To order autographed copies of The Search For Haley
book,
click here.
Updated 5/31/01 The end of spring
The following pictures were taken by Lytle James, one
of the two men who rescued Haley.
They were taken of her just after they found her, and
at the exact spot where they found her next to the river (and riding out
on the mule).
5/1/01 My alarm this morning at first light was a helicopter right outside the bedroom window. The cabin was much quieter during the night than the night before, and I think some of the family members managed a couple hours of much-needed sleep, or at least rest.
Nothing new today. Still hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement and search and rescue people on the ground and in the air. I had to make a quick trip up to the command center at Cave Mountain Church and could not believe all of the activity there, and the hoards of folks. While I was there a helicopter took off shuttling a new search team down into the canyon in front of the cabin - this team will begin there and sweep up Whitaker Creek all the way to the Hawksbill Crag Trailhead. One of dozens of sweep teams that will work today. There are quite a few mules and horses and four-wheelers at the camp that has been set up next to the mailboxes on the main road, plus food and porta potties and water - enough supplies to support a small city, which is what it has become up there.
Speaking of water, all of the activity at the cabin had drained the well (can't believe it lasted that long). But the national guard came to our rescue, and we were up there at the well location in the late night darkness filling the well with fresh water from one of their tankers. You just can't imagine how wonderful it is to be able to flush the toilet!
There continues to be dozens of folks at the cabin, plus many hoards more coming and going. At one point yesterday there were more than 100 people here at the same time. No end to the wonderful folks who have been asking "what can we do for you?" I keep telling them "truckloads of gravel to fix the road" - but so far, nothing. All of the traffic has really made my driveway a rough trip!
Media pleas for volunteer help and supplies have had quite an impact on everything, and in fact right now there are many more volunteers available than they need. (I just heard that they even put up roadblocks on the main road to keep excess folks out).
The family is holding up quite well, especially considering the terrible situation right now. They are moved and uplifted by the incredible amount of support out there by the searchers and the public at large, plus all of their friends and family who have been able to get through and down here to the cabin. It is obvious that Steve and Kelly Zega are made of some pretty tough material, and their attitude has been infectious to all. No doubt their precious daughter Haley is made of the same stuff, and is still out there holding on.
I might add that I have been flooded with e-mails from Cloudland Journal readers, and your thoughts and prayers for Haley and her family have brought warm feelings to them and smiles and around.
That's about it for now. I will make another post later today. The computer and internet access here has become a great tool for the family, and I am trying to keep out of their way and let them use whatever they need.
Here is a link to a newspaper article from this morning:
UPDATE, 10pm Haley is found alive. Wow, what a past couple of days we have had here at Cloudland. I will try to lay out the details as I know them of the final hours of the search mission, and what happened here at the cabin.
This will be a two-part story. First off, let me tell you what happened at the cabin. It was just before 5:30pm, and the cabin was filled with folks as is had been all day. There were also a number of searchers outside milling around, all having just completed sweeps. The phone rang and I answered it. The person on the other end said that TV 40/29 had just announced that Haley had been found alive. "What?" "WHAT!?" After quizzing the caller a bit more, I hung up the phone. I went to find Kelly (Haley's mom), and pulled her outside and away from the crowd. It was just the two of us out on the front porch. "Do you know anything?" She looked at me very puzzled. "No." "OK" I said, now please know that this is strictly rumor, but it was just announced on TV that Haley has been found alive." Kelly gasped.
The next couple of minutes were a frantic attempt to find some way to communicate with the command center - their cell phone was not working, and no one around had a radio to contact anyone. We were all collectively holding out breaths and frustrated at the same time. Could this be true? Then a police vehicle pulled up. Kelly and Steve (Haley's dad) were together on the front porch, along with a growing crowd around them. The two officers got out and walked towards the cabin, both with frowns. "We've got a little girl looking for you!"
The place erupted into an incredible blast of shouts - the loudest sound that I have ever heard here at the cabin. The officers talked with Kelly and Steve for a few moments and they all quickly loaded up in the vehicle and sped away towards the command center where Haley was. None of us at the cabin were told anything other than she had been found and was alive. I have been a part of many celebrations and moments of elation in my life before, but NOTHING to match the feeling of pure joy, relief, and utter euphoria of this.
OK, now for the story of the journey of a little girl in the wilderness. This information was collected from Haley's grandfather (who was with her when she got lost and went up to the command center to greet her), and from one of the other principles.
Apparently Haley had dropped down through the bluffline soon after getting separated from her hiking group on Sunday. Then she headed downstream of Lower Fork, eventually continuing down into the Whitaker Creek Valley, and eventually to the Buffalo River Valley. The continued downstream there, where she was found resting beside the river at about 2:30pm this afternoon. She says that she spent one night under a bluff, and the next in a cave. She was basically not hurt in any way, with only minor scratches and stuff.
Two wonderful and caring guys from Kingston who were out looking for her on mules came upon her alongside the river. They rode her out to the first main road, which took them about three hours. At that time a guy who was heading to the Cloudland Cabin with supplies saw them and took Haley towards the command center. They soon encountered a law enforcement vehicle where they turned her over to them. Apparently Haley was never more than a mile from Cloudland - or her parents - the entire time! Some of her first words to the rescuers were "I want some ice cream and my mommy and daddy!" What an incredible story.
I spoke with those who went with Haley to the hospital
in Harrison and they told me that she was in fine shape.
It is getting late at the cabin now, and all of the volunteers
and family have left. I may try to write about some of the last two days
here later, but for now I would like to put things away and get some sleep.
A few minutes ago I looked around the empty cabin - there was an emptiness
in my heart since all of my new friends had gone home - most of whom I
had never met before - but my spirits are soaring because of the life that
continues to shine through little Haley.
This cabin is empty now, yet is filled with the sound of a child's laughter...
5/2/01 Some details of the past three days. There is a giant red ball hanging in a hazy sky in the east this morning - no helicopters for the first time in what seems like an eternity. The river far below is singing - or should I say whistling - and the tune is a happy one. This mighty wilderness swallowed up this precious child whole, then took care of her until she was ready to return to civilization. The radio just reported that Haley will be released from the hospital today - after being treated for dehydration (she said that she did not drink any water during her ordeal). Otherwise, only a few scratches.
It is hard not to dwell on the events of these past few days - they keep racing back and forth through my empty head. There were many things that went on here but were not written down - incredible feats of bravery and heroism by ordinary people (I mean EXTRAORDINARY people!). Tender moments between husband and wife who at times were being held together only with scotch tape. Times of intense sorrow and crying. Very high frustration levels. And a great deal of hope - there was ALWAYS a great deal of HOPE.
I want to try to write some of this down, although I know most of it will escape me, and some of it may be told wrong, but I need to write it down, just because.
My dear wife and I were on a short hike around Cloudland on Sunday. We saw Bob Chester toiling away in his garden. He told us that a group had just left from the Faddis cabin to hike down to the Crag, a group that included a bouncing little girl. Soon after we arrived back at the cabin the phone rang - it was Bob Chester. He said that someone from the hiking party had just returned and said the little girl was lost - could I please go on over to the Crag and help search for her?
I quickly loaded up a fanny pack with a few supplies and hit the door running. Within a few minutes I was at the Crag and found Haley's grandmother standing there with a couple of other hikers - she had borrowed the hiker's cell phone and had called someone about Haley. I spoke with her for a few minutes to try to get some details and exact location of where they last saw her, then I sent her off down the trail to cover one area while I headed for another spot. She told me that her name was Haley, and that we was wearing a grey t-shirt and black shorts with black tennis shoes. Wow, that would be a difficult thing to spot.
Her grandmother told me a bit of info about the last few moments before Haley had disappeared. Haley had wanted to go look at the waterfall along the trail but they did not have the time and all wanted to turn back and go eat lunch. Haley was not happy about this and sat down on a rock. The group turned around and continued their hike back towards the Crag. Some of them stopped to wait for Haley while the others went on (there were a total of six adults on the hike with Haley - including her grandparents and two other couples - her parents were not on the hike with them). Her grandmother waited on the trail for just a few moments, then returned to the spot where Haley had sat down - only about a minute had gone by. Haley was gone, and the search began. Her grandmother told me that Haley was a bit upset at not being able to see the waterfall - and that they would not carry her when they decided to turn around and go back. (The grandfather did go down to see the waterfall - it is a BIG leap to get down to the lower bench to view this double-decked waterfall.) So Haley was sort of upset with the grown-ups.
My very first thought when Bob had said she had been lost between the Crag and the waterfall was that oh my God, she had fallen over the bluff. The bluffline in this area is very tall - upwards towards 80 feet - and I knew she would probably not survive such a fall. I also knew that it is not always a straight path to the ground from way up there, and she might have landed in a treetop.
I hurried to the spot in the bluffline where you can get down through it, and along with Aspen and Lucy - my two trusted bloodhounds - we made it to the bottom of the bluff and began to carefully search the drip line.
Within minutes I came across two large rocks that had fallen off of the bluff. They made an impact in the ground and scattered fresh dirt around the area. While rocks do fall from blufflines, the dirt looked very fresh. My heart pounded and my mind raced, and I broke out into a cold sweat. I carefully searched the area, then widened my search down the hillside some. Nothing. I looked up every single branch of every tree in the vicinity. Nothing. I stood back and scoured the tall bluff for any signs - nothing. I moved on along the bluffline.
One thing that kept racing through my head was that while I was very focused on what I was doing, the LAST thing that I wanted to find on my search was Haley. The reason is that if I found her down there, I would be finding a body and not a smiling little girl. I hoped to god that I did not find her. PLEASE let someone else find her, someone up on TOP of the bluff.
By the time I reached the end of my immediate search area - the waterfalls near where she had disappeared - I could hear a number of folks out there in the woods calling out her name and looking for her. The foliage was so thick, that while some of these folks were only a couple of hundred yards away, I did not ever see them. Lucy was barking at them, and someone from one of the groups yelled out and asked if I had tracking dogs with me. "Negative."
These folks that I spoke with were apparently just hikers who had been out on the trail when Haley disappeared, and joined in on the search - I have no idea who they were. But I know now that all of us were within a few hundred yards of Haley at the moment - she had made her way down through the bluffline at this point and headed on down the drainage towards the Buffalo River. None of us realized just how close we were. It had been only about 45 minutes since she had disappeared.
It looked to me like this end of the search area was being covered, so I turned around and headed back along the base of the bluffline - doubling my efforts to scour every single inch of ground, trees and bluff that I could possibly see. I continued on along the base of the bluff under Hawksbill Crag, and then all the way to the far end of the bluffline right below my cabin. At one point I looked up and saw one of the other members of Haley's hiking party - he had climbed down to a ledge high above, searching. There was a grim expression on his face.
During all of this I was in radio contact with Pam, who was at the cabin. She was manning the phone and acting as a clearing house for the search, plus was out on the back deck with the binocs, looking and calling out Haley's name. In my rush to get out the door and begin the search, I did not think to ask the little girl's name, nor find out what she was wearing. When I found her grandmother on the Crag, it was Pam who said to make sure that I found out her name and what she was wearing - a very smart young lady I am married to!
While I was still out searching below the bluffline Milancy McNamara had called the house - a couple had knocked on her door with the news of Haley's disappearance, and Milancy had called me to find out who to contact about it. Pam relayed the message to me, and I told her to tell them to call the Newton County Sheriffs Office, and to do so right away. I also had Pam get in the car and drive the road out to the main road and back again - thinking that Haley might walk out to this road.
Soon after Pam took off to drive the road, I arrived at the end of the bluffline and climbed back up to the cabin. I gathered up a few more supplies, called Milancy to get an update, then headed back out again to search the trail above the bluff between the cabin and the Crag. Just as I was walking out the door, I thought about a radio announcement that I had heard some time ago about how police departments were now issuing teddy bears to their officers to give comfort to children. I stepped into my own little girl's bedroom and grabbed a small stuffed animal and placed it into the top of my pack.
I raced down the trail - both wanting to cover a lot of ground, yet knowing that I needed to search EVERYTHING that I passed as well as I could. I have trained my eyes over the years to spot certain colors or patterns while hiking fast - I do this when out taking pictures - say, for instance that I am looking for some great firepink wildflower shots - I "plug" the color RED into my brain and scan the forest floor for anything red. It was going to be tough to look for "grey and black" but that is what I plugged into my brain.
I followed the trail to the Crag and found no one there, then went up to the next bench and searched a while, then up to the next one, then another. This went on for the next hour or two, then I returned to the cabin via a different route.
Pam had been there with the phone and the binocs. The both of us just sort of milled around on the back for a little while, not really knowing what to do next. The sheriffs department had been notified. Pam had to return to Missouri in a little while - something she absolutely HATED to do, especially at this point. I wanted to rejoin the search - so I kissed my wife goodbye and headed back out into the woods once again. I had wanted Pam to keep Aspen at the cabin, so she held onto him and Lucy until I disappeared into the forest. A short time later, while Pam and the dogs were down on the lower deck, Pam said that Aspen just jumped up and shot off. Somehow this dog knew that my little hike was something really important - something that perhaps he could help out with, and there would be no keeping him back at the cabin. A few minutes later he came racing up next to me. He sort of looked up at me with this "I AM GOING TO HELP WITH THIS" attitude, then charged out ahead in search of Haley.
I headed back to the Crag area - still no one else around - then made my way up to and along a short bluffline that is a bench or two above the big bluff. There are many little nooks and crannies along this bluff - perfect hiding places for a little girl trying to get away. Aspen and I crawled into and sniffed around every single one of them.
A little while later I came out to the road near the Faddis Cabin where I talked to several people who had been involved in the search - including the guy I had seen earlier on the bluffline, and Bob Chester. They both told me of the growing group of officials out at the main trailhead, which included the forest service, park service and sheriffs department. I turned around and headed back into the woods.
I continued my search - sort of in my own little area in a block to the east of a line between the Crag and the Faddis cabin - I never saw another soul in this area. Pam had long since gone home, and had called to report that there was a large group gathering up along the road.
It was an hour later that a helicopter came flying by - very low overhead. And then another one going in the opposite direction. A chill came over me - it wasn't until that very moment that I realized the gravity of the situation. There was a little girl out here lost in the forest - it was a potential life threatening situation - and a genuine and major search had begun for her. I don't know, something about those helicopters just hit me right square between the eyes.
One time when I had returned to the cabin, I spent some time down on the lower deck watching the helicopters working. One of them was doing something rather incredible. I was at first watching it fly so very close to the bluffline over at the Crag. The pilot was flying nose-in looking right straight into the bluff. Then inching his way along the bluffline towards my direction. I could not believe how CLOSE he was getting to the bluff! I ran upstairs and got my digital camera to get a picture, then stood and watched and waited in awe.
Before long the helicopter was right there in front and just me. He was so close that I could look right into the cockpit and read the Arkansas State Police path on the shoulder of his uniform - what and incredible bit of flying!!! At one point the helicopter was flying just a couple hundred feet beyond the gazebo - it was a sight to behold for sure. I held up the camera and pushed the button - nothing. I had left the digital card that records the images up in the computer!!!!! I could only stand there in awe and watch.
Just before dark I got in my truck and drove up towards the Faddis to see if I could do something else to help. There I ran into a number of officials, including a dog team, and a couple of folks that I knew. While I was talking with someone a young lady got out of the back of a car and approached me - it was Haley's mom Kelly Zega. I had never met her before. She wanted to thank me for helping out. Good grief, I had done nothing to help out so far. I told her that my cabin was available for anything that she needed, and that it would be open to whatever, whenever. She had been attending a film festival in Fayetteville when all of this happened, and her husband Steve was in national guard training in Ft. Smith - he was also on the scene now, and out with one of the search parties.
Mary Woods drove up and asked if anyone had checked their hunting cabin - I had not been down to that side of the hill at all, so offered to hike down and check it out. I did so, but found nothing. At this point I felt sort of helpless - the authorities were conducting sweep searches, and using three different teams of dogs - one from Lincoln, another from Pope county. This was turning into a very large and extensive search. It was getting dark so I returned to the cabin.
The helicopters were flying a grid pattern - this was really something to witness. They would fly slowly all the way from one end of the ridge to another, then turn around and move over a couple hundred yards and fly to the other end. A few minutes later they would return to this end, then turn around and fly back.
A little while later I drove up to the Faddis cabin to see what was going on and was met by a man from the Hasty Fire Department - he had an official radio, and I could hear what was going on. There were search teams out all over the place, even though it was dark. Folks were positioned along roads in a number of locations, and were supposed to be there all night, keeping light on, in case Haley came out of the woods. I had turned on all of the lights in the cabin before I left, and up in the office too.
One team of searchers had spent several hours covering the long bluffline down below us - both from the top and the bottom. They were utilizing the ladder in the bluff near the cabin to get up or down - good thing that old ladder is still there - this is the only access down through the bluff for a very long ways along the bluffline. The group emerged tired and dazed as they hiked through the darkness.
The next couple of hours are somewhat of a blurr, as many truckloads of searchers came and went, and the helicopters continued their grid work overhead - using night vision and heat sensing equipment. It was very loud, but we all would soon become used to the helicopters.
A number of folks were milling around and coming and going from the Faddis cabin, and I spent a bit of time conversing with them, trying to rack our brains about where Haley would be, where could be go next to look for her, etc. At one point the phone rang in that empty cabin - I picked it up and Crow Johnson, a famous and very talented folk singer was on the other end. How in the world did Crow get this number? She was asking for someone who just happened to be standing up on the hillside and who had just arrived - great timing I told Crow.
The guy from the Hasty fire department had to leave and go up to the command post that had been set up at Cave Mountain Church, and he asked me to stay at his post until he returned - with my headlights turned on. Another couple of hours went by, and I eventually returned to the cabin - it was about 11pm. There was nothing else that I could do for now.
I sat down at the computer to check my e-mail, then heard a vehicle drive up. It was VERY dark outside, but I recognized one of the people in the lead vehicle. And then a couple of folks with shell-shocked faces made their way up the front porch steps - it was Kelly and Steve Zega, Haley's parents. Kelly was clutching a pillow. There were few words spoken, if any, and I led them into the cabin. Kelly headed to the big couch in the living room, but I directed them into Amber's room instead. These people were obviously grief stricken and wrung out and needed to just get away from it all for a little while. I was absolutely thrilled that they sought refuge at Cloudland.
But then, just as I turned on the lights for them in Amber's room, I was horrified - I realized that Amber's stuff was everywhere, and could not believe that I could be so insensitive as to put them in a room filled with a little girl's things while they were trying to deal with the potential loss of their own little girl. I began to apologize profusely, explained that this was my new little girl's room, but was abruptly cut off by Steve who, without really saying anything, let me know that they were grateful for ANYPLACE to be right then. This room would turn out to be where they would spend much of the next 40, some of that time in a great deal of pain and agony.
It was very quiet at the cabin, and Steve and Kelly were up and wandering around and just trying to figure out what was going on. I felt SO SORRY for them, especially since there was absolutely NOTHING that I could do for them. I had very little food here, and basically had been caught totally unprepared for guests. That, of course, did not matter one bit to them.
Many things went on here during the night, and sleep was not really one of them. As I am writing this, I just looked back and realized that I have been writing for the past two hours and filled several pages with details, yet have only covered just the very beginning of this ordeal. I will try to make my comments much shorter from now on.
Anyway, Steve was still in his camo gear from guard training, and was exhausted from participating in the search. Both were drained emotionally, yet could not sleep. I really did not know what to do - should I go to sleep, stay up and work, offer them something, ANYTHING? There really was nothing to do, and I could not sleep, or work. I felt quite helpless.
Kelly will never know how much this meant to me, but at one point she came out of the bedroom and sat down at the map bar and asked if I had any crackers. She had not eaten a thing all day, but was not sure she could get anything else down. This would turn out to be the ONLY thing that they ever asked of me during their entire stay here - a couple of crackers. And lo and behold I produced not one but two different types of crackers. I felt so relieved that I was able to do SOMETHING for these wonderful people in their time of great need.
Kelly seemed to be doing a little bit better and while still a bit dazed by it all, there was color in her face and just a bit of brightness in her eyes. I looked at her and just could not imagine what her little girl was going through, out there in the darkness, all alone, and scared to death. And then Kelly said something to me that I will never forget. She said, "You know, when all of this is over, I am going to call the social organizations that I am involved with and tell them that I have a new priority in life - I am going to be spending my time with my daughter now, and will not be able to work with them as much."
The two them spent some time in Amber's room, and some time out in the living room. Few other words were said. Few were needed. They finally returned to their room and turned the lights off and I went up and laid down in my own bed. A little while later I thought that I heard something. I got up and looked out the window. There were two guys out there in the darkness, both in full camo gear. I had not heard them drive up. I got up and went to the front door and went outside. They were good friends of Steve's - from his national guard unit - and didn't really know if they should knock or what to do. I led them into the cabin where Steve and Kelly were still obviously wide awake.
The next few things went on during the night, but I'm not really sure in what order they happened - it was a very long night for sure. A police officer knocked on the door, and was delivering some prescription medicine for Kelly - they had to get a pharmacist out of bed to fill it. Steve's mom and brother and other family members arrived - I was glad to at least have some room downstairs for them to rest - with a guest bed and three futons.
Each time someone would arrive, they were escorted by another vehicle with someone in the lead who knew me - most of them were either Woods brothers or related to them (Mary Woods, Billy's wife, would end up making dozens and dozens of trips down to the cabin during this ordeal, to bring people, food, water, and do all sorts of wonderful things - she is one of the many terrific souls how worked non-stop for the cause).
Sometime around 3 or 3:30 Colleen Nick arrived. This was a very big deal. She is the mother of Morgan Nick, the little girl who was abducted near Alma a number of years ago and never found. Colleen has since organized the Morgan Nick Foundation, a group that works to locate ANY missing child no matter what the situation. She later told me that she has just been called with this story at 10pm, and she dropped everything and drove up to Cave Mountain. I have no idea when this woman slept - she was involved with nearly everything that went on here and up at the command center until the very end. She sat down with Kelly and talked, and let her know that she was here - and intended to stay with this case - until it was resolved.
At one point later in the night, I went out to the back deck where the wind was blowing and there was a chill in the air. Steve and Kelly were in their room and quiet, and the basement was filled with people trying to get some sleep. I found Colleen and another associate that had come up with her out there. They had left their car at the command center and had been driven down to the cabin. I asked them if they needed a ride back up to the center, and they said no - we will be here as long as we are needed. I was quite moved by their dedication. This would turn out to be an emotion that would be repeated by me many hundreds of times this week. I returned to my bed and tried to sleep, but it was no use.
Steve and Kelly were up and gone before I ever got out of bed, and Colleen went with them up to the command post. I got up and fixed a pot of coffee that sat there all day untouched. Steve and Kelly returned soon from the command center, and would remain at the cabin until the end, except for when I would drive them out to the press conference. The cabin would indeed become a refuge for them, their own little command center, a place where they could make and receive phone calls, fax things, send and receive e-mails, eat and sleep, and be with friends and family without the hoards of folks that were gathering up at the command center after them all the time. We made the decision early on that no press would be allowed down at the cabin - this was a huge relief to Steve and Kelly. They are savvy enough to know that none of this search efforts would happen without the incredible job the press would do, but it was best for all for them to be out of sight so that the press and the workers could do their jobs.
Once again I felt quite helpless and a worthless host to the gathering crowd at the cabin. There wasn't a thing to eat. But before long the machine kicked in, and the cabin was filled with food - namely pizzas from PIZZA PRO in Jasper, which were a BIG HIT. And then a steady stream of stuff from that point on.
There was a point during the day sometime when I realized that the best thing that I could do was simply step out of the way and let everything happen - I turned over the mental control of the cabin to whoever happened to be there, and that was certainly a good thing for everyone. Besides, I also felt quite helpless and out of it because I was at the cabin and not in the woods searching. I had heard that there were so many folks gathering that you had to sign up and wait a while before being assigned to a search team. I really did not want to be a part of all that up there, but still wanted to help. So I got ready to set out on my own and cover an area that had not been searched before - the area from the cabin down towards Dug Hollow. This area was basically outside of the search area, and everyone was saying that there was no way this little girl could go that far, but I just had this gut feeling about it, so I decided to head into the woods.
Just as I was leaving, a group of family friends showed up that included Tom McKinney. He decided to go with me, so we took off. We spent the next several hours searching, crawling around, looking up and down and in and out and stumbling around into the thick brush. I did not know it at the time, but I was right, and at that very moment Haley was indeed in our immediate area - just down below where we were searching. We just did not search far enough down the hillside. And even if we had, chances were that we would not have found her - that was really a needle in a haystack sort of thing at this point in time. But we had the right area.
The cabin was a hub of activity all day long - family and friends of the Zags coming and going - many staying. Food and supplies coming in. Teams of searchers passing through constantly. Helicopters buzzing overhead and up and down the valley below. Many of the rescue leaders stopped by just to go out onto the back deck and gaze out into the wilderness - it was certainly the best place to get a genuine feel for exactly what type of terrain they were dealing with. I guess the cabin became an important part of the rescue mission in many ways.
I must stop here for a moment and say a word about thankyous. There were quite literally hundreds of folks both here and via e-mail and phone who went out of their ways to thank me for opening up our cabin to the family and others during this crisis. I quite frankly could not understand why they were thanking me for anything - who in the world would NOT open up their home in this situation? It just seemed perfectly normal to me, and absolutely nothing that I needed to be thanked for. My main thought was that I was not provided a thing to these people, and I was embarrassed about that many times.
And then the water monster stuck - the well went dry. I had been concerned about it from the very beginning, and was holding my breath. It actually lasted much longer than I had ever expected. So now I had dozens and dozens of folks at my cabin and NO TOILETS! I sent word out that water was needed, and before long jugs of water began to arrive - at first just individual-sized water, then eventually gallons. Mary Woods brought a bunch of gallon jugs of water, and we went on up to the well and poured them in. Then the national guard began to arrive up at he command center, and plans were made to bring down a "water buffalo" or tank of water on wheels. But it would be after dark before that would happen. I should have put in the large holding tank of water that I have planned to install a week ago.
There was a great deal of activity at the cabin - both phone lines were constantly in use, as was the computer. Scores of folks were sitting/standing around talking, planning, telling stories, and hugging and crying - there was a great deal of that.
One thing that folks kept saying over and over again was how they could not believe all of the support and generosity of everyone who was participating in the search efforts - from the volunteers who had taken off of work to be out in the woods, to people and companies in distant cities who donated goods and services to be sent out. We would later learn that there were more than 500 volunteers involved, and 47 different agencies working on this - 47 DIFFERENT AGENCIES!!! It would turn out to be the largest search and rescue operation ever in Arkansas history.
As darkness fell I know that many hopes were dashed. Haley would probably be just fine out there in the woods one night, but two nights without shelter or food would be getting serious. But there was one person here at the cabin who never gave up hope, who always knew that Haley would show up sooner or later with a big smile on her face - it was, of course, her mom. I've never seen such strength in an individual before. The odds were mounting, but Kelly was right there as optimistic as ever. There was a moment during the long night when she did break down - I just laid there in my bed and cried and cried, as I'm sure everyone else in the cabin did as well. Yet right in the middle of it all she said that she felt even STRONGER now than she had even on the first day that Haley would be found alive. Kelly was a rock. Solid granite. And that kept everyone else sane and filled with hope.
Kelly had contacted a couple of psychics and dowsers (I hope I am getting this right - they work with crystals and maps to locate things and people), including a group of 40 who had gathered at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs. I had to come up with a legal description of the search area, and maps and fax everything to these folks. Kelly knew quite well that this was not a mainstream way of going about this, but also realized that NOTHING was too much to ask or hope for or try in this situation.
That second night was much quieter than the first, and I think some folks did get a bit of sleep, including myself. The helicopters did not fly again until just before dawn, so it was quiet and peaceful out there in the darkness. Although there were many teams of national guardsmen and others doing sweep searches.
Oh yea, back to the water situation. It was late before they got here, but the guard water tank did arrive, and we were able to fill up the well and get the toilets back to normal flushing mode at the cabin. In the process of doing so I let the submersed pump deep in the well slip down a foot to two and apparently down into the mud at the bottom of the well - the water coming out of the tap was TERRIBLE! I eventually got this situation taken care of though, and we had clear water once again.
One of the first things that happened on the third day was that I was summoned up to the command post to try to deal with a hiking club member who was making trouble - they thought I would be able to calm him down and get him to back off of some demands he was making. By the time I had arrived at the command post they had taken care of him - they put him and his team of ten hikers onto helicopters and flew them deep into the wilderness to make a sweep search. I guess sometimes the squeaky wheel does get oiled.
Back at the cabin the activity continued. Around noon the overall mood of the search took changed. I had heard that the state police had taken over the investigation and it had now been deemed a criminal one. Every place I went officials were asking me if I though Haley could have been abducted - "NO WAY, not out here" I told them all. I think most folks finally came around to that way of thinking too, although there was still a possibility that perhaps if she made it out to the road someone could have picked her up. It was very odd she had vanished without a trace in a area where there were lots of people around. Anyway, most of the searchers in the woods wore badges now and carried guns.
There was a high level meeting that took place down in the basement guest room - I have no idea what it was about or what went on. A couple of hours later I drove Steve and Kelly out to a small hunting cabin in a remote location that had been set up for a press conference. Steve and Kelly wanted to send a message to the people of this great state. It was sort of cloak and dagger stuff, and I felt like I was escorting some criminals or something when we arrived - security was rather tight. They were led into this TINY room in the cabin, then sat on the couch and read their statements to dozens of TV camera that were crowded in around them. It was one emotional scene for sure, and I broke down and was crying and had to leave. I also wanted to bring my truck up close to the cabin so that Steve and Kelly could make a quick departure. The deal was that they would arrive, make their statements, then leave without taking any statements.
I have no idea how in the world these two made it through their statements - they were both quite emotional. I know everyone in the room felt the same way. There was not a work spoken by anyone other than a couple of official things - then question sand answers after we left.
As we drove away Steve and Kelly embraced each other and talked quietly like only two best friends and parents could do. It was quite a touching moment, and I was very proud to have been able to help and be there. And then something came to my mind while we drove on. First let me say that we had been given sketchy directions to the remote cabin, and I had to turn around once and ask for directions. I apologized to Steve and Kelly, and they said heck, they just enjoyed getting to get out and drive around.
Anyway, I got to thinking about the waterfall that Haley had wanted to go see when she got ticked off when they did not let her go. That is one of the waterfalls that will be in my upcoming waterfall guidebook, but it has no name. I was telling Steve and Kelly about the book and the waterfall when one of them asked me what the name of the waterfall was. I told them that as of that moment - and that this had nothing to do with the outcome of the search - the name of the waterfall would be HALEY FALLS. There were few moments of joy for these two people during all of this, but I think this was one. We all shed a tear.
And speaking of tears, lordy there were so many times this week when I would be either typing away at the computer trying to update the journal, or reading one of the hundreds of e-mails that came in, and I would just absolutely break down and cry. There I was, right in the middle of a cabin filled with people who I did not know, and I had to get up and try to exit the place quietly and go hide while tears ran down my face.
After we returned from the press conference, I spent the next couple of hours watching the drama out in the wilderness below - along with dozens of others at the cabin. At one point there were four helicopters circling right out in front, some of them landing on the little patch of gravel down on the river that I use as an indicator of how high the water level is. One by one the copters touched down there and let out police officers and dogs. It was easy to see all of this up close through the telescope, but it was all much to far away to get a good picture of.
And then I decided to hike out into the woods to Pam's bench and just sit there for a while. She has asked me to do that - for her. There was some sort of peace that came over me while sitting there - the forest was so beautiful there, and quiet, and serine. That silence was broken as a couple of gun shots rang out just across the way and up on the hillside on the other side of the Buffalo River. I had no idea what was going on, but I suspect now it might have been one of the teams of searchers who had heard over the radio that Haley had been found.
I walked back to the cabin and then a few minutes later got the phone call that said Haley had indeed been found.
I have not seen a TV or listened to a radio since last week - strange how on one here wanted to see or hear them either. We did get to see newspaper stories of the search efforts via the internet, and of course read the hundreds of e-mail that poured in (and are still pouring in). The phone rang off the hook last night until very late - I even got a call at 1am today from Paris, France. I did hear on the radio this morning that Kelly was on the TODAY SHOW this morning, and no telling how many other national, regional and local shows. This family has endured something that no one should ever have to go through - and they did it with a great deal of class.
I have heard that they will take Haley soon to visit someplace she has always wanted to go see - the Arch in St. Louis. I hope that some day Haley will want to return to Cave Mountain, and will stop by Cloudland and put her name on one of the lampshades here - something none of my guests this week did. The door will be open to her and her wonderful parents, friends and family. I feel honored and blessed that I was able to open my doors here to all of them and help out in some small way. The thousands of folks who had some part in all of this can feel a great deal of pride in what they did - no matter if they were volunteers who sweated in the search area, or a store clerk who packed food or supplies to send out to the work site - or members of the press who felt highly enough of Steve and Kelly to respect their privacy. It was one grand and wonderful thing that all of these people did this week, and the world is a better place because each and every one of them is in it.
Oh yea, one last thing before I make an attempt to get back to my normal life. Aspen the Superdog was a treasure to have around during all of this. Even though there were literally hundreds of strangers here at his house, he only barked ONE time at any of them (the ones on horseback). Somehow he was fully aware of the situation, and spent most of his time walking around trying to console everyone - and of course getting a TON of affection in return. He is indeed a super dog, and everyone who participated in this a super person.
After spending many hours going through the TON of e-mails that have been pouring in here all week, I posted some of the comments from a few of them on the Cloudland Comments Page. It as sort of odd going through all of them because so many different people have been using my computer here this week - and the e-mail system. Many of the e-mails were for Kelly or Steve or someone else here, and so all of them had been read. But I had not seen many of them before. I want to THANK each and every one of you who wrote - especially all who passed on prayers and good wishes for Haley. I have tried to respond to as many of them as I could, but know that I missed a few - please accept my apologies if I did not get a reply to you.
Today turned out to be kind of a weird day here. I spent almost the entire day at the cabin - working on the journal update, cleaning up and putting things away, answering the phone and TONS of e-mails. And what was really strange about it was that I spent a great deal of my time out on the front porch looking up the road to see who was driving in - there were no cars driving in, and that is what made it so strange. There had been a steady stream of vehicles in and out of here since Sunday night - even a hummer, but today all was quiet, and kind of eerie.
The only vehicle down the road was a TV truck from the local NBC station in Fayetteville. They had called to find a viewpoint to shoot some footage showing what the terrain that Haley had been in looked like. But when they showed up we did a full interview with me, including a bit of footage with Aspen. There were also several other news media that called and did interviews. One woman asked what the cabin looked like now - I told her just about the same as before all of this started, except for the pile of potato chip bags in the kitchen!
While I was trying to organize my own pile of papers and stuff around the deck at the cabin, something that I found on the window sill nearly brought me to tears - it was one of Haley's socks. No, not the one that she was wearing and had lost somewhere in the wilderness, but a clean one, that had been brought out to give to the search dogs for her scent. When I picked it up the a flood of memories of the past few days filled my head and my heart. These were mostly good memories of the terrific people who I met out here, plus one or two moments of great despair and heartbreak. This was indeed one powerful thing that we all went through, and it will leave an imprint on us for the rest of our lives.
At some point I must return to my normal life here, but I was unable to do that today for some reason. The work that I needed to be doing on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and today remains untouched, not to mention the rest of my chores. But you know, it is all OK and fine with me - I had plenty of time these past few days to do whatever I needed to do, but what I wanted to do was stay involved, somehow connected with all that was going on.
The wind has been howling all day long. Lots of clouds too. Now that Haley is back home WE NEED SOME RAIN!!! Where is the national guard when you need them?
5/3/01 I just got back from an amazing hike this afternoon. The phone rain about 2:30. It was from one of the search and rescue people - "I'm taking off in a helicopter in a few minutes and wondered if you wanted to meet me down on the river to go look for the exact spot where Haley was found?" Heck yes! I landed on the river near where Haley was found in only FIFTEEN MINUTES! Now granted, I can cover a lot of ground in that amount of time, but she was quite literally only fifteen minutes from us all that time.
On the way down I hiked through some incredible stands of Virginia creeper - the stuff was so solid that I could not see my feet for hundreds of yards at a time. I wonder how many rattlesnakes hang out under cover of that stuff?
The spot I was told to look for was a bashed in canoe - found it right away, about 100 yards from Yukon's Cave. It turns out the place where they found Haley was within sight of my longtime best friend's grave - Yukon The Wonder Dog. He was 14 when he died, and I carried him down to this spot overlooking the river and right next to a spring that spills over the top of this cave entrance. There is a great swimming hole there too.
I found the mule tracks right away as well - we were going to try to find where the mules went over to where she was laying down. It was hard to see the tracks though because the riverbed was so rocky.
The helicopter flew over right on time, then looked around a bit and decided it could not land there. They flew upstream to find a spot to land. I headed on upstream myself and eventually found Christy from the search and rescue team heading downstream towards me. She was involved with all of the search efforts and knew the case quite well.
I took her back to the canoe, and then we wandered on down the riverbed looking for the exact spot where they found Haley. "Just downstream from the canoe wreck where the river gets wide." That area was easy to find, but we never did find the exact spot where they found her. For some reason both of us decided to go on downstream and see what we could find. We really didn't even know which side of the river to look on - the mule tracks went down the middle.
The brush and briars alongside the river got pretty thick, and at times darn near impenetrable. And then I saw it - right there in a small patch of coarse sand - A SMALL FOOTPRINT!!! Oh my gosh, we could not believe it. Obviously Haley was alive and well back home, but for some strange reason both of us nearly broke down right then and there. Something about seeing that footprint put a lump in our throats. I was quite moved. I took a snapshot with the digital camera - it was as incredible to me as that famous footprint photo on the moon.
Then we found another one. And another - each one an incredible discovery! You would have thought we were hot on her trail. Before too long the sand turned to stones and the river bank gave way to steep hillside. We never did locate any spot where they might have found her. But we did realize that this little girl actually traveled a lot farther then anyone thought - and she crossed the river at least one. What an incredible journey!
On the way back towards the chopper a duck jumped into the water and began that wounded bird routine - Aspen followed her way on upstream. Birds will do this - lead something away from eggs or chicks. Yet right behind them both went about seven or eight little chicks - fighting the currents all the way. Aspen soon got tired of chasing the "wounded" duck and came running back towards us - right into the flock of ducklings! He actually could have cared less about them - they were in no danger.
Then the mother duck came back again and led Aspen off on yet another chase, with the chicks not far behind. At one point, all of the chicks took refuge under a small overhanging rock in the river right in front of us. I tried to take a picture but they slipped away. It was a fun game of duck and dog, and the ducks won.
At one point I sat down in the area where they had found Haley. It was very peaceful and pleasant. There was the soft rushing of the river, plus a couple of small waterfalls spilling out over the entrance to Yukon Cave. Reflections on the water surface were green and blue. It was just a nice place to be, and I hope it was for Haley too, and perhaps is why she elected to stop there and rest, which of course, may have saved her life.
I returned Christy to the waiting chopper. Man that thing looked so strange sitting there on the gravel bar out in the middle of nowhere. Once they took off it was time for me to get airborne - I had a 700 foot climb to make! It took me about 20 minutes to get to the top, and I was dripping wet from head to toe.
It is nighttime now, and I just stepped outside for a minute to listen to a barred owl calling my name. There is no wind, it is warm, and a hazy moon is straight up in the sky. It is a delightful night in the wilderness.
By the way, I continue to get tidbits about how Haley is doing and what she went through on her journey. I thought I would share the following note from a friend of the family who stopped by to see her:
In case you don't know, Haley is doing fantastically
well. I saw her twice
yesterday. She has a lot of scrapes on her bottom
from sliding down tough
to climb areas on her rear end; some tick bites;and quite
a few scratches on
her legs from getting into some of the briar patches
out there. However,
she was resting and watching the Cartoon Network when
I was there briefly at
noon. It was just Kelly and Haley there, as Steve
had gone to the AQ
Chicken House to get Haley spaghetti and ice cream for
lunch after returning
from the hospital. Last night, she was participating
in yet another TV
interview with her parents, and then entertaining her
own friends while
opening literally hundreds of gifts that were sent to
her home when people
became aware that she had been found. Haley just
had a birthday in March,
but she received a lot more for her homecoming than for
her birthday.
Haley told
me she got mad at her grandparents when they wanted to keep
going and she wanted to look at the "pretty" water in
the area, and after
they rounded a bend, she thought they had left and she
started moving down
toward the river because she believed she couldn't just
sit there. She
worked down a ways and slept under a rock ledge the first
night. She went
on down to the river the next day because she spotted
some caves down there.
She said she got into the briars on the way down, and
then fell into the
river several times trying to climb up to the cave.
She slept in a cave the
second night with her arms and legs inside her tshirt
to stay warm. She
also befriended a caterpillar in the cave, and named
him "White Spot".
White Spot kept Haley company in the cave until she moved
down nearer some
water where she was eventually found. She said
she did not know people were
looking for her, but that she "hoped they were."It is
really an incredible
story, and God must have been with her.
5/4/01 Looked to me like someone had dumped gasoline all along the eastern horizon and stuck a match - the sky was on fire with a brilliant, incredible, BRIGHT red color! It was very noisy - I do believe that the loud color of dawn woke everyone in the forest up and got them to chattering.
That reminds me of the rooster way off over yonder across the river and up on the opposite hillside. A couple of years ago I began to hear a rooster crowing. That was fine since there are a couple of farms over there. Only problem was that he never crowed at dawn - it would be at 10am, noon, 4 in the afternoon, but never at first light like he was supposed to do. And I never heard him every day because it takes just the right atmospheric and wind conditions to hear across the valley, which is more than a mile away. But eventually his crowing got closer and closer to the beginning of day, then he was right on for several months. And then nothing. I don't really recall when he stopped, but I have not heard him in a long time. Hum, I wonder if he ended up in the stew pot, or was given to some politician.
I did not get to enjoy the morning much more though, as I had urgent business in town. A very strange thing happened to me in town - actually it was quite wonderful, just odd. Besides the people that I went into town to see, I did not see a single person that I knew the entire time that I was in town - which included eight or nine stops at public places, even 45 minutes at Wal Mart - I ALWAYS see people that I know in Wal Mart! I saw no one that I knew with only one exception. I had not been into town for nearly a week, and just as I arrived and stopped at the very first stoplight, I looked to my right and saw in the car next to me - heck, you have probably already guessed it by now - Kelly, Steve and HALEY!!! I was absolutely stunned. I have never met Haley, yet she has been inside my head nonstop since I first rushed out to find her on Sunday. And even though it was only a glimpse through the back window and a small wave from her, somehow I feel more connected - at least I know that she really DOES exist! (I have not been able to see any of the news coverage of all this since the local TV stations are not broadcast on satellite).
When I returned to the cabin I decided it was time to complete the circle, so I put on my hiking boots and headed out the door for an afternoon stroll, and a visit to the spot where Haley got lost. The wind was blowing, it was cloudy, and just a perfect temperature. For the first time in a long while I was not in a hurry, was not scouring every inch of ground looking for a little girl. There are still quite a few wildflowers out, including several new species (way to windy for any pictures of them). Plus there were red and orange and poka-dotted flagging tape - many with GPS coordinates and other info scribbled on them - tied to trees and waving in the wind. These tapes were put up by various search teams to mark this or that spot. Several ribbons were up around the spot where Haley sat down to rest - and eventually took off on her adventure from. Someone had placed a batch of flowers inside one band of ribbon. I had been to this spot probably a hundred times before, but it felt sort of weird being there today.
Then I traced what probably was her route those first few critical minutes - down through the upper part of the bluffline, beneath the upper waterfall (it was only dripping today - we really do need some rain!) and the overhang there, then past the lower falls to a point where you could look back and see them well (this lower falls was running a little bit), and then finally down through the lower bluffline just past that point. I had never known this route existed until Haley's grandfather Jay tole me about it. But sure enough, right there it was - as easy as pie to scramble right on down. And from that point all she had to do was follow the creek and she would eventually end up where she did. Of course, I'm sure she took many detours which took her away from the creek, but I suspect that might have been her route.
The route down through the bluffline here was lined with wild azaleas in full bloom. And flowering umbrella magnolia, and locust tree blossoms. It seems like once one type of flowering tree or brush is finished, there are many other species in line to take their place - the Ozarks really are quite lush and beautiful in the springtime.
As I hiked back to the cabin I got to thinking about the other end of Haley's journey - the spot down along the Buffalo River where they found her. I described it somewhat yesterday, but failed to add that it too was lined with those giant umbrella magnolia blossoms, and quite a few locust trees, all in full blooms. The individual parts of the locust blossoms were falling off into the river, floating on the surface and slowly making their way downstream. That, combined with the waterfall and rushing of the water must have provided quite a soothing spot for her to rest.
And I do believe that many of the animals in the forest played a part in getting her to that spot safe and sound. We all know about the caterpillar that she befriended, and all of those eyes that were looking back at her in the cave (bats and crickets and salamanders). But I bet there were also deer, raccoons, squirrels, mice, bobcats, owls, and perhaps even a bear or two that followed her along at a distance, and perhaps even provided safe passage for her through the incredible jungle that she ventured through. When I was down there yesterday, I saw a lot of recent beaver activity. In fact I found a perfect walking staff for myself - tall and light and sturdy - made by a beaver from a nice straight limb or small tree (they chew off all the bark for food). These "beaver sticks" are common in areas of high beaver activity. I also selected one that I brought out to give to Haley - it was resting along the banks of the river near where she had rested, and in fact there was one of her footprints just a few feet away.
Anyway, what I am trying to get at here is that the big, bad, fierce, and scary animals of the forest may not be so after all. In fact, they just might be our friends. I'm sure they were to Haley, no matter if she ever saw them or not - they were out there, with their paws and wings outstretched to help her safely on her journey.
Pam pointed out to me that "Spot" seems to be a popular name for animals in this wilderness - that is what I named the bass in the skinny dipping hole last summer. It won't be long now before we venture back down to that gorgeous hole of water and stick our heads underwater and see what the old guy is up to.
As I headed on for my little afternoon walk today there were dozens of dark blue spiderwort wildflowers standing tall and swaying in the breeze along the path at the edge of Fox meadow. When I returned every single one of them had closed up - hum, I wonder if they are trying to tell me something?
And speaking of Pam, I never got around to talking about her bench. There is this special spot in the woods along the loop trail that is in a large maple grove, and overlooks an open forest spread out below. It is a delightful spot and always seems peaceful and happy. She is still not able to hike much because of her back, but every time she is here this favorite spot of hers is one place she always makes it to. Since I had to work away from the cabin last Saturday, and she was going to be here, I wanted to put something there in her favorite spot for her to find. So I spent a couple of hours a week ago Thursday building her a bench (from a kit). My plan was to place this bench alongside the trail for her to discover on her next hike. That was all just fine, only when I got the bench completed, I realized that I could not carry it very far!!! I was able to get it into the bucket of the tractor, and drove it a little closer to the spot, but I still had to man-handle it several hundred feet. I sure did look silly out there in the middle of the woods - this bench covered me up, and since I could not see where I was going, I ran right smack into several trees. It was all that I could do to carry it a little way, then drop it to the ground for a rest. Eventually I did manage to get the bench all the way to her favorite spot, where I placed it right next to a lichen and moss-covered boulder. Then I rolled up a little love note that I had written to her and placed it on the bench were she would be sure to find it. She arrived at the cabin late Friday night, but first thing Saturday morning she went right on out for a hike to her woods, and discovered a lovely little note from her husband - with a bench attached! Needless to say she was happy to see me at midnight when I got home!!!
This bench is one of about a dozen romantic little spots that I have always wanted to put here at Cloudland. The hammock is one, certainly the gazebo, and now the bench. I have another bench to build and place at another spot on the trail - perhaps I will get to that this weekend. That will leave eight other spots to find! Wish me luck.
My lovely ladies rolled in for the weekend just as I was returning to the cabin with a handful of daisies from a nearby meadow. Since rain was in the forecast, I drove the tractor up to the office where it would be out of the weather (I know - tractors do just fine out in the weather, but I baby my tractor). Amber jumped up into my lap and did all of the steering while Pam headed out on a hike to - where else - her bench.
Then Amber and I hiked on down through the woods and met Pam at the bench, where we all sat around for awhile enjoying the darkening forest (it was already after sunset). At one point Amber wanted to hop up into my lap - since I am so new at this parenting business, I was unable to pull her up on the first try. And she quickly turned around and said "You don't know how to pick up a child do you?" Nope, I don't. But I am working on that.
It was nearly dark as we walked back along the path towards the cabin. There was one spot where it was much lighter. A maple tree had fallen a couple of years ago and opened up a hole in the canopy above, allowing light to flood into the forest. It was really neat to see this little glowing area out in the middle of the woods. We looked all around and saw that wherever the light hit, there was ground cover - lots of plants coming up because of the increased light. One big tree goes down and a hundred others compete to replace it.
5/5/01 It did rain a bit during the night, but only 1/10 of an inch - the lovely sound was great to sleep to. We were up early, and after spending a bit of time in the hot tub admiring all of the bird life, got to work on a day full of chores, both inside and out. It was a classic spring day, filled with the constant motion and sounds of birds, a few breezes, and lots of blue sky and sunshine. We spent most of the day outdoors, and managed a short hike or two in between all of the chores. The phone did not ring a single time all day.
Two of the chores were spreading out a bunch more seed in Fox meadow - three different species of plants for wildlife - plus hook up the cistern next to the cabin so that we can have 500 gallons of water to use for watering plants during the summer.
There are a ton of wildflowers popping up along the edges of the meadow, including towering spiderworts and a sea of wild sunflowers. The spiderworts are in full bloom right now, although they are only out part of the day and close up tight in the afternoons.
I took Amber down to have a look at the whip-poor-will sitting on her nest just below the gazebo. We got within a few feet of her and she still just sat there patiently - she knows we are not there to harm or disturb her. Later in the evening, Amber got out the "hoot flute" owl call and did a little practicing out on the back deck. And son of a gun, she got an owl way across the valley to answer her - a Jr. Naturalist in the making for sure!
5/6/01 Today began with thunder and showers - although once again the rain really did not amount to much. But the ground and forest were all wet and I'm sure had a big smile on today. Just as Pam's mom and dad drove up with a truckload of stuff, the sky opened up and blue and sunshine were the order of the day. We are moving Pam and Amber in a truckload at a time for now - once Amber finishes with school at the end of this month, we will do a large scale move and they will be here permanently.
After a couple of grilled burgers, we all went to work on one of the garden spots down in Fox meadow. It took all of us, but before long we had two nice plots cleared of rocks (well, at least the top layer of rocks), and dozens of plants put out. As time goes on, we plan to build several elevated garden plots down in this meadow, and add a few new species to our dinner plates as we like.
Then the ladies went to work putting out a few flowers around the front of the cabin, while grandpop got on the tractor and did a bit of smoothing down of some rough spots along the powerline right of way. This area will be planted with wildlife food and mowed a couple of times a year. Wildlife of all types love openings in the forest, and they find most of their food there, so we want to help them out as much as possible.
Lucy found a large black snake down below the lower deck - right next to a new bed of flowers. Black snakes are very beneficial and good partners to have around. I have been unable to convince the ladies of the house of that fact, but I have a few years to work on them.
Some items that Ron brought down from Pam's house included her cedar hope chest (which now sits at the foot of our bed in the loft), many more BOOKS to fill the new bookshelves, and an outdoor table and chairs for the deck. We have so many decks here now that we can never have enough chairs and tables to put there.
We also constructed a large wood frame, and then stretched this wonderful butterfly cloth from Wal Mart over it and stapled it down - it will make a perfect wall hanging for my mom's new room at City Hospital in Fayetteville, where we had to move her recently. She has had alzheimers for nearly four years, and we have been able to keep her at home all this time, but City seems like the best place for her now. A lot of her old friends are there, and she will be able to interact with lots of people. Anyway, she absolutely loves butterflies, so I wanted to put up this brightly-colored wall hanging in her room (there are more than 50 full-sized and larger-than-full-sized colorful butterflies on it).
All too soon my tribe of wonderful workers had to pack up and head back north, and Aspen and I were left in silence.
Later in the evening, the view up into the eastern sky was very strange. It was a full moon, although there were lots of black clouds around it. And LIGHTENING! Those black clouds were huge thunderheads that rumbled and flashed - just very odd to see all of that and the full moon peaking out right there in the middle of it all.
By bedtime there were a few drops of drain coming down, and I drifted off to sleep with my fingers crossed for a LOT of rain!
5/7/01 Well I got my wish - about an inch and a half of glorious rain fell during the night. Or should I say it was hurled at the earth - very strong thunderstorms rumbled through several times during the night. The booms woke me up often, but it was this "ping-ping" sound that kept me awake most of the night. It was one of those sounds that you can never find. And it was sounding at specific intervals - every nine minutes. I got up and sat in the living room. Sat in the basement. Closed off all the doors. Then tried to go back to sleep when I was unsuccessful in locating it, but that was no use. I laid awake most of the night listening to this ping-ping once every nine minutes.
The rain had stopped by first light, and the cabin was engulfed with clouds, clouds and more clouds! The temp was in the low 50's. I could see a bit of blue up through the clouds, so I scrambled around to assemble some camera gear then headed out the door. With that much rain I figured there would be a waterfall or two to photograph, and I would have to do so before the sun came out.
After a brisk hike through the drenched forest, I came to the first waterfall. It was just barely running. Same thing with the next two - the landscape was SO DRY that most of the rain was immediately soaked up and very little of it was left over for runoff. I was a bit disappointed, but still happy for all of the rain, and I know the trees and plants and wilderness critters have a big grin on their faces this morning.
One thing I noticed as I hiked through the forest was the bird life - or the lack of it. There really aren't too many birds that spend all of their time in the deep woods. Yet as I approached Fox meadow the sounds overhead got louder and louder, and colorful movement was everywhere. Birds love to cluster around the edges of openings in the forest, and they have come to know and expect a lot of feed and social activity at Fox meadow for sure! It is really a very small opening (especially considering the large pasture of 100 acres or more just across the valley), yet provides so much for the birds and other wildlife. We have made it a goal of ours to maintain this little opening for wildlife, and to keep them happy and fed and sheltered.
The clouds and fog were busy racing back and forth until about 9am when they just simply vanished in about five minutes. I guess the temp/humidity or something got to the right point for them to disappear and head off to other locations. I was trying to answer e-mails after my hike to the waterfalls, but it was tough because the incredible scene and light show right out the windows kept diverting my attention. Just one of the problems to put up with when you live at Cloudland.
Oh yea, I FINALLY discovered what the "ping-ping" noise was - one of our walkie-talkies was left on and that was the signal for low batteries. Live and learn.
At sunset today a huge thunderhead was lit up by the dropping sun and turned a wonderful shade of orange and pink and yellow and red. No way I could capture it on film (disk). It did capture my imagination though. As the sun disappeared and the sky darkened, the thunderhead (now white again) began to light up from within. The darker the sky got, the more the thunderhead exploded. What an incredible amount of electricity in this single cloud!
The thunderhead eventually drifted on over to the east, where another display of nature's beauty happened - the nearly full moon rose right behind it. I sat there on the deck in awe. There is just no end to the theatrical production that goes on here!
5/8/01 I was up well before first light, and the picture below was taken about 45 minutes before sunrise. The valley was filled with clouds, all huddled together and packed down as close to the ground and river as they could get. Not a single bit of clouds up Whitaker Creek though - all of it was along the Buffalo.
Way up the valley as far as I can see - about five miles - the sun is just now touching the very top of the cloud bank there, turning it a beautiful dark pink color. As it warms up that part of the cloud bank is rising up, then it splits off from the rest of the cloudbank and heads up into the air, joining the rest of the clouds up in the sky. A brand new cloud was just born!!! As I sit here watching, this is repeated over and over again. The maternity ward here at Cloudland is in full swing this morning.
As the sun rises it will touch more of the cloudbank, and each time it does puffballs of light will break away and head out into the day. How in the world can a guy get any work done with this going on?
It was a textbook spring day here in the Ozarks, blue skies filled with puffy white clouds, no breeze at all, and very pleasant temps. I spent most of the day going back and forth through the woods from the cabin to the office. At one point, Aspen got all excited, and then quite mad. He ran off with a bloodcurdling yell and was obviously looking right at something - a critter that was just out of my sight that I could not see. Aspen was very cautious about approaching, yet he would rear up and thump his two front paws down into the ground. He was acting like it was a bear, and I strained to see anything, but never could. It took him a while to calm down.
Later, just before sunset, we went on a short hike around the loop. Man, it was DEAD STILL out - not any air moving or sounds at all in the forest. It was kind of eerie, but also quite nice. Every time that a woodpecker would bang his head into a tree in some far off hollow, the boom would echo throughout the wilderness. It was a pure sound, the kind that you only hear on very still days like today.
And then right there in the newly exposed dirt of the orchard, I found a set of fresh bear prints - fresh since the rain yesterday morning anyway. Aspen did not get excited, so there probably was no scent. The orchard is on the wild side of the ridge, a place where all sorts of critters hang out. The lane beyond the orchard was lined with thousands of wild rose blooms, and the air was heavy with their fragrance. I walked slowly and took as many breaths as I could.
From that point on Aspen did not venture out into the woods like he normally does - he stayed right on the trail and within a few feet of me. Even when we crossed over and through the Faddis meadow and back down into the dark and deep woods, he never left the trail. Perhaps he did pick up the scent of a bear and was a bit spooked by it all. Come to think of it, thank goodness that we don't have the capability to smell such things - heck we would be scared to death to walk around in the woods! No sign of any bears though - just lovely evening light in the forest.
After I had crawled into bed for the night, a barred owl hooted down there in the wilderness. And again. And again. I got up and found the "hoot flute" and sat out on the loft deck and gave a few hoots to see if I could strike up a conversation with him. Nothing. The air was still. I hooted again. And then one final time. Guess my hooting was a bit off because he did not answer.
A few minutes later he called out again, only this time he was a lot closer. I rolled over and picked up the hoot flute from the bedside table, slid open the window all the way, and let out another series of "who cooks you, who cooks for you'aaallllllll." And then came an immediate response from the owl! Only he said "who cooks for you, who cooks for you." So I answered the same. Another quick hoot back from him.
We spent the next ten minutes in delightful conversation - I have no idea what either of us were saying, but he seemed to enjoy it as much as I. There I was, right in my own bed, talking with a fellow critter of the wilderness.
I fooled him once and did not answer, just to see what he would do. He waited for a few seconds, then hooted again. Still no answer from me. And then I witnessed one of the most wondrous things that I have yet seen out here - the owl flew up and landed in a tree right outside my window. I could see it all because the bright moon had risen in the background, backlighting the tree and the owl. I was at first concerned that I would scare him off by calling back, then let out another hoot on the flute, a little quieter this time. "Who cooks for you, who cooks for you" he cried back without hesitation. We spoke for another few minutes, then I put down the flute and he eventually got bored and flew off into the night. It was a very happy moment for me, and while it would have not been any big deal of most any grade schooler who has been to the Ozark Natural Science Center, it was a big deal for me to talk with a barred owl, especially one so close up. I am still in school myself, and have many years left to learn.
5/9/01 The valleys were filled with haze instead of cloud banks this morning - I wonder if this haze is actually cloud poop left behind from all the clouds of the past two days? And the trees were filled with singing birds of all sorts - lots of activity today. One of the bluebirds stopped and rested on a nearby limb - a squirming little worm in his mouth. That means that we have little bluebird chicks in the nest next to the gazebo. Ma and pa will be working overtime now to keep those open mouths filled. And up in the sky there were a number of pink clouds drifting by, and that big moon was right over their shoulder, keeping an eye on the vast wilderness below. There are so many wonderful scenes here all of the time, you never know where to look.
The morning hike was a wet one - very heavy dew, especially out in the open areas. And there were many little spider webs out there in the East meadow gathering the diamond drops, and man they really lit up when the sun hit them.
Some of these spider webs are of an advanced design. Not only are they meant to entangle their prey, but it looked to me like they were built so as to funnel prey down into the spider home as well - sort of flat funnels, with a hungry spider waiting with open mouth at the bottom.
Today was not only a wonderful spring day in the Ozarks, but also the day our driveway got fixed! Actually they have been hauling in gravel all week, and today finally got enough down and spread out to take care of the really bad stretch of road up near the gate. The road here has never been a super highway, and all of the traffic last week made it a lot worse. But now after 150 cubic yards of gravel (about $2,000!), you can now drive in without being tossed all over the place. The lower end of the drive still needs a lot of work as well, but that will have to wait. Pam's parents picked up the tab for much of the gravel as a wedding present - a wonderful gift, and perfect timing too - thanks mom and dad!
While I was sitting out on the back deck taking a break I got to watching a large red tailed hawk up there riding the wind currents. I had to put down my coke and pick up the binocs for a closer look. The guy would fold his wings up and dive down a few hundred feet, then open them up and soar nearly straight up, then repeat again and again and again. He never really went anywhere, and I swear he was doing absolutely nothing except having a good time - it was a self-made roller-coaster ride for him, and what an acrobat he was! After ten minutes of this he caught an updraft and went spiraling upwards. I moved to the telescope and zoomed in on him and saw that he was holding something in his claws - I never could figure out what it was, but it no doubt would be his dinner. Was he playing with this thing, or showing off (no other birds around that I could see), or what? If I could ever come back to earth as something, that would be it - a red-tailed hawk. And I would soar over Cloudland and play in the wind currents.
5/10/01 I went on a late evening hike around the loop just after sunset. Well, since it was cloudy I guess there was no real sunset, although many of the clouds above were pink. The forest was very quiet - not a wisp of wind anywhere. And no bird or animal sounds, other than the occasional drumming of a distant woodpecker.
What was out there were many distinct smells. As I passed from one forest or meadow zone to another the air changed scents - you could easily close your eyes and tell that you were going from one zone to another (yea, probably run into a tree as you entered the forest again!). Some scenes were very sweet, others an intense "green" smell, whatever that is.
Aspen stuck pretty close once again, just out ahead and on the trail. He did come to attention one time, then sped off into the forest - or actually DOWN the very steep bench to the west of the cabin. It was obvious he had spotted something and was in a hurry to go see what it was. I stopped and strained to see something, ANYTHING in the dim light - looking out in front of him trying to see a fleeing bear or other critter. But there was nothing. And he never barked. Eventually he came to rest at the base of a large maple tree, looked up into it, then turned around and bounded back up the hillside to the trail. No telling what it was, if anything. He may have just wanted a bit of additional exercise.
And then just before we reached the cabin, he stopped again and carefully made his way through some very thick brush off to the right, almost tiptoeing (if dogs can do that). He was really intent on sneaking up on something. And then I witnessed one of the most tender moments in this dogs life - he slowly leaned forward as far as he could and brushed a bouquet of milkweed wildflowers up and down with his nose. That's my dog! I don't know if he was interested in the tiny, delicate blossoms, or the monarch caterpillar that was eating them. (By the way, I just today learned that this flower is a milkweed, and that the caterpillar is a monarch - after having taken this picture and needing to look them both up in the guidebooks to give an accurate description to you journal readers.)
5/11/01 A very grey day today all around - nondescript clouds above, thick haze in the valleys below. And a strong wind blowing. It tried to storm last night, but only a few drops made it to the ground.
I headed out for a daylight hike around the loop. Unlike last evening, the forest was ALIVE with the sounds and motions of birds. Happy sounds all. I came across a mound of dirt along the edge of the East meadow that was covered up with bear tracks - probably the same bear (and time) that I saw prints of the other day.
Once again the air was filled with delightful scents, especially along the lane where the wild roses are absolutely exploding. And the peaches are beginning to come out - about an inch long right now. I can't wait until we get the orchard planted and the trees there begin to bear fruit. These wild peaches don't ever really get too large, and I have never eaten one. I normally don't even notice them until they are already eaten by a bear or some other critter (and find the pits down on the ground).
Walking here in the morning is one of the most pleasant experiences that one can have. The sights and smells and "feel" of the forest is so wonderful. And it gets your blood pumping to start the day - especially when you notice a dark object out there deep in the forest out of the corner of your eye. I am on bear patrol and high alert now, and try to closely examine every dark object that I can see. Some of them even move - especially the irregular (bear shaped) stumps. Of course, they only move in my mind!
Back at the cabin now, and a few minutes ago I heard a nice heavy rainstorm beginning. I was most thankful for the rain, and also that I did not get caught out in it on my hike! And then I realized that it was not rain at all, but the sizzle of my hashbrowns in the frying pan.
My lady arrived in the middle of the afternoon bearing gifts, including a sack full of duct (and duck) tape. This family really knows how to give practical and useful gifts - gravel from her dad for a wedding present, and duct tape for my birthday from her! I need a lot of both out here.
It rained a bit this afternoon, and we spent much of it sitting in the swing on the back deck under a blanket - the rains brought the temp down to just about perfect snuggling weather. Then I had to go hike on down to Haley Falls to see if it was running very good, while Pam headed out for a short hike around the loop.
We got just over a half inch of rain, but that was not enough to fill the waterfalls. The ground is so DRY for this time of the year, it may take two or three inches of rain at once before the waterfalls run good. May is the wettest month, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I want to include a photo of Haley Falls in the waterfall calendar that I am putting together for 2002 - I can only wait another week or two before having to send it off. Lots of other great waterfalls to choose from for the May slot, but this newly named falls would be a fitting addition.
There were thousands, perhaps millions of new clouds born this afternoon (well, perhaps I am stretching that just a bit). They were all right out there in front of us, down in the valley, and up every drainage as far as we could see.
And man the birds were out in full force! Lots of indigo buntings. One in particular would sit on a dead branch out near the gazebo and just sing and sing and sing. Quite often there was a large cloud bank right behind him so his brilliant blue feathers really stood out.
5/12/01 We began the day with another hike around the loop - looking for bears and taking in all of the great scents in the air. Springtime in the Ozarks is so refreshing, especially after a rain shower. That's a good time to look for critter tracks too. No bear prints for us today, but it was a fine hike anyway.
Then we got to work on a long list of chores, both inside and outside of the cabin. Pam's back is getting better a little bit at a time, but she is still not anywhere near normal - perhaps 20%. That does allow her to stay active at least part of the day.
Just as we pulled a tray of fresh oatmeal chocolate chip cookies out of the oven, Pam's parents and friends Joe and Rosemond drove up. The sun was out and it would prove to be a wonderful day to sit around on the back deck and admire the view (and drink a bit of wine and a few beers, and eat shrimp and sandwiches and chips). The ladies did take off on a hike around the loop, stopping to chat with Bob in his garden.
Aspen and Lucy kept us all entertained, as did all of the birds and BUTTERFLIES - lots of butterflies out today. Big yellow ones. Tigers and zebras and all sorts of others. And this one hummingbird that liked to sit on the very top branch of a dead dogwood just down below the deck. We put out the feeder, and he finally found his way up to it, but mostly he just wanted to hang out at the top of that branch.
Lucy found a king snake just below the deck - long and black (Lucy is Pam and Amber's dog - heck, I guess she is MY dog now too!). King snakes are great to have around, although I can see it is going to be an uphill battle convincing my new ladies of that fact. Lucy was not at all aggressive, but rather just wanted to see what the heck this thing was. Aspen was mostly laying up on the deck, in the swing, being lazy and getting belly rubs.
5/13/01 Today was going to be an outdoor work day for us, so we hit the trail early. We wanted to clean up and widen the little trail that goes from the lower deck down into Fox meadow - not only did we need to dig out the trail wider, but the wild sunflowers were beginning to take over the corridor completely!
So I started to dig while Pam went about the chore of removing batch after batch of wild sunflowers that were growing in the trail tread. There are quite literally thousands of these guys coming up all over the place (I'm NOT stretching that a bit).
At one point Pam asked me if snakes would be scared away by all of the commotion we were making - "Sure" I told her - "there won't be any around us." No sooner had those words left my mouth than she spotted one - right in the MIDDLE of the trail between us! It was a rather large copperhead, and he was headed right towards Pam. She was actually pretty calm about it all. Mr. Copperhead was relocated over the bluff.
Before long it had gotten very hot, but we finished up the trail widening just in time. Once this lady gets back to 100% she is going to work me to death!
It was near midnight when I returned to the cabin after
some long meetings in town. The night sky was just incredible, the air
having been scrubbed clean by the recent rain. I walked down into Fox meadow
and laid out in the grass and tried to take it all in. A million stars,
a cool breeze, and the quiet rush of the river far below. And then a few
coyotes singing way off in the distance.
Aspen in dog heaven with Pam's mom Judy
"I am so adorable!"
5/14/01 I slept in late, until after the sun had lit up the rocky bluffline way up Whitaker Creek (the sun hitting this bluff is the latest I am supposed to say in bed - which happens just after sunrise). After a quick hike around the loop (on bear patrol, and to wake up a bit and enjoy the fresh morning forest), I got to work on the computer at the cabin. Much of my time was spent answering e-mails, and processing pictures of Aspen.
More information is coming out about Haley's little adventure. For one thing, it has now been proven that she did indeed walk right on past our cabin here - even looked up at it and the new workshop - but decided that no one was home and so continued on. We have decided that she did this either right before Pam and I returned from our little hike that day, or while we were inside working, and just before Bob Chester called me with the news that she was missing. The very first thing that I did was to search the trail from the cabin to the Crag - which turned out to be the route that she had just hiked. No way to have seen any tracks in the trail, since the packed dirt was so hard. Then she proceeded through the woods along the top of the bluffline - eventually spending Sunday night on that bluff overlooking Dug Hollow somewhere. On Monday she made her way down through the bluff - most likely right at Magnolia Canyon - the scrambled on down into Dug Hollow and eventually to the Buffalo River. She crossed the river and took refuge in one of the caves on the other side to spend the night. Then she wandered out of the cave and up and down the riverbank on Tuesday, finally coming to rest where the searchers found her, within a couple hundred yards of my old dog Yukon's grave (he was watching over her the entire time I'm sure!). I am going to a debriefing by the search and rescue teams tonight in Huntsville, and no doubt more info will come out there. So close, yet so far....
Once when Aspen and I headed out the front door this morning to hike up to the office, we ran into Gus the kingsnake. He was right there at the bottom of the steps in front. Aspen got kind of excited, although he did not try to harm Gus at all - that is a good thing for me to see, because I don't want him messing with the other snakes that he finds in the forest - his head would swell up the size of a watermelon! We let Gus go about his business and continued up the trail.
Gus the kingsnake
It is late afternoon now, another warm and sunny day. Lots of buzzards flying around. This old buzzard is headed out to the meeting in Huntsville, and I suspect that I will wander out into the darkness to admire the starlight once I get home. I hope that I don't step on Gus.
I wanted to share a couple of poems that have been sent to me recently. Both are from volutneers who helped with the search and rescue mission to find Haley. The second one is from one of the guys who found her.
We Knew
We animals knew
She was there
The sweet little Haley child
We heard the anxious cries
And tried to yell,
"She's here! She's here!"
For we too have young
And we know fear
She trusted us
And talked to us
She somehow knew
We were there for her
And we would help her
Find her way back home
- by Cindy Prince
Little Hailey Zega one fine Spring day, got lost near
Point Whitaker in the woods for away.
They called in the park rangers and all the great planners,
but brother-in-law heard it on one of those scanners.
He called up his brothers saying, "Oh what can we do?"
They said let's get together and callup the local volunteer crew.
They searched one day and two nights. That little angel
was no where in sight.
Danny's wife Sharon said, "I'm no fool; I"ll call brother-in-law
Willard and tell him to bring his fine mules."
Willard said, "I'll be there; I know that I can, but
first I'll call William Jeff: I know he's our man."
Willard called Jeff on his telephone, but to his surprise
he was already gone.
Willard went up on Cave Mountain and sat there from seven
'til ten. Someone told him, "Oh those professionals; they are planning
again."
Jeff saddled "Big Mommy" so strong and so tall. He said,
"by golly, I'll make my own law."
Jeff called his friend Lytle who rode his mule "Copper."
Those two mountain men were sure enough brush poppers.
They rode through rough terrain, hollows and logs.
Those two mule men were better than bloodhound dogs.
They rode until two thirty o'clock when Lytle said, "I
see that little girl upon that old rock.
They hugged her and fed her pudding and lifesavers.She
told Lytle and Jeff that red was her best flavor.
They fed her because she looked so scrawny, and then
Hailey said, "I want to see my mommy."
Back on Cave Mountain near Hawks' Bill Bluff those
poor professionals were still planning their stuff.
They thanked us volunteers and said tomorrow don't
you come back. We have got to do some more planning; you know that is a
faaact.
Fifty-three hours in that rough wilderness the people
did pray.God sent her a guardian angel, a spotted caterpillar they
say .
Just one more verse before this poem can end. God led
the search for those two Good Samaritan men.
-By Willard Villines
BY THE WAY, one of the many rumors that has been floating around is that the park service is considering writing the two who found Haley a ticket. That is completely FALSE, and they report that they have never considered doing such a thing. Riding horses and mules in the wilderness area where they were IS perfectly legal. The rumor got started probably because there was talk of giving tickets during the search and rescue mission to any people who were out there and not part of the official search team. So no ticktes, and our heros remain heros!
5/15/01 VERY windy this morning at first light. The trees seem to dance around a lot more when they have leaves on them - I guess there is a lot more surface area for the wind to catch and toss around. The certainly do look like they are having a bit of fun!
This is the time of the year when the weather people get the forecast correct - hot and dry and sunny today. And tomorrow. And the next day. But that wind does help out a great deal. I have found that the temp out here remains 5-10 degrees cooler than in town during the summer (and warmer during the winter - just a little milder than in town no matter what the season).
The debriefing last night in Huntsville was really interesting. The room was filled with mostly folks from the various agencies that helped with the search and rescue, including law enforcement, search and rescue teams, fire departments, forest service, park service, state park service, the national guard, and the Red Cross. There was only a handful of us not associated with an agency, including Duane and Judy Woltjen from our hiking club, and a couple of the Woods boys (and me). The evening was run by two guys who have helped me build hiking trail many years ago - one of them is now a lead investigator for a county sheriff department, and the other is the superintendent of a state park (building hiking trails builds character!).
And Steve Zega was there, Haley's dad. He got up and spoke several times, and each time when he did he prefaced his comments with "Thank You." He continues to be a class act. I could not help but wonder what was going through his mind as he sat there and listened to the discussion about the search for his daughter. It must have been very tough for him.
The overall discussion went very well, and was mostly an open forum on what all went on during the operation, and what they could do in the future to correct any problems they had - this was a BIG part of it - how could they improve. This was indeed a very large search and rescue mission (the largest ever in Arkansas), and the fact that things were often disorganized came as no surprise to those who had participated in others like it - that is typical in very large operations. The total cost was calculated at near $125,000, not counting lost wages and any number of things that could not be totaled.
I was surprised to learn that many of the different agencies could not communicate with each other during the operation - there was no common radio frequency, or even any way to do that because their radios were of different types and could not be programmed to communicate with each other. That lack of communication caused a great deal of confusion and added stress, and the group vowed to work on getting something in place so that they could all be on the same frequency.
There was a lot of discussion about the untrained volunteers who showed up in mass. Some folks plainly stated that these people should be kept out of the search area altogether. But the general feeling was that us untrained volunteers who show up to help ARE important (and often find the victim, as in this case), and the agency folks need to have the necessary training required to better handle the crowds. I kept hearing that people in "halter tops and flip flops" showed up to help, but were obviously of no use to them. It is true that they could not send these folks who were totally unprepared out into the rugged wilderness, but they could have used them for any number of other tasks at the command center or staging areas. And many of them WERE put to good use. Next time there will be more thought put into utilizing the volunteers, who no doubt will show up in mass once again - we are just like that.
Of course, the bottom line in all of this is that Haley was indeed found alive, so the mission was an overwhelming success by all accounts. There is no question that all of the agencies involved did one heck of a fine job and the system worked - a SUPER human effort! Yet it would not have worked as well if not for the incredible generosity and huge hearts of the people of Arkansas (and especially of Newton county) who dropped everything to give whatever they could.
The Woods boys and I are going to be working on getting some sort of Cave Mountain Rescue Team set up. We certainly won't have the abilities of the real teams out there, but will have some training, equipment, and will know the area well, so we will be of some help in the initial and very critical stages of any search and rescue that takes place out here. It is probably a good idea for anyone who is interested in this sort of thing to get with your own county search and rescue team and go through some basic level training. These courses are out there, and the more people who go through them, the better (one basic course that we were told about involves 20 hours of training, so it does require a fair amount of commitment).
AND OH YEA, here is a note about the upcoming thankyou party on May 26th in Fayetteville (more formal advertising will be in the media):
Your help is needed! Plans are underway for a community
picnic at
Gully Park in Fayetteville on May 26th from 4 to 7 p.m.
to raise awareness about child
safety and celebrate the rescue of Haley Zega. Community
members are
encouraged to contribute what they can to support the
Morgan Nick
Foundation, which assists the families of missing children
and educates the
public on abduction prevention. May is Arkansas Child
Safety Awareness
Month, and this event is held in recognition of May 25,
National Missing
Children's Day. Please call (501) 587-9900 if you would
like to donate your
time or resources to this gathering.
And the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper is going to be running a half page ad to thank everyone who took part in this mission - I'll let you know when this will be coming out. I know they are going to try, but it would probably fill their entire paper if they actually thanked everyone!
The wind continues to howl out here today, and is keeping the temp down in the upper 60's, so far.
5/16/01 Another blank sky this morning - although it was FILLED with laughter and music and blue and yellow feathered streaks. Still a bit windy, but not as bad as yesterday.
I spent most of the day shuttling back and forth between the office and cabin. By 5pm I had HAD ENOUGH and decided to head out for a little hike. Before I knew what was going on Aspen had disappeared into the woods and had gone over the bluff and was heading down the steep bench below (the spot in the bluff where it is only 8-10 feet high). He had been hanging around all day giving me these looks about getting out into the woods. And now we were finally there. Good boy.
But my mind was not where it should have been (IN the woods), instead it was dwelling on the problems of the day. And my eyes were focused closely on the rocky trail beneath my feet, trying not to fall down. It wasn't until I landed on one of the lower benches that my mind was blasted into the present. This incredible heavy fragrance overwhelmed me - I never figured out what it was, and did not see any flowering trees around - but it was sweet and thick and rich and wonderful. It was then that I slowed down and took the time to look around as I made my way on down the trail.
Before long I was standing on the banks of the Buffalo River, and at the edge of the skinny dippin' hole. The river was actually running pretty good - a lot higher than I had thought it would. Actually about normal for this time of the year, but we have had so little rain lately. I stripped off my drawers and drove right on in. Man, what a great pool of water!
Wanting to record the first dip of the season, I climbed on out and got the camera and set it up on a nearby rock. Then I set the timer and ran/splashed on over to the rocky edge - seven, eight, nine, JUMP. And then I dove into the water, hoping the camera would catch me in mid air. Wrong. When I swam on over and got out and shook off and looked at the picture that had just been taken, there was nothing recorded but a big splash - I had jumped too soon.
So I repeated the process. Still no good. Third time is a charm I thought - nope. I continued my ritual of setting the timer, racing on over to the side of the pool, watching the camera blink and counting to ten, then jumping up into the air and diving into the deep water. Then swimming back into shallow water, getting out and shaking off, and checking the picture. Man I LOVE the way you can see what you just took with digital cameras!
The water was cold but very refreshing. I knew that I would not need to "hide" any body parts for the picture because when a guy jumps into cold water there is nothing to hide. I felt sort of like a whale breeching though, over and over again. But each time the water felt better and better. And FINALLY, on the 20th try, I got the picture that I wanted. Actually I had wanted for me to be a blurr going through the air, but the digital camera stopped the action with a fast shutter speed that I could not control. My head and outstretched arms were already under the surface of the water when this picture was taken. And by the way - that is not ME that you think you see - just a dark spot on the rocks in the background.
The Skinny Dippin' Hole - notice the breeching whale
I wasn't planning on going swimming, so did not bring down the mask and snorkel. Boy, I really should have though - the water was VERY clear, and I know I would have been able to get down in there and swim around with my old buddy Spot (for those of you new to this journal, Spot is the name of a smallmouth bass that I became friends with last summer - Haley also named her caterpillar Spot). No problem swimming with my eyes open underwater today, but it was all just a blur.
Aspen was having a big time during all of this. He loves water anyway - in fact quite literally has webbed feet. And after I jumped up and dove into the water several times (he would always come swimming out after me), he started to swim into shallow water and jump up into the air toward me himself - he just wanted to show me how it was done.
The sun had already set on my little paradise by the time that I arrived, but the rocks remained warm. And it did not take long to air dry myself once I was finished with my little swim. The light upstream was just marvelous though - the backlit trees were reflecting brilliant green into the water. I grabbed my camera and made my way across the creekbed, chasing one great picture after another.
These reflections are things that once you get to a spot where you can take a good picture, your angle of view has changed and the reflections are gone. I kept heading upstream further and further, slipping and stumbling on the slick pebbles. And then when I would finally get a good reflection, Aspen would splash right on through the middle of it, destroying the reflection. Before too long I realized that I had come a pretty long ways upstream - and was without any footwear, or anything else to wear - I was out there in the wilderness naked!
And it was a long and painful hike back to my shorts. My feet will toughen up a lot as the summer goes on, but now they are quite tender. And thank goodness no one came down the trail! By the way, just for the record, it IS perfectly legal to be naked in a national forest, unless there is a specific order banning nudity, like in public places (national parks and state parks are different). So I was quite legal, but would have been a bit embarrassed if caught out there with my shorts way downstream!
The hike up the steep hillside was a quick one - it felt so GOOD to lean into the hill and work my leg muscles and my lungs. I have not been getting nearly enough exercise lately. And this hill always provides a good workout, especially doing it at a good pace and without stopping. The only real problem that I had was that I was sucking wind really hard, and had to pass through all of that heavily scented air. Oh the hardships of wilderness life!
When I reached the top of the bluff I decided to sneak on over and see what momma whip-poor-will was up to, and if her chicks were out yet. I got down low in the brush and moved slowly toward where she was. It took me a minute to find her, but finally there she was, sitting right on the ground looking at me. I inched forward a little at a time, then on around to one side, and son of a gun, there were TWO chicks poking their little heads out from under her - I'd never seen that before!
Aspen was beginning to make me nervous, so I motioned to him to lay down (yea, right), and much to my great surprise, he did just that. Good dog. I took a few pictures of her and the chicks, then moved in a little closer. Snap, snap. Closer yet. And even closer. All the while I was moving in on her I kept a close eye on her for any sign of nervousness on her part - she was perfectly calm and didn't really seem to mind me being there much. She even moved around a little bit to reposition herself - something she would never have done if she felt in danger. Birds like this tend to hold PERFECTLY still when afraid.
So I got as close as I needed to and zoomed the lens all the way out, took my pictures and slowly backed away. I have no idea why, but when I was right there so close to her, I decided to name her Shirley. Thanks Shirley, for showing us your new babies.
Aspen just laid there panting the entire time and never even made a motion in our direction.
Fox meadow is beginning go grow up nicely, and before long there will be a few wildflowers popping open. This first year though, it will mostly just be green. Next year there will be many more wildflowers, and the year after that too, etc. I hope the gazebo doesn't get swallowed up!
One of the wildflowers that is coming on strong is Venus Looking Glass. I've never seen so many of them before - they are scattered all over the place. They have these tiny blue flowers that pop out along the main stem of the flower, sometimes a dozen or more on the stalk. The very top flowers usually don't bloom until the very last, but I found this one where the top flowers had already popped out.
It is very late now, and I am about to put the journal to rest, and follow suit myself. But I could not let today go by without noting that this entry completes the third year of the journal. It was May 16, 1998 when I sat down for the very first time and began to write about Cloudland. At first, it was only going to be a casual record of what went on here at the cabin - and it was an actual journal of paper, and those first weeks were all hand written in pencil. I remember hiking that first day on down to Whitaker Creek and then UP to Beagle Point across the way, and while on the way back down made a pact with myself that I would write the journal for one entire year, then publish it all in book form. That book form has not seen the light of day yet, but I am still writing (now typing) away. I tried to quit after that first year was over, but decided to continue it on a while longer. And now two years after that, here I am. Sometimes there are things that I just HAVE to write down, and this is the best place for me to do that. Other times I go out and do things just so that I will have something to write about here. I have no idea how long I will keep this up - perhaps as long as there is an interest. I know that a lot of it must be boring and repetitive to read, but I hope at least some of it is interesting enough to keep a few readers out there tuning in now and then. I hope that if nothing else, the words here will give some of you a sense of being out in the wilderness, help you gain an appreciation for the most beautiful and wonderful landscape there is, and will make you realize that we need to protect such places all over this planet - for ourselves, and most especially for our children. THANKYOU each and every one of you who takes the time out of your busy day or week or month to sit down and read through my words.
5/17/01 This begins the fourth year of the journal - yikes, I'm getting old! The sun continues to get up earlier and brighter each day - it is tough to sleep with that beam of sunshine focused right on your head! It is very hazy out this morning - and a blue haze at that. No wind at all. But plenty of birds out singing and doing their daily chores.
The wilderness has a weird sort of feel this morning. Could be the haze. I don't know. There are several chipmunks out there sounding the alarm call (Aspen is inside with me). And a hawk just flew in under the tree canopy and landed on a limb right outside the window - he is looking in the window at me, bobbing his head and trying to figure out what the heck is going on inside.
We will have guests today - a film crew from channel 11 TV in Little Rock is coming up to do a story. It will probably air late tonight or tomorrow night. I'll try to remember to take a picture of them at work.
I need to get some of the clutter cleared away for the TV crew, but first I'm going to head out and see what the chipmunks are yelling about.
Just returned for a quick trip around the loop. Never did find any large critters lurking about, but I did find an eerie forest filled with many shadows and blue shafts of sunlight. All of that blue was very strange indeed.
And I