Rescued Appalachian Trail hiker says he never panicked while lost

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Missing AT hiker found

 

Although he never truly panicked during the six days he was lost off the Appalachian Trail in Amherst County, Ken Knight said, the wait and the unknown were hard to deal with at times.

“The tough times were… wondering how come no one has found you yet,” Knight said. “Is anyone looking?”

Knight, who is legally blind, was the subject of a three-day manhunt that involved more than 100 searchers after he was separated from a group hiking from Petite’s Gap to the Peaks of Otter. He had last been seen on Punchbowl Mountain on April 26.

He wasn’t reported missing until the 29th, when he missed a flight home to Ann Arbor, Mich. He was found Saturday in the Snowden area after lighting a signal fire that turned into a two-acre brush fire.

In an interview Monday, Knight said he remembered passing a trail sign nearly seven miles south of Punchbowl Mountain and hiking for about 20 minutes when he realized he was truly lost.

“I knew very fast that something was wrong,” he said.

Although he believed he was near the John’s Hollow Appalachian Trail shelter, he was also almost completely out of water. He could have stayed put, he said, or he could go looking for water.

“I opted for the latter choice,” he said. “I went down the mountain, south, and I did find a stream. I was able to get water. I followed that downstream to eventually where I ended up.”

Knight said he found a level place and set up camp. Although the weather was hot, he had shelter and water and reasoned that he could stay alive long enough for rescuers to find him. For the most part, he stayed there until Saturday, when he was found by firefighters from Big Island.

Knight said he had set smaller signal fires earlier in the week under the mistaken belief that a search effort was underway. Saturday, though, he resolved to set a bigger fire across the stream where he was camped, he said.

He said he will continue hiking and doesn’t think his case is an indictment for those who hike alone.

“It’s easy even for a sighted person to lose the trail,” he said. “All it takes is forgetting which way you turned.”

In the future, though, he said he will consider using a satellite beacon that can signal a lost or injured hiker’s location to rescuers.

But, he cautioned, tools like those and cell phones can fail. Having the skills he used to survive for nearly a week are what is most important, he said.

He refused to answer critics who say his vision should keep him off the trail, or those who say he should be responsible for the cost of the search and for damage caused by the fire.

“There’s a lot of backseat hiking going on,” he said.

He said he is very thankful for the search and rescue workers and for the outpouring of support from friends and from those who don’t even know him.