Now this story really hits home with me on several levels… first, I have hiked that trail at Blood Mountain before… and it was TOUGH! Vogel State Park is a very beautiful, scenic place to visit in the fall when the leaves are turning colors but it is really a place for camping and hiking only… very secluded… off the beaten path maybe one might say?? I remember all too well how horrific my backpacking experience was on that very mountain. It was sunny and 65 at the bottom and cold, misty and 30-40ish at the top… VERY misleading from the park at the bottom of the mountain!! Needless to say, I only backpacked that trail ONCE. If this girl enjoyed hiking that trail on a regular basis and in the dead of winter at that, well then more power to her! But, now that the tragedy has happened, I am even more edgy about going any where in the mountains by myself… Every time Mike talks about going mountain biking up in the woods north of all civilization, I get a little antsy. I mean riding your bike through the woods alone can sometimes be a little freaky… especially if it close to dusk and not too many folks on the trail that day. Or maybe it is just that childlike behavior of mine coming out again like when I was afraid of the dark as a youngster…I have never grown out of that childlike fear and it is a feeling that I choose not to endure very often. Another point that bothers me about the whole ordeal is that she went hiking alone… who does that anyway? I would never go without a buddy… just in case I fall and injure myself or get caught in an unexpected storm (yes, this TOO has happened to me backpacking!!) and more so just for the company! It makes it more enjoyable to have someone to share the outdoors experience with.
Anyhoo, back to the article… this awful excuse of a man admitted to kidnapping her to get to her ATM and credit cards! And when she wouldn’t give him the correct PIN numbers, he got desperate, tied her to a tree and beat her in the head with a tire iron until she died. What would make a human do this to another? All because he was upset that he lost his job and needed money… Did it ever occur to this schlub to go get another job? I read an article at the beginning of this saga (when they were still looking for her) where folks were calling in and telling the police that they had hired this fruit-loop to do handy-man type work around their homes in the past…maybe he should have gone back to that line of work and not the life-taking one…
In closing, let’s just say that this story has totally really change my perspective now on camping and hiking in the woods of any mountain- no matter how big or small. What was once a happy-go-lucky outdoors activity for fun with friends in nature has now become a task in protecting oneself from the evils of others… animals and humans…
I took this at the bottom of Blood Mountain Nov. 2005
Us on Blood Mountain Nov. 2005
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