Fate Of The Woman Who Disappeared While Hiking Is Discovered

Geraldine Largay had always dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail and, as one of the most famous hiking trails, Largay was going to make sure she did so. After finally setting off for the hike in 2013, it seems that the ultimate dream would take an unexpected turn…

Gerry, from Brentwood, Tennessee, was finally living her dream and off she went. It wasn’t too long into the hike, however, that her companion got a call about a family emergency back home. This meant their hike would have to come to an abrupt end. With her companion leaving, Largay was faced with the prospect that if she wanted to complete the trail, she’d be on her own. This was Largay’s first bad decision – her determination to proceed without her friend.

At 66-years-old, Largay thought it was time to pack her bags and make her dream finally come true. She was going to complete the trail that extends from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mount Katahdin in Maine.

While Geraldine’s husband did not seem too convinced by the idea himself, it was not going to stop the mother-of-one from completing the six-month trail. So, in 2013, Geraldine, known by her friends as Gerry, set off with a traveling companion, and was ready to conquer the immense trail. This trail is not for the faint-hearted, and though Gerry was fully aware what she was getting herself into, she was not fully expecting so many hurdles and struggles to come her way.

Although Gerry set off for a challenging six-month hike, her husband, George, made sure he made visits when he could in order to help her with her supplies, as she couldn’t carry it all herself. Speaking of the hike, Mr. Largay states: “Hiking the Appalachian trail and sleeping in tents and wearing the same stuff for three and four days in the rain – not on my bucket list.” However, he was sure to prove he was highly supportive of his wife’s decision.

He shared, “She needed to be supported on the hike because she had limits on what she could carry, so I simply had to say, ‘OK, suck it up. What’s six months in the grand scheme of things?’ So I did it.” He would drive to meet his wife along the trail at different times, and here they would have small reunions and a restock of supplies. The last time her husband drove to meet her, she had already traveled more than 1,000 miles.

It was on July 22nd that Largay decided to leave the trail in search for some secluded space where she could have a bit of alone time. While on the search for space to relieve herself, she soon found that she had become lost in the dense forest. The trail has a particular route to ensure safety in the forest and setting your sights off-track is never a good idea. Finding herself unable to make her way back to the trail route, she began to worry.

It was then that Largay texted her husband to let him know she had lost her way and was in need of help. At 11 am, she sent a text which wrote: In some trouble. Got off trail to go to br. Now lost. Can u call AMC to c if a trail maintainer can help me. Somewhere north of woods road. XOX.” In an unfortunate turn of events, the text never sent out due to the poor signal service in the forest.

In fact, over the next hour and a half, Largay tried to send the text another ten times but had no luck. She stopped trying and decided to camp down for the night. At the time, she had maps, a rain jacket, a space blanket, string, Ziploc bags, and a flashlight. When she woke up the next day, she tried to send another text but, once again, it never delivered. She wrote: “Lost since yesterday. Off trail 3 or 4 miles. Call police for what to do pls. XOX.”

Having made regular contact with his wife, Gerry’s husband became worried on July 24th when he had not heard from her. Although he never received her text where she stated she was in trouble, he felt as though something was wrong and contacted the police to report his wife as missing. This was the start of one of the most extensive search and rescue operations the Maine Warden Service would administrate. It was not just professionals either that supported this mission, but locals got involved too.

Teams made up of hundreds of volunteers and wardens began searching the countryside around the trail where they believed Gerry may have taken the wrong turn. They searched the trail for any sign of Largay and where she may have been. Their search amounted to covering an area of 23 square miles, and even covered some of the region’s most remote terrain. They were determined to not miss any clue leading them to Largay, and the search team took no chances.

Her friend, Jane Lee, who left the hike when she got the family emergency call, spoke of Largay with wardens – probably hoping to give clues as to the kind of woman Geraldine was and where she could have gone. After hiking much of the trail together, Lee said her friend sometimes struggled to keep up with others and described her skills with a compass as questionable. This was surely not going to give much hope for the team to believe that she could manage to find her way.

Even more services were called upon during this time to help with the search and rescue mission. It expanded to include search aircraft, state police, national park rangers, and fire departments. These search teams scoured side trails, set dogs to searching, and pursued other hikers’ tips, but just like the warden service, they had no luck. After spending days searching the forest far and wide for any sign of where Largay had been, or of Largay herself, the rescue mission came to a halt on July 30th.

With heavy rains disrupting the rescue mission and no trace of Largay to be found, the search was called off, and she was declared as a missing person. All that would remain would be a face on trail signposts asking other hikers to look out for. Similarly, however, they were to have no luck either, and it was for another two years that Largay’s disappearance would remain a mystery. It was then in 2015 that everything changed and Geraldine Largay was the name on everyone’s lips once again.

In October 2015, when a crew was out filming an episode of North Woods Law for Animal Planet that a trace of Largay was finally found. The crew stumbled upon evidence that led back to the search mission for Geraldine Largay which, at the time, they had not even realized. What exactly did they find? While filming, they had spotted the remains of a makeshift camp on raised ground above the trail and decided to call it in for a warden to come and check.

The warden discovered personal items of Geraldine’s inside the tent, including her cell phone. It was then that the undelivered messages to her husband, when she tried to ask for help, were found. Even at the time the cell phone was found, which was now two years after the texts were written, it was seen that the messages had remained unsent. While these texts may have helped Largay two years ago, after many failed attempts at getting them to send, Largay knew she would have to accept defeat.

Along with the cell phone, a personal journal was also found in the tent. This journal had several heartbreaking entries, and the camera crew never could have imagined what they had stumbled upon when they found the abandoned tent. After all, they were in one of the state’s most remote regions and would never have thought they would uncover the fate of someone who went missing two years before. It was revealed that this journal in fact belonged to Geraldine Largay.

Largay spoke about how she knew her fate in the journal and was sure that she was going to die in the woods. For that reason, she wrote messages for when her journal would eventually be found, and it read: “When you find my body please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry. It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you find me – no matter how many years from now.”

Her last journal entry was dated August 18, which was 27 days after Largay wandered from the trail and was reported missing. However, it was also 18 days after the search and rescue mission had been called off. In which case, it was believed that Largay was in search of getting to higher ground in the hope of finding some cell phone service at that time. For that reason, the search and rescue mission would have failed to have had any sightings because she was so far from the hiking trail.

Lieutenant Kevin Adams explained that the campsite was  “difficult to see unless you were right next to it,” and was the reason why it was not discovered sooner. He also described how the tent was under large trees, and their branches obstructed the sky. Adams also states that Largay had built her own bedding area out of “small trees, pine needles and possibly some dirt in an attempt to keep her tent out of any water,” and used branches to provide cover.

Although Gerry tried her luck at taking shelter and surviving alone, it was not enough to save Geraldine. Along with the journal, cell phone, and other personal belongings, body remains were also discovered, and these were assumed to belong to Geraldine. Adams explained, “I saw a flattened tent, with a green backpack outside of it and a human skull with what I believed to be a sleeping bag around it. I was 99% certain that this was Gerry Largay’s.”

While it was confirmed that these did belong to missing Geraldine Largay, her journal would explain what exactly happened. In her journal entries, where she wrote, “George Please Read XOXO,”  she explained that she wandered around for two days after taking a wrong turn across a stream. She tried to find ridges where she could get an idea of where she could be, but, unfortunately, she didn’t have any luck with making it back to the trail.

She was eventually found 3,000 feet from the trail and believed to have died after perishing from exposure and starvation. In her final entry, she asked eventual rescuers to pass her journal on to loved ones, for some peace of mind as to what happened and for some closure. Hoping to get a message to her surviving relatives, she wrote: “Please find it in your hearts to mail the contents of this bag to one of them,” which they certainly did.

While they mourn her loss, her family remains completely appreciative of all the hard work and efforts which were given to getting Geraldine home. “It became apparent from day one that this was personal to them and they would not rest until Gerry was found,” her family said in January, while also asking for privacy during this time, “as we continue our grieving process with this new chapter of closure.” However, they also commended their beloved wife and mother for all her efforts during her troubling times.

“Gerry was doing exactly what she wanted to do,” they said in a statement. “As the warden’s report indicates, she was lucid and thinking of others – as always – until the end.” The family placed a cross where Largay’s tent stood, and placed several mementos alongside it. More discoveries were made after, however, in regards to where exactly Gerry had ended up getting lose and unable to get back to the trail. Without knowing, the camp was much closer than Gerry would have thought.

Adam discovered that the camp was less than two miles from the Appalachian trail, and walking south from the campsite would have led Gerry to safer zones. The dense forest eventually became open woods, and after 60-70 years there was good visibility. Another 25 minutes walk, he found “a clear logging road” where he was then led to lodging. Adam’s discovery took a total of around a 30-minute walk, but Gerry could not have known this.