Sarah Roberts, the woman who was lost in woods for three days over the weekend, was in search of a waterfall when she got turned around.
While she declined to be interviewed about her ordeal, she did allow her sister, MLA Lisa Roberts, to share her written account of it on Facebook.
Sarah had a GPS with her, which turned out to be “insufficiently directional,” her sister said, and the batteries eventually died.
Sarah wrote that on Friday, with most of her day free, she did what she normally does in that situation: she went looking for waterfalls listed in a book of 100 in Nova Scotia.
She had already been to the falls in the Annapolis Valley, so decided to check out one near Shelburne called Big Falls, about two-and-a-half hours from her home.
“Soon enough I was on the dirt road bouncing along and swerving to avoid most of the upturned rocks,” she wrote. “I parked on the side of the road, noticing one other vehicle I passed and a cabin to the left.”
The directions in the book said to bushwhack through the woods for 20 minutes to the river, but an hour later she still hadn't reached it and realized she wouldn't that day.
She wrote that she was disappointed, but happy with her attempt and started to head for what she thought was the road and her car.
“I trekked on, seemingly forever, to trees that looked familiar, rocks that .. had I seen before?… and ice formations that I swore was our second get together,” she said.
“Then.. the river!! But it wasn’t where it was supposed to be! Unless it wrapped around beyond the road but my map didn’t give me that much detail.”
She said she figured she just needed to turn around and go back, that she had gotten turned around but was on the right track.
She was supposed to be at work at 5 p.m. in Wolfville. Her family was worried.
It was getting dark in Shelburne County.
“Good attitude mixed with tired legs and lessening sunlight until I was walking blindly,” Roberts wrote. “I saw the faint outline of a large tree that to me resembled a vertical pillow and aimed my ailing body against its trunk. My heart was beating in my chest, keeping me warm and focused… until it slowed to a regular rhythm.
“The regular shivering of my legs, my hips, my feet started its vigil. For a few brief moments I would savour the beauty of the silence, the sliver of moon cut out of the sky to guide me by, and I would feel the incredible peace. Protected by all around me and serenaded by anonymous bark munching, bullfrog gulps and squirrel twirlings.”
She estimated she slept twice that night, for about an hour each time. It was -8C, with brisk winds that gusted to 24 km/h.
“When I woke, cold and shaking I would force myself up from my knees to shakenly move myself forward, one tree at a time. Some times I reached up to 300 steps, other times my first step was my boot in a dirt hole and I gave up before I started.”
On Saturday, she said, her imagination got the best of her at times. Once, she thought she saw a two-storey cabin with a hammock on the veranda and people cooking supper inside.
“I thought I saw a white car, a brown van, a green house… all the colours of the environment around me,” she said. “I am afraid my mind was simultaneously trying to protect me and stubbornly lie to me.”
The temperature hovered around the freezing point during the day, under overcast skies.
She ate two granola bars from her backpack and had plenty of snow, ice and stream water for hydration. But her body was weakening.
“I wondered when my shaking legs would refuse to move,” she said. “I had gotten my boots half way up in water the first day and was wearing mittens on my feet and nothing on my hands.”
Her calls for help went unanswered, save for the sounds of the birds. The temperatures were around -4 C overnight Saturday, and the winds had dropped.
On Sunday, she said, she was determined that her luck would change. She studied her waterfalls books for clues as to where she was and where she needed to go, knowing she needed to stay on a straight track.
Her sister, meanwhile, had rallied online support on Sunday. She knew Sarah loved to hike, and thought she was somewhere in the Annapolis Valley. She asked people to check known hiking sites for Sarah's car. By early evening, more than 70 trailheads and parking lots had been checked by people responding to her Tweets for help.
As Sarah continued traipsing through the woods, on what she hoped was the straight line, she came across an ATV trail that was easy to follow. It led her to two deer blinds, one of which had a workable propane heater.
“It happily warmed my feet for 40 minutes until it stopped abruptly. I continued to faithfully follow the ATV trail until it lead to a real, honest to goodness cabin. It was locked up tight but it was a great sign,” she wrote. “Cabins are generally on roads and there it was!”
After another five minutes of walking, she saw something big and brown. She wondered if it was a rock, or her imagination playing trick on her again, but it was her car.
“I slipped in the front seat with the grand relief of being reentered into the universe that had abruptly cast me out. I would sleep in my own bed tonight.”
At about 9 p.m her sister Tweeted that she had heard from Sarah.
Sarah wrote that there are two lessons from her experience: “Always tell at least one person in writing where you are going and always carry a fully charged cell phone with you.”
She said RCMP told her that even if the signal affects how audible the the call is, it allows them to get a lost person's GPS co-ordinates and direct searchers to the area.
“Make it a habit. One that could save your life and save your loved ones from unnecessary heartache,” she wrote. “Heartfelt thank yous to everyone who checked countless trailheads, devised checklists, and prayed for me. It means a lot to know I wasn’t truly out there alone.”
In sharing the story, Lisa thanked those who looked for the car in the Valley.
“I was gobsmacked when I heard from Sarah on Sunday evening that she was okay and in Shelburne County,” she said.
Lisa Roberts removed her Facebook post late Wednesday afternoon.
Hiking safety practices: Hike Nova Scotia Safety Resource
