Robert Schock - North Cascades National Park - Washington - Locations Unknown

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Thousands of people have mysteriously vanished in America's wilderness. Join
us as we dive into the deep end of the
unexplainable and try to piece together what happened.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And you are listening to Locations Unknown.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
What's up, everybody?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
Welcome back to another episode of Locations Unknown. I'm your
co host, oh erodling with me is always as a
guy who can totally move the whole studio by himself.
Mike van der Bog, I do not think so, Tim.
Only eighties and nineties kids will get that one, yes,
and some well, and anyone older than that if they watch.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
I don't think so, Tim.

Speaker 4 (01:19):
Oh anyway, thank you Joe, and thank you to all
of the amazing listeners for tuning into our final show
in the studio.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
We're not the final show at the final show ever,
we are ladies from National Park of Dark. So are
you done?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
It's how closely they follow us?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, right, that's fine.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
No, we are moving into a new studio, so we
are actually off the month of July as we get
things settled in. You can join Patreon, though we'll be
posting stuff on there of the transition to the new space.

Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, we're excited. It's like nicer, it's much nicer. The
view isn't as cool, but the space is much nicer.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Yeah, so exciting, it is exciting.

Speaker 4 (01:56):
Before we get going, just a couple of announcements, some
new patreons on shout outs. So thank you to Kirsten Skelton,
Christine Brown, Michelle Barstad, Sarah Carroll and Trina Lohman. Thank you,
thank you much, thank you for spurating the show. It's
well because of a dark side welcome. That's why we

(02:17):
keep going is the amazing listeners we have and for.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
The dark side. Yeah, for the dark side.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
Also, if you want to call the show, you can
call two eight three nine one six nine one three.
You can leave a voicemail or text the number.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Our first show back should be a voicemail show. Maybe
we have to play all the messages from the lady
who we just couldn't keep because she just left six
minute messages seven times over and over. Yeah, we were
running out of time. We're like, okay, sorry, we can't
listen to these anymore.

Speaker 3 (02:42):
Yeah, that show, No, that was.

Speaker 4 (02:44):
We were very appreciative of all the calls, but we had
to get on to other calls. Absolutely So if you
want to check out some of the other shows on
our network, you can check out Peanut and Butter Mountain Podcast,
Off the Trails, the Weirders. We know who runs this
park and crame Off the Grid, and we are working
on an episode with Crime Off the Grid.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
We're gonna go on their show.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
We are.

Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah, when we get back.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
How are we gonna get in contact with them? Because
they're off the grid and they're on our network.

Speaker 4 (03:11):
Yeah no, So that's coming in August, So stay tuned.
If you want to support the show, you can check
us out on Patreon, YouTube memberships, premium subscriptions on Apple,
premium subscriptions on Spreaker, Someday on x and if you
times are tough and you don't have anything to spare it,
you can always just leave a review like us on

(03:32):
Facebook and YouTube and all the social media places.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
And run out on the street and start yelling about it,
just like a crazy person to tell everyone their face. Yes,
people love when you give them podcast recommendations un solicited.
Just do that. Just do that to everybody. Yes, I
don't know anything else, Joe, Nope, all right, all right, everybody,
let's gear up and get out to explore locations unknown.

(04:12):
July thirty first, twenty twenty four, a thirty nine year
old ultrarunner vanished in the rugged North Cascade's National Park
during a twenty mile trail run. Minimally equipped, he became
disoriented on wildlife altra trails, wildfire wildfire alter trails, surviving
thirty days on berries and river water despite extensive searches

(04:36):
by Sheriff's deputies, park rangers, and a helicopter, the park's
dense forests and remote terrain hit him. A trail crew's
chance discovery saved his life as he lay emaciated on
the river bank. Join us this week as we learn
about the incredible survival story of Robert Shock. I don't

(05:01):
think I've ever interrupted it, never a summary. It's the
first one. I'm so excited.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
And you also said Emancia, I said, I almost interrupted you.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
I was so tripped up from being interrupted. I almost
couldn't finish.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
I've never done that.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
I know. It was so eight years of doing this.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
I almost started laughing. I always have to finish it. Yeah,
I always just let you do whatever. I don't know
why that shape I did it different.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
It's because it's the last one in the studio. We're
getting we're getting better and we're growing up. Oh I
almost lost it. I'm like, I have to make it
through the rest of this because we're leaving it in.
We're not editing it up.

Speaker 3 (05:40):
I mean, we'll cut it later, but no, we won't.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Was fantas. I'm super excited about this episode.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
I don't about you.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
So it's gonna be so ridiculous. Oh man, Okay, that's
not as funny as it's that funny to me.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
It's funny to us because I've never done that.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah. Eight, we've been doing this for eight years. Well
twenty eighteen, it's twenty twenty five. Jeez, seven seven years.
That's a long time, all right. Anyway, it is.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
So.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
This takes place in the North Cascades National Park, specifically
the Hannigan Pass Trail and the Chilliwack River Trail. It
is in Washington State. The park was established on October
second of nineteen sixty eight.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
It sees about thirty.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
One hundred and fifty four recreational visits in the park
in twenty twenty two and nine hundred and sixty four
five hundred fourteen total complex visits, which is Rice, Lake,
Lake Chilan, NRAs, which is the National Recreation Area. So
in all the areas, it's almost just under a million visits.

Speaker 4 (06:43):
Yeah, it doesn't see for how amazing this park looks,
it doesn't get the visitors that you would expect.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
Yeah, so it's just probably hard to get to.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
One interesting thing, grizzlies are coming back. So in twenty
twenty five, the NPS and US Fish and Wildlife Service
began to efforts to restore grizzly bears to the North Cascades,
where they've been nearly extinct since the nineteen nineties. Over
sixteen hundred plant species are in this area, sixteen hundred
and thirty documented vascular plant species, with estimates that include

(07:12):
non vascular plants and fungi could double that total. Fungi fungi.
It's a fun guy, Mike is. The North Cascades Highway
or State Route twenty, crossing the park's complex, was completed
in nineteen seventy two after decades of debate due to
nearly impenetrable terrain. It's the only east west road through

(07:33):
the Northern Cascades, closing annually from November to April due
to avalanches. The park contains eighty one historical sites, including
a lost quote unquote hotel, mines, mining camps, fire lookouts, sawmills,
and sheep herder camps. The hotel likely near early settlement
settlements like Steacin vanished as an area reverted back to wilderness.

(07:55):
So it's somewhere in there, and then someone's got to
go find it. Yeah, but maybe don't go find it
because you're gonna be on our show. Yes, So the
American Alps are geologically young and violent. The North Cascades,
including the Chilliwack River area, are part of the Cascade Range,
formed by tectonic collisions starting one hundred million years ago
when a micro continent smashed into North America. The current

(08:16):
peaks like a good mountain at two hundred and six feet,
rose only five point six million years ago, making them
geologically young. A park where fish are stocked against nature
around two hundred and forty high elevation. Lakes in the
park lack native fish due to glaci glacial isolation, but
since the late nineteenth century, non native fish have been

(08:36):
stocked for tourism and fishing. I love those videos when
they drop them out of the airplane. Oh yeah, It's
like ridiculous how they stocked those lakes. In twenty fourteen,
North Cascades National Park Service Complex Fish Stocking Act allowed
stocking of non reproducing fish in forty two lakes, making
it the only national park to continue this controversial practice.
Ancient human history dating back ten thousand years, so the

(08:58):
area has been inhabited for ten thousand years, with two
hundred and sixty pre stork sites identified, some over eight thousand,
five hundred years old. So let's talk a little bit
about the climate. North Cascades National Park, Washington, specifically near
the Hannigan Pass trailhead and Chilliwack River Trail, has a temperate,
maritime influenced climate with significant seasonal and elevational variations. The

(09:21):
North Cascades experience a cool, wet maritime climate on the
western slopes, transitioning to trier conditions eastward. The park's rugged
terrain with elevations from five hundred to over nine thousand feet,
creates microclimates. But the Hannigan Pass trailhead, which is around
three thousand five thousand feet, and Chiliwac River trail fall
within the wetter forested western zone. Heavy rainfall is common

(09:43):
here within annual precipitation averaging seventy five to one hundred
inches in the Western Cascades, much of it as rain
in the lower elevations and snow in the winter. Summer
months are drier but still see occasional rain. Summers mild,
with average highs in July and August ranging from sixty
to seventy five degree at lower elevations, while knights can
drop to forty or fifty degrees at higher elevations. Are cooler,

(10:04):
with potential with frost even in the summer. During shocks
or deal, which was July thirty first to August thirtieth
and twenty twenty four, the daytime temperatures in the Chilliwack
River area likely range from sixty five to seventy five,
with nine time lows of forty five to fifty five.
These mild conditions aided his survival but posed risks of
hypothermia due to his lack of clothing and shelter, especially

(10:26):
at night during rain. August is typically one of the
driest months, with one of three inches of rain spread
over about five to ten days. Sources note no extreme
weather events, heat waves, or storms during this period, but
damp conditions from river proximity and morning do likely worsened
his situation. Recent WildFly fires mentioned in reports had altered
trails and vegetations, suggesting dry conditions in prior years or

(10:49):
early summer twenty twenty four. However, no active fires were
reported during shocks or deal and the area's dense forests
in river proximity maintained a moist microclimate. Moist I hate
that word up, and you just brought it up made
it worse. The terrain so. The North Cascades National Park
spans over five hundred thousand acres in northwest Washington, with
the Hannigan Pass trailhead and Chiliwack River Trail located in

(11:10):
the park's northern section, adjacent to Mount Baker snow Qualami
National Forest. The terrain is among the most rugged in
the contiguous United States, featuring steep mountains, deep valleys, and
dense forests. The Hannigan Pass trailhead sits at approximately thirty
one hundred feet, with the Chilliwack River trail ranging from
two thousand, five hundred five thousand. Nearby peaks like Hannigan

(11:32):
Peak are at one hundred and eighty seven feet, and
the border of the Chiliwack basein includes the higher ridges,
example Copper Ridge at six thousand feet. The area is
defined by sharp ridges, narrow rivers, valleys, and glacial features,
with Chiliwack River carving a steep forested corridor. The trail
system includes switchbacks, rocky slopes, river crossings, making navigation challenging.

(11:53):
I think that's part of it, being like a younger mountain. Yeah,
they're like very aggressive. They haven't been worn down by
time as.

Speaker 4 (11:58):
Much as by weather and rain and wind. That's six
million years is a long time. But for a mountain, Yeah,
that's a blink of an eye.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
Like when you think of old mountain, it's like the
Appalachian Range. They're like turning into hills slowly. So dense
coniferouts forests dominate with Douglas fir, western hemlock and cedar
trees interspersed with alpine meadows. At high elevations, thick underbrush
and fallen logs are common, especially in wild fire affected areas.

(12:25):
The Chiliwack River, a fast moving cold waterway, is a
central feature, requiring crossings via cable cars or fording. In
some sections. Tributary streams and wetlands add to the area's complexity.
So some specifics of the trail Shock hiked. So, as
we've said before, he's on the Hannigan Pass trailhead. This
is the axis point to the Chiliwack River Trail, located

(12:46):
at the end of a forested road, Hannigan Pass Road.
The trailhead is relatively accessible, but marks the entry into
remote wilderness, with limited cell service and no facilities beyond parking.
The Trivwak Trailer Chiliwack River Trail rated hard by the
Washington Trail Association. This is seventeen mile trail follows the
Chilliwack River through a narrow valley. The trail ascends and

(13:09):
descends through forested hills with elevation gains of up to
two thousand feet in sections.

Speaker 3 (13:14):
That's wild.

Speaker 4 (13:15):
Yeah, it will have to pull it up on all trails.
While I'm talking, because it sounds crazy.

Speaker 2 (13:19):
I was gonna say, as an ultra marathon runner, it
sounds a great training ground. Yeah, like you're doing such
a big elevation gain. A cable car crossing near the
Chilliwack River where Shock became disoriented is a critical feature.
The river swift currents likely forty to fifty degrees in summer.
Post risks is evidenced by shock losing his shoes during
a crossing. A little bit about the animals in there.

(13:39):
There are black bears, black bears common in the North Cascades.
Black bears from forests and river valleys foraging for berries, fish,
and carrion in summer. There are mountain lions that are
rare but present. Gray wolves have been reintroduced into Washington,
with packs occasionally sighted in North Cascades. Otherwise you have
mule deer, elk, the western terrestrial car snake, northern alligator lizard,

(14:02):
and those are all the things that will kill you
outside the grizzlies that they reintroduced, but they're very very rare.
Those northern alligator lizards. Yeah yeah, yes, is sit at
the edge of water holes and like bite at your shoelace.
I think they're as you say that, I can attack
your shoelace as we go by. So the difficulty of
the route, the planned twenty mile route, likely combining the

(14:23):
Chilliwack River Trail and possibly Copper Ridge, is strenuous to
extremely difficult for a day run, rated as hard by
the WTA and amplified by twenty miles with two thousand
and five thousand feet of elevation gain requiring endurance and strength,
Rocky uneven trails, river crossings, and wildfire damage with off
trail areas posing extreme hazards. It's remote and the altered

(14:45):
trails with poor signage and no cell service demanding advanced skills,
shock lacked, cool nights, damp conditions, and wildlife presence worsened
by shocks, minimal gear. So Mike tell us about mister SHOCKO.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
You blasted through that.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Yeah, man, I'm feeling good, tonight feeling good. I was
that electric force. I'm like rejuvenated.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
You're rejuvenated.

Speaker 2 (15:04):
I'm a little tired, but I'm rejuvenated.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
Well, it's Wednesday, so you got a few more days
to recoup.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, I'll be rejuvenating till next Monday.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
All right.

Speaker 4 (15:14):
So the subject of tonight's case is Robert Shock. He
was born between nineteen eighty four and nineteen eighty five.
He obviously went missing on July thirty first of twenty
twenty four. And I'm not gonna shock anyone here saying
that he was found alive.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
You're not gonna Robert shock anybody. Hey here, we go.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
He was male, aged thirty nine. We're not sure of
his height, hair color, eyes, but he was approximately one
hundred and fifty to two hundred pounds wide range there.

Speaker 3 (15:43):
He was an ultra runner, so you.

Speaker 4 (15:46):
Know, he's very lean, athletic, very physically fit. Clothing he
was last in. He was wearing only shorts, he had
no shirt, and he only carried a small backpack with
a dog pan for his chocolate lab Freddy. He didn't
have any overnight supplies, he didn't have any food, shelter,
no emergency beacon, he had an old map that was unreliable,

(16:10):
and his phone's GPS failed due to no service and
then the battery dying the next day. So when this
story is done, I hope everyone listening can just sit
back and think about how amazing the whole story is,
because look at the gearyad basically didn't have heear.

Speaker 3 (16:27):
He didn't even have a shirt.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
I'm not showing anything yet, Okay, he didn't even have
a shirt.

Speaker 4 (16:31):
He had a short so it it's crazy. And he
left his wallet at the dashboard of his vehicle with
the passenger window halfway down, which was typical per what
his mother said. Personality wise, he was obviously very adventurous
and care free. He was described as a wanderer and nomadic.

(16:53):
He lived in a van with his dog Freddy, reflecting
a free spirited lifestyle. His mother noted he was care
free and didn't always consider consequences and sadly based on
how he prepared for this run, and now this next
part was basically said by his mother, so we're not

(17:14):
knocking him. And even post this, Robert himself talks about
how what he did was reckless, but his mom described
him as resilient but reckless. So she said that he
had a history of risky adventures but always was resilient
when things got in his way. He persisted in moving

(17:36):
north despite injury, and so in this case, he persisted
in continuing on despite being lost and injured, kind of
on a mission to discovery and he wanted to I
believe reach Canada. Medical conditions he was He had no
chronic medical conditions reported in any of the sources I found.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
He was very fit.

Speaker 4 (17:55):
Obviously, if you're an ultra runner in the mountains, you're
going to be a very physically fit person. Post rescue,
he did experience lingering joint pain during recovery, but was
coherent and high spirits. He required intravenous feeding for three
days due to his inability to process food, and he
regained almost forty pounds over his month in the hospital. Jeez,

(18:17):
and I'm gonna do something really interesting during the timeline.
So I actually have the stages of breakdown that your
body goes through at each period of the timeline. So
starting it like day zero, twelve hours, twenty four hours,
forty eight hours, what your body would go.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Through in these kinds of conditions. So something different.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
I figured it'd be really interesting for people to understand
the different processes of your body that start breaking down
when you're stuck in the wilderness like this with no gear,
no food, nothing, It'll be interesting to hear that. Occupations
and hobbies, so he was a self described musician who
doesn't make He didn't make any money off of it.
He obviously lived the nomadic lifestyle, never really had steady employment.

(19:03):
One of his biggest hobbies was ultra running. He completed
a I think he had completed a fifty mile race
recently before this. He preferred running over hiking, aiming at
complete trails quickly without overnight gear. Frequently camped and ran
in the Mount Baker area, including the North Cascades, so
experience in the wilderness. As an ultrarunner, he had significant

(19:26):
physical endurance and experienced navigating trails. But he always emphasized
he wasn't a hiker, indicating limited backcountry skills.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
We had no official knowledge. He just ran on trails
and then got out. He wasn't spending nights.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
Yeah, no multi today trip experience.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
It is crazy, how like he probably spent a ton
of time outdoors. Yeah, and if you just don't do
that one extra step, you miss out on a lot
of knowledge.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
I mean, I know important gear is and running obviously
is really important to him, but having that downtime and
just being out in nature is also amazing. And you
can't really experience that if you're just blasting down the
trails at mock speed running.

Speaker 2 (20:07):
Though maybe he does experience that.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
I don't know. I hate running, so I would hate it.

Speaker 4 (20:14):
He obviously lacked essential wilderness skills like navigation without GPS,
survival without gear, or signaling for rescue. And this whole
case reminded me of that show on History Channel. Do
you remember they would drop ten people off in the wilderness.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Yes, I do remember that.

Speaker 4 (20:33):
It was Western Canada, and the person who made it
the longest would win like five hundred thousand dollars. And
none of the other people knew where the other people were,
and they didn't know when people tapped out. So you're
just out there and you're just trying to go as
long as you possibly can before tapping out.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
I can't remember.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
I think it was just called lost or really good show.
I wish I could remember the name of it, or
a really good show.

Speaker 3 (20:57):
Or a really good show.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
All I don't remember it.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
Let's just jump right in the timeline. I'm excited to
talk about this case because it's an absolute amazing survival story.
So we'll get into a little bit here about what
he was doing before his hike started. For about a year, Robert,
who like I said, was a thirty nine year old
ultrarunner and a musician from Blaine, Washington, lived a nomadic

(21:22):
lifestyle in a van with his chocolate lab Freddie. He
was obviously an experienced trail runner, and he had a
history of risky adventures. And somewhere I read I can't
confirm this. I don't know if I read this on
I'll say air quotes read it. But some people have
said that he actually had to be rescued in two
prior situations, and his mom did confirm that he did

(21:46):
take kind of risky adventures, so that kind of is
what he did. We'll start right on July thirty, first
of twenty twenty four. This is Wednesday, day one, so
it's the morning Robert drives to the Hennegan Ass trailhead
in North Cascades Park. He was planning a twenty mile
a day run, possibly looping via Copper Ridge. Like we said,

(22:09):
he was accompanied by his chocolate lab Freddie. He was
minimally equipped, wearing only short snow shirt and carrying a
small backpack with a dog pin. And like I said,
he left his wallet in the dashboard of his car
with the car windows slightly open. So he begins his
run but becomes disorientated.

Speaker 2 (22:28):
I get right, Nope, I mean technically yes, Okay, disoriented disoriented?

Speaker 3 (22:32):
There you go.

Speaker 4 (22:33):
Yeah, So he became disoriented after crossing the Chilliwack River
via the cable car. And this was mainly because the
trail had recently been altered by wildfire activity. This kind
of diverged from his memory, and his phone's GPS wasn't working,
so that compounded the issue, and he actually later admitted

(22:55):
that this was his first biggest mistake was being overconfidence.
So right o way, he's on the trail and he
gets lost because he doesn't remember the trail as he
thought it would be. Now for your body, so let's
start the body breakdown clock. It's day zero, hour zero,
so his body's in peak physical condition. His body is

(23:18):
fully hydrated, muscles are saturated with glycogen, which is readily
available energy. Core body temperature is stable ninety eight point
six degrees fahrenheit, and his cognitive function is normal.

Speaker 3 (23:30):
So everything's great.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
So within day zero, it's now six to twelve hours
into his hike, his body has now burned through all
of the glucose from his last meal. His liver begins
to break down. It's stored glycogen to release glucose into
the bloodstream, which maintains energy and brain function. This would
be when you would first start feeling kind of genuine

(23:55):
grumbles of hunger at the stage, but adrenaline would still
be flowing through and the focus of the run would
likely mask this initial fatigue. So now within this first day. So,
like we said, he didn't plan to be out there
for even twenty four hours. So now it's twenty four hours.
So your bodies liver glycogen stores are now almost completely

(24:19):
depleted without any incoming carbohydrates, bread and all that kind
of stuff. The body begins searching for a new fuel source,
so it starts breaking down fats and some non essential
proteins to create glucose for the brain. So now the
first night hits, he's only dressed in shorts, with temperatures
dropping into the forties, his body core temperature is under attack.

(24:41):
The primary defense for your body when this happens is
intense involuntary shivering, so muscles contracting rapidly to generate heat. However,
this isn't great if you're not eating, because it burns
a massive number of calories. So now anxiety and stress
if you're in this situation, would start to become high.
The release of cortisol and adrenaline masks some of the

(25:04):
worst physical feelings, but judgment may even begin to become
impaired by the stress and low blood sugar. Just twenty
four hours into an ordeal like this, very interesting. It's
now August first of twenty twenty four, Thursday, this is
day two, So this is when his battery in his

(25:26):
phone dies, so it leaves him without a map, light
or communication, which kind of cements his isolation at this point.
So he began at this point, he begins foraging for
water from streams or in probably the Chilliwack River, and
he actually started looking for rudimentary shelter, and he actually

(25:49):
used an abandoned baronest which was actually really interesting. And
now his overconfidence is shifting to growing a growing sense
of dread as he realizes he's truly lost.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
So on the.

Speaker 4 (26:02):
Body breakdown timeline, it's day two, we're now at our
forty eight, so he's forty eight hours since he left
his car. So a lot of things start happening with
the body at this point. The body starts making a
crucial shift. With no carbs available, it enters a state
of catose. The liver begins converting fatty acids in the
ketone bodies to be used as a primary fuel source

(26:24):
for the brain and muscles. This transition period often feels
like having the flu. You'd have headaches, fatigue, mental fog.
There would also be cognitive impairment likely contributed to him
getting further lost, with him also drinking from rivers staving
off severe dehydration. However, the water is untreated, which would

(26:46):
be at high risk for parasitic infections like giardia or
cryptos buridium, and those can cause severe diarrhea vomiting, which
would only accelerate the loss of fluids and nutrients. So
your body's not a good state, even just for it's amazing,
like people have a humans have a tremendous ability to
withstand pain and suffering, but even forty eight hours into

(27:10):
something like this, your body is really starting to break
down without anything.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
And then just the mental yeah alone, yeah, and you're like,
you've been three days.

Speaker 4 (27:21):
And you're cognitively not You're already probably you're already having
a decline in cognitive function. So that just exacerbates anything
going on mentally with you. It's now August second of
twenty twenty four, it's a Friday.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
This is day three.

Speaker 4 (27:37):
So, accepting the gravity of the situation, he made a
really emotionally taxing decision to send his loyal dog to
go home, hoping the dog can navigate out and alert someone.
This was amazing a that he did that and b
that the dog was able to do this. It's now
August third of twenty twenty four. It's a Saturday. It's

(27:58):
day four. Forest ranger actually discovers his dog, Freddy. The
chocolate lab was alone but safe, near the Chilliwack River Trail,
approximately eight miles from the Hennegan Pass trailhead. That same day,
a ranger notes that Robert's abandoned vehicle at the trailhead
had its window down and his wallet visible on the dashboard.

(28:19):
This raised suspicions, but it did not prompt a formal
search at this time. It's now August fourth of twenty
twenty four. This is a Sunday. It's day five of
his ordeal. So the Watcom County Humane Society received a
call about Freddy from park officials, and they actually find
contact information on the dog and call Robert's mother, Jan

(28:41):
Thompson in North Carolina. That's actually this is a huge
break in the case. Is his dog had contact information
on it.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Yeah, like a microchip or something it might have in
the collar or whatever.

Speaker 4 (28:53):
Yeah, it was either in the collar or a microchip.
But the Humane Society was able to get that contact
information in contact his mother so they informer that her
son's lab was found alone in the North Cascades National Park.
So this is the first indication something's wrong, because his
mom said that Robert and Freddie were inseparable. They never

(29:15):
went anywhere by themselves. So the fact that his dog
was just alone in a national park put up a
lot of alarm bells.

Speaker 2 (29:24):
So a dog saved his life. Pretty They weren't going
to start a search until they contacted.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
Her in this case, maybe I don't know that he
could have lived another day. Yeah, the fact that they
found the dog, it probably sped the search up by
a few days.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Yeah, and that would have been enough, probably saved his life. Yeah,
all right, yeah, it's best friend.

Speaker 4 (29:45):
Yes, it's now August fifth of twenty twenty four, it's
a Monday. This is now day sixth, a day six
of his ordeals. So jan Thompson now officially reports her
son missing to the authorities.

Speaker 3 (29:57):
And this was all.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
Prompted by the report prompted by the report from the
Sheriff's office that you know about his vehicle, the window
being down, the wallet in there, and you're at the
Hennigan Pass trailhead. And this confirmed what his mother thought
that he was lost, so the official searches initiated. It
involved coordinating between the Sheriff's office and the National Park

(30:21):
Service rangers. So we're back to the body time body
breakdown timeline. We are now in days three to seven
or our seventy two to our one sixty eight.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
Katosis, Am I saying that right?

Speaker 2 (30:34):
Yep?

Speaker 3 (30:35):
Ketosis.

Speaker 2 (30:36):
That's where the ket diet he was on the extreme
keto diet.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
Yeah, so katosis is now fully established. The body is
efficiently burning fat reserves. Weight loss becomes rapid at this point,
though much of it originally is waterweight. The consistent gnawing
hunger may subside slightly as the body adapts to ketones,
but a deep aching fatigues. That's in he was able

(31:01):
to find some berries that he was eating, so he
did eat a few berries, but they really didn't provide
any meaningful calorie boost, but it probably did psychologically help him,
just some eating something. So each night at this point
for him would be a battle for survivals. The body
uses peripheral fasco constriction, So basically what your body does

(31:24):
is it shuts down blood flow to your hands and
feet and extremities to keep vital organs warm, so his
extremities would at this point feel numb and they would
be at risk for non freezing cold injuries. His shivering
would continue at this point whenever his core temper drops,
and this would be a constant drain on any remaining

(31:46):
energy reserves in his body. And all of this would
mean this is a period of immense psychological stress he's
going through the realization that he's truly lost. Combined with
the psychological strain, it leads to cycles of despair, hope,
and apathy. And his decision to send his dog away
on day three was likely an act of lucidity within

(32:09):
all this brain fog that he had.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
Really, I can't even imagine what.

Speaker 4 (32:13):
He was going through at this point because you're still
cognitively there enough to realize your situations going south quick. So, yeah,
it is now August seventh, it's a Wednesday.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
This is day eight.

Speaker 4 (32:27):
So the first formal search and rescue operations launched by
the Watcom County Sheriff's Office, the National Park Service rangers,
and the County Search and Rescue volunteers. Efforts were focused
on the seventeen mile Chilliwack River Trail, where Freddy was found.
They covered ground routes from Hannigan Pass to the Chiliwack River,

(32:51):
but no traces of Robert are found, and this really
highlights the challenge of the rugged train and the fact
that Robert really he didn't have any gear with him.
He had pretty much no gear to find, so they're
really they're really facing tough conditions in this search. Throughout
this early period of Robert's ordeal, we're gonna say early

(33:13):
to mid August. Subsistence that he had he was foraging
for sour berries. He did eat one large mushroom, and
he was drinking water from the Chilliwack River and streams,
but there was no other food sources, so he really
didn't eat any food for thirty days. He lost what
little equipment that he had with him, so during an

(33:34):
attempt attempted river crossing, he lost his He lost his
shoes to the current of the river, so now.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
He's barefoot, geez and insult to injury.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
Over time, he actually lost all of his remaining clothing
and ended up naked. So remember he didn't have a shirt,
so all he had was shorts and he ended up
losing those, so he was naked. Now no shoes like
literally no clothing.

Speaker 2 (33:58):
Wow, shelter, I want to if you like losing so
much weight, like they weren't fitting, maybe he can like
fallen off. Probably we're wear a big pair of shorts
and he just like literally can't keep him up. And
if you're weak, yeah, and just wandering around like you
just and if he tried to, could have gotten swept
away in the river. Yea, So shelter Jeez.

Speaker 4 (34:15):
Did find an abandoned bareness that provided minimal protection against
the elements. During this time, he did have a lot
of physical declines, so he suffered. He suffered a puncture
wound to his big toe, which likely became infected, and
it severely limited his mobility. His starvation, exposure and injury

(34:35):
I also caused rapid weight loss, loss of bowel control,
and periods of delirium. He would occasionally shout for help.
Once he once saw a helicopter that he that failed
to notice him and mobility, so around mid August, his
body actually just failed and he was He collapsed on
a rocky bank of the river about a half a

(34:56):
mile off the trail, and he was unable to move
and he remained in in that spot for another two weeks.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
WHOA, yeah, that might be.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
I think he's very lucky that the weather was good.
That's the spot if you're showing the screen, Yes I am,
I am showing the screen.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
I believe the caption. Yeah, the day was rescued.

Speaker 4 (35:17):
That's the spot where he collapsed and didn't move for
two weeks. He was so weak he can you imagine
the absolute hell that would be mentally, Oh, I can't
even imagine.

Speaker 2 (35:25):
I can't. I couldn't lay in that spot for a
few hours, no alone and feeling okay, let alone.

Speaker 4 (35:30):
Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks, fourteen days.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
That's in one spot, uncomfortable.

Speaker 3 (35:37):
Yeah, naked.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Yeah, that's absolutely insane.

Speaker 4 (35:42):
Yeah, that's why I said, this is one of the
craziest survival stories I've ever read. So we're back to
the body breakdown timeline. It's now we're now in the
period between day eight and fourteen, or hour one ninety
two and hour three thirty six, So fat stores in
his body now would be significantly depleted. The body now

(36:06):
ramps up catibalism, not cannibalism, catibalism. This is the breakdown
of muscle, muscle tissue for energy, and this is obviously
a devastating process, probably why his body failed. It weakens legs, arms,
and most critically the heart muscle itself. And like I said,
during this period, he lost his shoes, which was a

(36:27):
catastrophic event. In the short period, he's now forced to
walk on rugged, rocky terrain barefoot, and he obviously suffered
multiple lacerations and bruises and the reported puncture round on
his toe without any means to clean it or dress.
It became infected, and his immune system was suppressed by

(36:51):
starvation and stress, couldn't fight the infection.

Speaker 3 (36:54):
So sepsis sets.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
In and which is a life threatening infection of the blood,
and that's almost near certainty in this situation. And his
immune system in general is now severely compromised, so he's
highly susceptible to any pathogen from his foot wound to
waterborne illness. Really, his body is on life support even
at this period, and we're only halfway into the ordeal,

(37:21):
so that's wild. It's now August fifteenth of twenty twenty
four to August sixteenth of twenty twenty four, so this
would be days sixteen and seventeen. Additional searches continue. They
focused on the Chilliwack River Trail, Copridge and what Come Pass,
covering Robert's possible routes. August sixteenth, the US Border Patrol

(37:42):
provides a helicopter for aerial search of the Chiliack basin,
while ground teams, including the County Sheriff Rescue scour the
near scour the area near where Freddie was found. Unfortunately,
no traces of Robert are found, and hope fades among searchers.
Jan Thompson and park officials given his minimal gear in

(38:03):
a lapse time, pretty much are starting to fear for
the worst. So the official search is actually scaled back
after August sixteenth due to a lack of leads and
challenging train, though informal volunteer efforts persisted, so they actually,
I mean the search basically ended and he wasn't even
halfway through his ordeal.

Speaker 3 (38:24):
Jesus, that is so wild.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
Yeah, So we're back to the body breakdown timeline. It's
now day fifteen, hour three sixty so this was approximately
when Robert reported collapsing by the river and became unable
to move further. And this was not his choice, obviously,
his body had reached its functional limits, so energy the

(38:46):
energy required to stand or walk, let alone shiver effectively
was gone. His muscles were too wasted. So now he
is lying immobile on the cold ground. He's near a river.
That's a heat saying. His ability to fight hypothermia is minimal.
At this point, he's slipping in and out of hypothermic
state and a kid a condition that further slows metabolism

(39:10):
and impairs brain function. Now, finally, before we get into
the last part of his ordeal, w'round the body breakdown timeline.
It's now between day fifteen and day thirty, or our
three sixty to our.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Seven to twenty.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
So the body at this point, his body is in
a state of advanced starvation. It is aggressively consuming all
remaining tissue, including the protein from vital organs, to keep
the brain alive.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
That word you.

Speaker 3 (39:38):
Can say it cashexia. There you go.

Speaker 2 (39:41):
This is the craziest thing about the human body.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
It dies in reverse.

Speaker 4 (39:45):
Well, it's doing everything that humanly can do to keep
the brain alive, even eating proteins.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
That shuts down your orders organs in order of least
important and.

Speaker 3 (39:55):
Most important, which is so wild.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
It's wild because it's like, how do we know that
the body genetically knows that the longest, if it can
keep the brain alive.

Speaker 3 (40:05):
That's the hope of Yeah, that's the last part of you. Yeah,
it's just wild. I just think it's really cool.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
I don't want to go down that rabbit hole right now.
Will be on for the next five hours, I know, Yeah,
because I will go down that rabbit hole.

Speaker 3 (40:18):
Yes, well, I will save that for Patron.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
We'll start talking about DMT and then understanding the entire universe.
There we go, that's a Patreon episode. Yeah, we'll save
that for Patreon.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
Like I said, his body is aggressively consuming all remaining tissue,
including proteins from vital organs, to keep the brain alive.
The heart muscle is so weak that the slightest exertion
could trigger cardiac arrest. And just because the brain is
hogging all the calories in his body doesn't mean it's
working very well. His brain function at this point would

(40:48):
be severely degraded. He would experience long periods of stupor
or unconsciousness, punctuated by moments of delirium and vivid hallucinations.
His perception of the rest viewers at the time he
thought they were packs of wolves. Wow, and this isn't
a classic example of end stage delirium. And by this

(41:08):
point the infection in his foot would likely be systemic,
causing fever and placing further strain on his failing organs.
And I am just he probably only survived because he
was in such fit.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
I was gonna say, he's an ultra marathon runner, so
like his mental capacity everything he does is he's able
to handle hard situations.

Speaker 3 (41:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:27):
I don't think other people would have been able to
survive this.

Speaker 4 (41:29):
No, I think long his body was set up to
survive this long because it sound I don't know how
he survived, to endure, made to endure. All right, We're
to August thirtieth, twenty twenty four. This is Friday, This
is day thirty one. This is the rescue. So it's
the afternoon. A five person Pacific Northwest Trail Association crew

(41:52):
led by Jeff Kish returns to camp after a ten
hour workday clearing trails in the Chilliwack Basin. They're on
the trail and they hear a face cry. So battling
the noise of the rushing river, a twenty one year
old crew member hears a faint cry the crew stops
and listens and confirms it's a cry for help. The
crew bushwhacks half a mile off trail, finding Robert naked, emaciated,

(42:16):
and immobile on the riverbank, delirious. Like I said, he
initially hallucinates the rescuers as a pack of wolves, so,
using wilderness first Aid responder training, the crew provides critical
aid for several hours. Crewmembers crewmember Wes McClintock gives Robert
his shirt to combat hypothermia, and minimal food or hydration

(42:38):
is likely provided, but he was obviously way too weak
to make to eat at this point.

Speaker 3 (42:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (42:44):
I've heard that when you're that starved, if you eat
too much, it can kill you. Yeah, Like your body
can't process the food.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
No, So you'd have to eat just really tiny amounts
slowly over days and days to get your body back
to being able to take in food. Kish which estimates
Robert had one day left to live, describing him as
on death's door. So the crew activates a garment in
reach of satellite device to send an SOS and they

(43:11):
report Robert's discovery to authorities. A helicopter coordinated by the
Sheriff's Office and MPs arrives, but due to the treacherous terrain,
a short haul rescue is performed with rescuer lowered to
hoist Robert. He has flown to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Bellingham,
having lost approximately fifty pounds.

Speaker 2 (43:33):
Jeez, the wrath fifty pounds and two weeks in a month.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
Yeah, jeez, that's crazy. The rescue, described as improbable and
heroic by Kish, takes an emotional toll on the crew.
So finally, the last notch in our body breakdown timeline,
day thirty one hour, seven forty fours. Upon being found,
Robert would have been in a state of multi system
organ failure, having lost fifty pounds, He had verted no

(44:00):
body fat and lost a significant percentage of his muscle mass,
and he was very close to hypothermia.

Speaker 3 (44:08):
It was reported to his core body.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
I don't understand how he wasn't like legitimately on rocks
naked in forty degrees at night, Like how I don't
understand how did he that?

Speaker 3 (44:20):
Like seriously, I don't get that.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Yeah, he's to be studied.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
His body core temperature was dangerously low, shocking.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
And I don't understand that at all.

Speaker 4 (44:29):
They think he was he was almost certainly suffering sepsis
from the ongoing infection in his foot, and despite his
access to water, his body's electrolyte balance was completely disruptive,
and like we said, his cognitive state was delirious.

Speaker 3 (44:45):
He was barely.

Speaker 4 (44:45):
Conscious when they found him, so throughout September twenty twenty four,
he was admitted to Saint Joseph's Hospital in Bellingham. He
was in critical condition for the first three days. He
was so weak he couldn't eat solid food and was
intravenously fed. His mother, jan Thompson, who said she never
lost hope, flew in from North Carolina to be by

(45:07):
his side. It took He had to be in the
hospital for approximately a month after this, and he actually
gained forty pounds back during that month and was recovering
from severe malnutrition, exposure and his foot injury. And really
when he left the hospital all he had was some
lingering joint pain, which is amazing. So he remained in

(45:31):
high spirits and was discharged in late September. He traveled
to Ohio to continue recovery with his father and Freddy,
and he reflects on his ordeal. He vowed never to
return to North cascades, and he expressed gratitude to the
PNTA crew and acknowledged that he was very unprepared. So

(45:52):
one of the things we're gonna quickly hear, I'm going
to the scope of the search, and then I'm going
to cover quickly how why the searchers didn't find him,
because he was alive obviously when they were searching. So
that was one of my lingering questions in this case,
how he wasn't found because a lot of times people
aren't found because the remains probably weren't a location that's

(46:15):
really hard.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
To get to or see.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
But he was alive, yeah, and he was on a
river bank for two weeks. So the location where he
was found from that picture, if a helicopter flew over
that you would see.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Him well, being naked, maybe maybe in lighter colors, if
he had like different clothing on that was colorful or
something like that, potentially.

Speaker 3 (46:35):
Yeah, but either way.

Speaker 4 (46:37):
So the scope of the search, they covered about seventeen
miles of the Chiliwack River trail, and Hannegan passed Copperridge
totally dozens of my miles and rugged remote train and
involved the local sheriff's office MPs, Rangers County, the Sheriff's
County Search and Rescue volunteers, and US Border Patrol for

(46:58):
aerosport teams use trail knowledge and Freddy's discovery location as
focal points. Obviously challenges where there were recent wildfires that
altered all the trails, it reduced visibility and accessibility, and
Robert's minimal gear and lack of a fixed itinerary made
predicting his location very difficult and sadly the absence of

(47:19):
any leads. The search was shut down on August sixteenth,
not even about halfway through this ordeal, so I was
really curious why didn't the initial search find him.

Speaker 3 (47:31):
So there's a couple of reasons.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
The first and obvious reason is it's very challenging terrain
and it's a very remote location. So North Cascades National
Park particularly this area is incredibly rugged, remote in wilderness,
has dense forest, steep slopes, and fast moving rivers, so
all things all make searching hard. And this seventeen mile

(47:56):
Chilliwack River trail is one of the harder trails in
this whole area, with significant elevation changes and limited access points.
And he was also found approximately half mile off trail
in an area requiring bushwhacking to reach, which made systematic
grid searching even harder, and just the vastness of the area,

(48:17):
combined with its inaccessibility, meant searchers couldn't cover every possible
off trail. So I think he got seventeen miles of
that trail. He's a half mile in at one point
in that hole. Seventeen miles and it's just not feasible
to search every possible area there.

Speaker 2 (48:36):
Yeah, it's too big of an area another and way
too rugged.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (48:39):
Another problem too was his minimal footprint and lack of gear.
So he had he just had shorts, no shirt, small backpack,
no emergency beacon. And the less gear you have is
the less stuff that you leave behind for searchers to find.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Unlike when Joe and I hike tents.

Speaker 4 (48:56):
And lots of gear and all the stuff to survive,
some of our friends we hike with will even bring
a little camping stove like yep utensils and everything. He
didn't have any of that, and he ended up naked
by the time he was rescued, So he kind of
blended into the environment and his when a lot of
times when we hike. If we're doing a big backcountry hike,

(49:17):
we'll set up a camp and then do day hikes
off that camp, and maybe we'll camp there for a
few nights and then so if we would gone lost,
searchers would have found our camp and that would give
them a bull's eye of where to start searching. He
didn't have a fixed location like that, and he didn't
have any signaling tools with him. He didn't have a mirror, matches,

(49:38):
you're even a whistle, so he had nothing to even
signal for searchers That helped in the search not finding him.
His immobility and location shift was also another detriment for
the search. Like I had said earlier, by mid August,
he became immobile and collapsed on the riverbank for approximately

(49:58):
two weeks, and early in his ordeal he was likely moving,
possibly crossing rivers or seeking shelter which met His location
kept changing during the initial search period of the seventh
of the sixteenth.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
Which they say, don't move as you lost, find an
open spot and stay put.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
Searchers focused on areas where Freddy the Dog was found
on August third and the main trails, but Robert Robert's
later immobility in an off trail spot misaligned with these efforts.
So it's the same song and dance we talk every
one of these cases. One of the theories we always
think is they become lost and they wander out of.

Speaker 2 (50:37):
The search area and it's so disorientated.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Yes, so that's kind of what he did. Yeah, unfortunately
two more here he So. Another constraint was just limited resources.
So this is every search has limited resources because unfortunately
a lot of people go missing, but most of the
time they're found very quickly.

Speaker 2 (50:58):
Outside is very big.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
It's very big, I've been told.

Speaker 4 (51:02):
So the search, while involving multiple Ancients agencies, faced resource limitations,
which is typical in an operation like this. Ground teams
couldn't cover everything they wanted to, and they only had
one helicopter. On the sixteenth, and after nine days of
searching with no leads, they had the scale back efforts
because pretty much, in most cases, someone out there for

(51:26):
that long a time would not make it. And somehow
he made it another two weeks. Yeah, I still can't.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
I don't understand how you lay on rocks, bare naked, Yeah,
for two weeks and not die.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
I know, I can't.

Speaker 2 (51:41):
He needs to be studied.

Speaker 3 (51:43):
Yeah, that's wild.

Speaker 4 (51:44):
Maybe at the end we could find a video of
him talking quickly about it. And finally, the last thing
that probably hampered the search for him was environmental noise
and his weakness. So the river he was near is loud.
It's rushing water masked his probably faint cries for help,

(52:06):
even when searches were nearby in mid August. He was
probably so weakened he was unable to shout loudly or
move to signal searchers. And he even had a helicopter
pass over him at one time, but his shouts were
so faint it was unnoticed, and.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
I can't believe they heard him over the river noise. Yeah,
when the searchers are there, that's crazy. And finally, just
we'll put some context on his survival. Oh you want
to play this quick? No, I'm keep going, all right.
I'll always let you know. All right, I'm gonna see
if he talks for us.

Speaker 4 (52:37):
So he survived for thirty days without food, proper shelter,
and like I had said earlier, many attribute this to
his physical fitness as an ultrarunner and sheer will and
his decision to send Freddie home was pivotal as it
initially it triggered the search sooner than the search would

(52:58):
have happened, which like the one trail crew guy said
he had one day left in him and he was
gonna be dead and if he hadn't sent his dog out,
don't you know.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
The more I'm thinking about it, it sounds like he might
have had another month or two in them, right, like
for real, I know.

Speaker 4 (53:16):
And it's just crazy that there happened to be a
trail crew working on the trail.

Speaker 1 (53:21):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (53:22):
Yeah, and it was just a serendipitous discovery. They weren't
searching for Robert Needle.

Speaker 2 (53:27):
And a second needles. Yeah, they found it.

Speaker 4 (53:30):
They were maintaining trails under a cooperative agreement with MPs.
And also their wilderness first responder training was critical and
stabilizing him before he could be evacuated. And that's why
I always say, if you plan to do a lot
of backcountry hiking, I'm not saying you should go and
go to school for wilderness medical training, but if you

(53:52):
plan to spend a lot of time out in the wilderness,
maybe take a couple of courses on wilderness first aid.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
Yeah, I learn some basics. It's not hard. You can
do it for free online.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
Yeah, learn the basics.

Speaker 4 (54:02):
Just know how to stabilize somebody that has a broken leg,
or how to dress a wound.

Speaker 3 (54:07):
Or things like that.

Speaker 4 (54:09):
Absolutely, because even Joe and I have been hiking in
the past where we've had friends get hurt. Yeah, big
knife wounds, big knife wounds or various things happen, and.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
My foot almost got really infected.

Speaker 4 (54:20):
Yeah, so just having basic knowledge of how to handle
that stuff out there could mean life or death.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
Are all right anything? No, there's no videos of him talking,
just news reports. That's why I want to look at
it first. But okay, yeah, but so what do you
think of that?

Speaker 3 (54:36):
This story?

Speaker 2 (54:36):
I thought, I think it's I think it's incredible. I
think they make a movie out of one hundred percent. Yeah,
I like I want to know. I want to hear,
like mentally, what he was going through during that two
weeks in one spot, like going in. Maybe it helps
your going in and out of consciousness, but still I
would imagine the agony, the like all of it that
two weeks on the riverbank. Probably a lot of it

(54:57):
was spent unconscious, I hope, so for like, for his
mental good's sake, like I would go mad now if
you have I can barely sit here for this.

Speaker 3 (55:06):
Hour and record your fidgeting.

Speaker 2 (55:08):
Yeah, I'm just like, get me out of this cage.

Speaker 3 (55:12):
So hypothetically they make a movie about this guy.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
The last three quarters would be very boring. It's just
waking up and passing. Well, they'll have a little like montage.

Speaker 4 (55:25):
Yeah, but stack this survival story up against the guy
had to break his own arm off, you cut.

Speaker 2 (55:30):
His own r yeah, hundred and twenty seven hours.

Speaker 4 (55:33):
Yeah, what so we're gonna play either or if you
had to go through one of these ordeals Roberts, would
you rather or what's the actor that did that movie
that cut his arm off? He was in Pineapple Express?

Speaker 2 (55:48):
Yeah, I know who is. He's like my favorite actor
because he's like not that great of an actor and
I love him.

Speaker 4 (55:54):
So would you rather get your arm trapped under a
rock have to cut it off with like a like
a pocket knife toenail knife?

Speaker 2 (56:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (56:04):
Or go through the ordeal Robert just went through for
thirty days? All right, you'll live both snitch situations, Yeah,
both situations live. Like that's where it's like the outcome
would be Robert hands down.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Oh no, pun intended. I didn't mean to say that,
but you come out with all your.

Speaker 4 (56:21):
Digits about this, you don't know there's no guarantee you
survive either. So it makes it kind of like, yeah,
if I know I'm gonna survive either one, I'm not
gonna cut my own arm off.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
Yes, so I would, but I don't know. Well now
it's just like, well, obviously the other one then if
you're not sure how to survive, yeah, yeah, but that's there.
There's a hard one because they're both terrible in different ways.
Like one you're more lucid, yeah and like probably not
thinking you're gonna die as much. The other one you're

(56:52):
slipping in and out of death.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Yeah. Either way, they're both.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
Terrible, and I never want to be in those situations ever.

Speaker 3 (56:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (56:58):
I remember watching the one movie where he had to
free his arm.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
Yeah, no, thank you.

Speaker 3 (57:04):
That there was a scene where I had to kind
of like look away.

Speaker 2 (57:06):
Yeah, nope, no thanks.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
What is his name?

Speaker 2 (57:09):
James frank I love James Franco.

Speaker 4 (57:13):
He's one of my favorites. Pineapple Express is an underrated movie.
Danny McBride's in it.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
That is an underrated movie, much like Hot Rod is
an underrated movie, and the Other Guys is an underrated movie.

Speaker 3 (57:24):
Hot Tub Time machinet Eh, we're a big fan of that.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
It's okay, not as much of those other three movies
as you mentioned.

Speaker 3 (57:31):
No Pineapple Expresses Peple.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Express is fantastic. I'm gonna watch that tonight. Now there
you go, No, Matt, All right, Well, thanks everybody for
tuning into our show. Please log online and tell us
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(57:53):
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(58:14):
or simply taking a walk, always remember to leave no trace.
Thanks and we will see you all next time.

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Robert Schock - North Cascades National Park - Washington

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Robert Schock - North Cascades National Park - Washington