Narrator:
Exactly a week ago today, Fort Bragg resident Linda Doar decided to spend the last few hours of the day mushroom hunting in the Caspar Woods. She went with a friend and her daughter. As the last light faded, she saw some hedgehog mushrooms. She went to pick them, and she stumbled. As she fell, she hit her head hard enough to black out. When she awoke, it was dark. She could hear people calling her name, but they couldn't hear her calling back. Then, the sound of searchers faded, and Doar found herself alone.
Here’s an edited version of the interview she did with independent journalist Frank Hartzell about what it was like to spend Monday night alone in the forest.
Linda Doar: We were just out exploring. I like to do that. I almlost always go with somebody who has been here most of their lives. They’re more aware, and they pick mushrooms more often than I do. They do that to make their extra money. I do it for fun. I do it because I like to.
Frank Hartzell: Chantarelles are my favorites.
Linda Doar: Yeah, I love them too. I had some of those, and I had some of the big ones.The reason I got off the path and lagged behind them was that I saw these huge sweettooths (hedgehogs). I mean, they were this big, and I filled my whole basket up with them.
[Walking back] I fell through [fallen] trees ... that’s when I smacked my forehead, and that’s what put me out.
That was dusk, I guess, and we were coming out of the woods. We all knew where we were going. And, you know, the last they saw me, I was right behind them, and then when they turned around, I was nowhere.
There were, like, two logs, and there was a bunch where they had pushed a bunch of [fallen] trees [together]. So I was just walking across and just fell through.
I couldn't tell—it was dark when I came to. So I couldn't tell how big of an area I was in. I mean, because you couldn't see your hand.
I just kept trying to get out of this hole anyway, and therefore I was bruising my knees up because I—I could almost get there, and then I'd slide. And I could almost get there, and I'd slide.
I could hear them hollering for me, but they could not hear me. When I finally got out, then there were no voices. I could hear nothing. And it was so dark you couldn’t see.
I was trying to move around, and I would slide, so I knew that I was still on some type of hillside. I just didn’t know how far down it was.
So I sat there, grounded into the side of the hill, and just hunkered down under my sweatshirt. And that’s where I stayed until daylight.
Frank Hartz ell:And tell me how you kept your hands warm.
Linda Doar: I pulled [the] sleeves [of my hoodie] as far over my fingers and hands as I could get them and tucked them in behind my hoodie, between my hair and my neck. That’s how my hands stayed warm. And every time I heard any noise, I’d start hollering, "Get away from here!" You know? Because I—oh, I heard all kinds of noises, like something walking in the grass or in the leaves.
When it got daylight, I couldn’t get my bearings. I didn’t know which way I was coming from or anything else at that point. All I knew was that I had fallen through those trees.
So anyway, I could hear traffic, so I knew I wasn’t that far [from Road 409]. And, you know, when you’re down in a ravine-like thing, it’s kind of hard to tell which way it’s coming from. You get up, and your ears kind of play tricks on you.
One time it would sound like it was from over here, and the other time it would sound like it was from over there, just depending on which way you were facing.So anyway, I made it back up, and I kept trying to follow this noise. And there were a few times it seemed like it was getting farther away, so I stopped.
I came upon this platform where they loaded wood trucks or something. Well, they still had tape on the trees. So this is where the Forestry Commission, I guess, has been doing for fire lines and stuff like that.
So I thought to myself, Well, these tapes… they came in here somehow. They had to go out one way or another.So I started walking the perimeter until I was really close [to the road], and then I started walking toward it.
I was on this side of the ravine, you know, down pretty deep, but I saw a little sliver of silver go by. So I knew—that was the road. That was the car.
So I’m thinking, Okay, I’m feeling really good now. I got some energy. I’m scooting across this ravine and back up the other side, and I made it to the road. And when I made it to the road, my body just felt like it could collapse
.And I couldn’t tell if I was going toward Mendocino or coming toward Fort Bragg on 409. But I knew I was on 409 because I had seen that fire department the day before.
So I could hear cars coming, so I just kind of patiently waited, you know. And as I could hear them getting closer and starting to come around the edge of the curve, they stopped.They pulled over.
There was a lady, a real nice lady, and she said, "Honey, what is your name?"And I told her.
And she said, "We have been looking for you all night."
Frank Hartzell:Some mushroom hunters get lost every year and have spent as much as three days in the woods—sometimes with nobody back home aware or calling the sheriff’s department until the very end.
The Mendocino County Sheriff's Department does not have separate statistics that would show how many people are lost in the woods each year, said spokesman Quincy Cromer.
Cromer stated that when someone goes missing and a search-and-rescue operation is launched, press releases are generated. The sheriff’s department has averaged more than 50 search-and-rescue deployments over the past decade. Cromer pointed out that this is almost one per calendar week. He said numbers have fallen in the last few years but still average over 30 deployments per year.
Last May, Cromer issued a series of press releases after Elizabeth Schenk disappeared in the woods between Fort Bragg and Westport. He said 75 search and rescue volunteers from counties all over the area searched for two days with dogs and helicopters. Schenk seems to have broken one rule of being lost in the woods — she was found miles from where she disappeared. Stay in one place once badly lost.
Doar plans to return to mushroom hunting. But she won't do it without a whistle, flashlight, energy bar and a modern thermal blanket that can be rolled up to be tiny, all in her fanny pack.