Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Use this forum to stay informed on missing persons alerts, active SAR's and unfortunate hiker accidents we can all hopefully learn from. Any information you may have on a missing person, including first hand weather related information or any other insight (however little) may prove to be critical information to Law Enforcement / SAR in locating the person in question.
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snusmumriken
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by snusmumriken »

Tears, and more tears.
I've never met Larry, but from reading these boards for the last few years I felt like I knew him. Adventurous, smart and funny, a kindred spirit.
My heart goes out to his family.
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giantbrookie
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Re: Goodbye Larry

Post by giantbrookie »

Maverick: Thank you, for all of your efforts, coming from both your body and your soul, and for your words on Larry's behalf. I wished I had the pleasure of meeting Larry personally, but I knew him entirely through his wonderful posts on this board and an occasional correspondence. I felt a particular kinship for him because of his love of offtrail Sierran hiking, and improvisational spirit.

As the days went by, I found myself going back through Larry's posts and wistfully reliving those moments through them. Good Bye Larry, my High Sierra brother. You have left the trail for the last time into the mountain paradise you loved so much. We miss you and we will not forget you.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Goodbye Larry

Post by Hobbes »

giantbrookie wrote:I knew him entirely through his wonderful posts on this board and an occasional correspondence.
GB, do you remember this post from July?
viewtopic.php?f=14&p=58346" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The reason it's remarkable is because of this photo taken on top of Williamson just a little over 3 months before Larry's last trip:
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giantbrookie
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Re: Goodbye Larry

Post by giantbrookie »

Hobbes wrote:
giantbrookie wrote:I knew him entirely through his wonderful posts on this board and an occasional correspondence.
GB, do you remember this post from July?
viewtopic.php?f=14&p=58346" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Wow, I missed that one.
Since my fishing (etc.) website is still down, you can be distracted by geology stuff at: http://www.fresnostate.edu/csm/ees/facu ... ayshi.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by eee333 »

Thank you HST folks for all you have done for Larry. Your efforts, compassion, and smart and sweet words would have done Larry proud. He was a very fortunate man to have been part of your community. To the moderators of this forum, as well as George Durkee, Maverick, and the other searchers—you did an amazing job of marshaling resources and leading us through a difficult time.

The NPS and all of the SAR volunteers have also been incredible. The people I talked to have touched me with their sensitivity, diligence and profound care for those of us who treasure the wilderness and love to explore it, in spite of the inherent risks. Thank you, Dana Dierke, Ranger Sawtelle and all of the others for your kindness and generosity.

So…this is a song that Larry loved. Just about a year ago, he wrote in an email that he was "more than a little pathologically obsessed with that Youtube concert recording of "Love More"…" This is it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKTgHsmH8RY" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; .
I also really like this official studio version (and it doesn't have an ad): http://sharonvanetten.com/news/love-more-video" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
This somber but haunting song was the last song performed in the last concert I went to with Larry. I thought some of you might enjoy it, too.

Larry, you will be sorely missed. Big hugs to Claus and the rest of your dear ones.

--Eva

"Maybe nothing ever happens once and is finished. Maybe happen is never once but like ripples maybe on water after the pebble sinks, the ripples moving on, spreading, the pool attached by a narrow umbilical water-cord to the next pool..."
-----------------------------------------Quentin Compsen, in William Faulkner's, Absalom, Absalom!
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by glykon »

I can only feebly try to convey my heartfelt thanks to the many who have given their all in the search for Larry. And to the many who have shared their concern and emotions in these pages. Your outpouring of support has been of immeasurable help to his family, and to myself and our young son, Alexander.

Larry introduced me to the Sierras and to backpacking some fifteen years ago. As much as I grew to love the grandeur and stillness, I could never capture Larry’s near mystical connection with the mountains. I can’t recall his exact words but he talked occasionally on the trail about finding his stride, a space in which he seemed to flow over the terrain and glide over passes.

Without a map he seemed to know every peak and lake. He guided me up basins I imagined no one had ever set foot in. He coaxed me up and down slopes when my head said, ‘no way’. He always managed to find the most amazing wild flower displays and could identify them by both their scientific and common names. He taught me to find my step when hiking at night. He encouraged me to take in the panorama but also to notice the detail, the myriad colors in rock, differences in pine varieties, patterns in ice.

I think we were nearing the end, heading down McGee Creek on a trip that included a grinding slog to the top of Red Slate. Normally exhausted, this time it felt like I had found Larry’s pace, light and quick. Acutely aware of our surroundings it seemed to me, as if we belonged. For the first time after many backpacks together, I felt a strange kind of exhilaration. When we reached the trailhead I turned to Larry and tried to find words - he smiled knowingly and said ‘that’s how I feel every time.’

I once told Larry that my connection with him was unlike any I will ever have with another person, that it had something to do with my sense of aloneness in the world, that he allowed me to escape the isolation while sharing it with me. It’s a feeling I always had in his presence, especially in the mountains.

Larry voiced the hope in several peak registers that Alexander would some day stand in his place. Larry, I will try to keep your hope alive.

Claus
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by Herm »

Beautiful post Claus.
Peace to you and all who knew Larry.
And thanks to all who participated in the extensive efforts to find Larry.
You know the special place where Larry's soul soars -
And so do all of us, here on HST.

Herm
I am not in a hurry, so don't be hasty.
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by DoyleWDonehoo »

glykon wrote:...I can’t recall his exact words but he talked occasionally on the trail about finding his stride, a space in which he seemed to flow over the terrain and glide over passes.- Claus
One of the most beautiful, almost poetic posts I have ever read. It perfectly captures what we backpackers and cross-country mountaineers feel in the Range of Light. Larry was a kindred spirit, which is why his loss has had such a profound effect on us all. He was one of us.
Thank you for posting that.
Doyle W. Donehoo
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http://www.doylewdonehoo.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by obssc »

DoyleWDonehoo wrote:
glykon wrote:...I can’t recall his exact words but he talked occasionally on the trail about finding his stride, a space in which he seemed to flow over the terrain and glide over passes.- Claus
One of the most beautiful, almost poetic posts I have ever read. It perfectly captures what we backpackers and cross-country mountaineers feel in the Range of Light. Larry was a kindred spirit, which is why his loss has had such a profound effect on us all. He was one of us.
Thank you for posting that.
Well put Doyle...well put.
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Re: Overdue Hiker - Do You Have Any Info?

Post by kpeter »

Claus, that was beautiful. Like most people here, I did not know Larry except within this community, but the amazing posts he left and the magnificent stories people have told about him have given us all a glimpse into the wilderness spirituality that lay within him.

Years ago I came across a poem which seemed to me to capture the essence of that spirit. I read it at my father's memorial. My father was a much better mountain man than me, and like Larry did for you, my father introduced me to the world in which his soul soared. The poem was written by the Lebanese poet Khalil Gibran. You can find the entire poem at the University of Michigan here:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jrcole/g ... .htm#Death" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

***
On Death

Than Almitra spoke, saying, "We would ask now of Death."
And he said:
You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life?
The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.
If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life.
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring.
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the sheered not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
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