There’s good and bad news for campers on Rampart Range Road. The good news is that it’s very hard to get lost, unlike the woman in the story below, and here.
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A Canadian woman was rescued over the weekend after she got lost in the Colorado mountains for four days as part of a guided spiritual “quest,” according to a local sheriff’s department, which said that participants had been encouraged to fast and discouraged from bringing cellphones.
The woman, Gina Chase, 53, of Victoria, British Columbia, was camping near the San Miguel Mountains of Colorado with 10 others through the Animas Valley Institute, an organization based in Durango, Colo., that emphasizes the spiritual value of being alone in nature, the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post. Around 11 a.m. on Aug. 14, Ms. Chase embarked on a “solo journey” near Lone Cone Peak but was reported missing around 2 p.m. the next day after she did not return to camp, the sheriff’s office said.
On Sunday morning, after a multiday search that included K9 teams, aircraft and drones, Ms. Chase was found “alive and uninjured,” officials said. The sheriff’s office had initially said that she was found on Saturday.
“Ms. Chase was part of a group of campers who, by design, set off alone into the backcountry without their cellphones and then fasting ‘to maximize their experience with nature,’” the authorities said in their post.
“You should always bring technology for communications,” Sheriff Bill Masters said in his office’s Facebook post. “Furthermore you should not starve yourself even if a ‘guide’ service suggests the opposite of these basic safety rules.”
Ms. Chase, who declined to be interviewed on Tuesday, reached out on Wednesday evening to comment about her ordeal.
“I cried and couldn’t accept that this was actually happening,” she said of the first moment she realized that she was lost after taking a short walk away from her camp. “After about five minutes, my brain just clicked and I said to myself, ‘This is survival.’”
Sgt. Lane Masters, who is the son of Sheriff Masters, said in an interview on Wednesday afternoon that Ms. Chase had a phone when she was found, but it was not useful because of a lack of cell-tower coverage. Ms. Chase said she made emergency calls but they failed.
Animas issued a lengthy statement by email on Wednesday where it defended its practices and said that Ms. Chase “was not without food or communication tools,” adding that she had “a fully functional cellphone with satellite capabilities and activated the SOS function when necessary.”
On Facebook, the Animas Valley Institute sought to clarify that it “is not a ‘spiritual camp,’” that “fasting is always optional and health-dependent,” that participants are required to carry a “signaling device” and that the group “will be initiating a thorough review of this incident that will include independent expertise.”
In a statement on its website, Animas thanked emergency groups for helping find Ms. Chase and added that the group “has run backcountry programs in Colorado since 1980 with no serious incidents.”
According to the sheriff’s office, Ms. Chase embarked on her solo journey on Wednesday with a day pack that contained “an emergency blanket, a whistle, a power bar, and some water.”
On the outing, campers used a buddy system to verify that everyone had made it back to their solo campsites. Campers were expected to move rocks around each day to tell others that they had been in the area recently, Sergeant Masters said. Animas called authorities after Ms. Chase’s partner noticed on Thursday that her rock had not moved, he said.
Ms. Chase had left her solo camp intending to be gone for only 10 minutes when she lost her way, and she remained on her own for four days, Sergeant Masters said.
Ms. Chase stayed alive by making a charcoal-and-moss contraption to filter her water, which she told the authorities she had learned from watching wilderness television shows like Naked And Afraid, Sergeant Masters said. She built a makeshift shelter from tree branches and used the direction of the sun to find a trail.
“She did a fantastic job in keeping herself alive and saving herself,” Sergeant Masters said, though he criticized the risk involved in joining such a camp. “She was the victim of really bad, negligent practices.”
Despite a labor-intensive rescue operation, the sheriff’s office said the county is hesitant to charge people or groups for search-and-rescue spending because it may discourage calls for help in the future. Animas defended its safety protocols in the statement issued on Wednesday.
“Participants are always within a safe distance to ensure quick response in case of emergencies,” Animas said in its email on Wednesday.
A “quest,” as Animas calls its overnight journeys, typically costs $1,800 to $3,000, although the description for the specific journey Ms. Chase embarked on is no longer on its website.
“The Animas Quest catalyzes the encounter with soul by temporarily displacing everyday consciousness through five primary means,” the website says, listing solitude, fasting, exposure to nature, ceremonies and “soulcraft.”
In recent years, outdoor therapy has become a popular form of tourism. Some other organizations have even promoted spirituality through drug use, leading to retreats that can cost $5,000 to $10,000 for seven days.
Ms. Chase eventually found a trail that allowed her to navigate her way near where a rescue team was stationed. She recalled the first moment she heard a member of the rescue party.
“I just went down on my hands and knees with such relief,” she said, describing how she bowed with gratitude. “It was such incredibly enormous relief that I didn’t have to do it by myself anymore.”
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Rampart Range Road is a straight shot from Hwy. 67 near Sedalia on the north to near Woodland Park on the south. So unless you have a serious orienteering deficit, you’re pretty much guaranteed to find your way out eventually. Further good news is that camping on Rampart Range Road only costs $20 a night, so unless you plan on staying for a couple of months, you’re unlikely to rack up a bill as large as the one Animas Valley Institute participants do.
The bad news? Cell service is still pretty spotty, so it might be good to let someone know where you’re headed before setting out. I’ll be in campsite #16, just in case anyone asks. As for starving yourself, that’s entirely up to you, though I don’t recommend it. I mean, c’mon. I’m all for solitude and exposure to nature. And I’m down with a good old-fashioned ceremony every now and again, But there’s “soulcraft” and then there’s just plain crazy. You can probably make that call.
