9 Disturbing Park Ranger Encounters in Yosemite You've Never Heard

📕 Stay Found, my field guide for anyone who heads outdoors: what to carry, what to leave on the kitchen table, and what to do in the first hour if somebody doesn't come back → https://stayfoundbook.com Nine real Yosemite cases, told by a retired search and rescue ranger, in order of how long it took anyone to learn what happened. A falling slab at Happy Isles whose air blast flattened a snack bar. Two climbers found three pitches below the top of El Capitan, their own ropes cut in several places. A hiker on a ledge for six days, found because of a letter he mailed. A plane in a frozen lake with both pilots still aboard. And a 14-year-old girl with a camera who walked up a short trail at Sunrise in 1981 and was never found. I'm Cliff Hollis. Thirty-two seasons as a backcountry ranger in the mountain West, the last fifteen running search and rescue. All nine happened on ground I never worked. The pages behind every case are below, sorted case by case. THE CLOCK, CASE BY CASE 9. HAPPY ISLES ROCKFALL, 1996 Answer: seconds. Pages: Wieczorek, Snyder and others, GSA Bulletin, 2000 (USGS). UC Berkeley Seismological Lab, R. Uhrhammer. Park historian Jim Snyder, Yosemite Association journal, Fall 1996. 8. THE NOSE, EL CAPITAN, 2004 Answer: less than four days. Pages: American Alpine Club, Accidents in North American Mountaineering 2005, "Stranded by Weather." AP, October 2004. 7. SNOW CREEK FALLS, 1990 Answer: six days. Pages: NPS Morning Report 90-192, July 12, 1990. 6. LOWER MERCED PASS LAKE, "DOPE LAKE," 1976-77 Answer: weeks to find the wreck, about half a year to recover the pilots. Pages: Greg Nichols, "The Legend of Yosemite's Dope Lake," Men's Journal. Climbing magazine, reprinted from Outside. 5. CURRY VILLAGE HANTAVIRUS, 2012 Answer: more than two months. Pages: CDC, MMWR, November 23, 2012. CDC, Emerging Infectious Diseases, March 2014 and March 2020. Interior Department Inspector General, May 2013. NPS releases, August 2012. Courthouse News, January 2018. 4. TWA FLIGHT 8, BUENA VISTA PEAK, 1938 Answer: more than three months. Pages: John W. Bingaman, "Guardians of the Yosemite," 1961. Mariposa Gazette. For the Givens Creek crash: NPS, "Yosemite: On the Homefront." 3. JOEL THOMAZIN, HETCH HETCHY, 2021 Answer: none yet. Pages: NPS, "Missing People in Yosemite." NPS missing person alert, September 11, 2021. The Union Democrat, September 13, 2021. 2. MICHAEL FICERY, HETCH HETCHY, 2005 Answer: none yet. Pages: NPS Investigative Services Branch, Cold Cases. San Francisco Chronicle, Peter Fimrite, profile of ranger John Dill. 1. STACY ARRAS, SUNRISE HIGH SIERRA CAMP, 1981 Answer: none yet. Pages: NPS FOIA release, "Released files for Stacy Arras case." NPS Investigative Services Branch, Cold Cases. NamUs MP34023. Numbers one, two and three are open cases. If you know anything, the NPS Investigative Services Branch tip line is 888-653-0009. CHAPTERS 00:00 A girl, a camera, and a short trail 01:29 9. Happy Isles: the air blast 04:52 8. The Nose: the cut ropes 07:34 7. Snow Creek Falls: six days on a ledge 09:45 6. Dope Lake: the plane under the ice 13:16 5. Curry Village: inside the walls 16:57 4. TWA Flight 8 and the buried night fighter 20:39 3. Joel Thomazin and the red kayak 23:03 2. Michael Ficery and the missing water bottle 25:22 1. Stacy Arras 30:06 The rule Stay found, folks. #Yosemite #ParkRanger #MissingPersons