it does that. because, or it's advantageous, because the way that they fish for salmon, it makes them less visible to the salmon from the water. It makes them more successful in catching salmon.

Oh, interesting. Right? Isn't that really cool? Very interesting. Yeah. So yeah, it's just a theory, and I really hope I got it, even the theory kind of right, but anyway, I just thought it's cool. I'm sure you're right. Yeah. That's really cool. Fun bare fact. Fun bear fact. I do really. It's like an on my list type of thing to see the bears, coastal bears during the salmon run. That's definitely, are you checking on your squirrel? I am checking on my squirrel. Sorry, you made a noise. Cassie has a squirrel.

I have a squirrel. Temporarily. Very temporarily. Al rescued a squirrel that fell out of a ceiling onto a very hard concrete floor and was no mom in sight. we think after we talk to some wildlife rescue people, we think that the mom might have died and hasn't been back. But basically, I'm caring for the squirrel all day until after we record, I'm driving it to a woman who actually knows what she's doing with squirrels to take care of this one. And she has two other squirrels that are his age. So he'll have a family.

Is it a boy? Do you know? Are you guessing? It's a boy. It's a boy for sure. And you didn't name him because you don't want to get attached. Yeah, I can't name him, but if I did name him, his name is Scrench. Grinch? Scrench. Scrench. Scrench. Can you spell that?

Because I don't know what you're saying. Scrench. It's S-C-R-E-N-C-H. And it's a tool. I'll name Tim. It's a tool for, it's like, some type of tool that they use in firefighting. Okay, I thought you were saying scrunch and then when? And then I don't know.

Either way. Either way. Good for Scrunch. Scrunch is doing well too because I'm sure people are curious. So he was a little dehydrated. I've been giving him sugar water and he's on a little warming. I have actually I think you gave this to me, Danielle, the little thing that you put in the microwave and it heats up. Oh, yeah.

He's on that. So he's nice and warm and he snuggled in. He's in a little ball. And every hour because he's dehydrated, he gets sugar water with like just a touch of salt. for electrolytes before I bring him there where they'll actually give him like more things that he can eat and do and whatever that we think he's about three weeks old. Really? Yeah, so he's furry.

He's not like the little naked rats that come out when they're first born. He's actually like really, really cute. I know I saw him and he is pretty precious. He is pretty cute. Maybe I'll post a photo of him so you can all see him. Yeah, you should. And I'm glad he's going somewhere because like when I did say, oh, are you keeping him? Like you can't.

They're too much. They're just too much. I don't think you even can legally, can you? I don't know. I was Googling it a little bit, and it said if you have a squirrel, you should get two squirrels because they need a sibling. But I'm pretty sure I'm under the understanding that these people rehabilitate them and then release them to be real squirrels. Right. Yeah, yeah.

That's what I hope for him is I want him to live his best squirrel life. And in my house is certainly not it. Plus, I'm too busy. I can't take care of a baby squirrel. squirrel every hour. It's it's literally like a baby, especially because he's dehydrated and needs help. So I'm taking care of him the best I can for the next few hours and then he's going to go live his best squirrel life somewhere else. That's awesome. I don't think I've ever had a baby like wild animal that I've found and had to take care of. Like there's been kittens found kittens before.

Yeah, we all know you found kittens. You always find kittens. But other than that, it's sometimes so I actually drive around, this will be the last thing because it says nothing to do with the anything really. I drive around with, um, like the thick gloves, like thick leather, like kind of like work gloves. If you're like gardening or whatever, a towel and a small box just in case I see something because there's been times that I've seen something hit on the side of the road and it's either paralyzed or like close to death or something and I want to like either try and get it somewhere or help it out or whatever. And I've done that a couple of times. The last time I did it, I was with Ian. We passed by this. We were on the way of the dog park and we passed by a possum on the side of the road,

clearly dead. Like, there was no question that it was dead. So we were passing it and I was like, oh my God. And he's like, Danielle, that one is dead. Like, we don't need to stop and check. I can tell it is dead. And I was like, yeah, but what if there's babies in the pouch? Because sometimes, yeah. You know what I mean? Just because there's an impossible. You know what I mean? Like, sometimes, Yeah. So he didn't stop. And we went to the dog park and the entire time I was looking at him and he's like, you're not going to be able to sleep unless we stop.

And I'm like, you are correct. So like we turn around and we're approaching it. I'm like, oh my God, it's huge. Like it probably has babies in there. And it just turns out it was a male and it was just super bloated because it was like dead for a really long time and just like on the side of the road. And I just like go out with my little gloves and like my kit and stuff. and I like take a look and they turn around and he's just like smiling in the seat.

He's like, you are tapped. Like you're fucking weird. Like, no babies. And then thinking about it, like what would I have done with possum babies? Like my dogs would have ripped those things to shreds in a second. Yeah, you would have had to separate those for sure. It's so hard though when you see this is actually the second animal that Alice brought home for us. What was the first?

He, uh, well, I shouldn't say. So when we were building our bus and he was. was renovating the inside of it. A bird flew in and it flew around and it hit a window and then just fell to the ground and he felt really bad. So he made a big box for it and he put it inside and he like dropped some little water in its mouth and stuff and let it just chill there. And it woke up and it was in shock and he gave it some water and then it just hung out in the bus with him for like four hours till it was ready and then it flew away. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. Yeah. And then when we were in Puerto Rico, there was a turtle crossing the road, and he like whipped off the side of the

road, jumped out of the car, and like walked it across the road. Just doing what you can, you know, little acts of kindness go a long way. Oh, speaking of which, um, one of the chipmunk, uh, squirrel people are calling me right now. Okay, so I got to go. All right, enjoy the view, everyone. But watch you're back. Okay, bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining us again this week. If you have a trail or story suggestion, send us an email at Stories at NPAD Podcast.com. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook at National Park After Dark and on Twitter at NPAD Podcast. Join our Outsiders-only community on Patreon or Apple subscriptions to listen ad-free, unlock monthly bonus episodes, and exclusive content. And remember, when you support our sponsors, you are supporting our show.

For our exclusive discount codes and source information from today's episode, check out the show notes. For more information on our show, our book recommendations, merch updates, and more, visit our website at npadpodcast.com. And please rate, review, and subscribe from wherever you listen to podcasts. You're listening to this podcast, so I know you've got a curious mind. Here's a helpful fact you may not know yet. Drivers who switch and save with Progressive save over $900 on average. Pop over to progressive.com, answer some questions,

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