crazy lost woman story

[denaliguide]

here is a crazy story, and yet it is true.

a week ago today i was camped about 70 mile north and a bit east of phooenix down near the sheep bridge crossing of the verde river. this is about as remote as you can get with a car. as i was sitting in camp that night about 5:30 i see a little blue ford fiesta drive by. now i say to myself "self, what in the hell is a little blue ford fiesta be doing all the way out here on this high clearance and 4wd road?" well the road only goes another half mile or so and dead ends. well the soundscarries pretty well and i heard it bang a rock. thinking that they had taken out their oil pan i decide to go have a look. i'm nosy like that.

when i get to where i can see the car it is indeed stuck in the sand and it has taken out the oil pan. i also see a 72 year old woman who is dressed in a bathrobe, bathing suit and sneakers without socks. her name is karin ( no names have been changed, because no one is innocent). she is lost, confused and disoriented and wandering away from her car. i ask her what she is doing all the way out her and she did not have a clue where she was or how she got there. she had left her home in phoenix around noon and had planned to go to the swimming pool about 8 blocks from her house. 6 hours later she drove past me. now where we were is hard enough to find when you know where you are going. she had to make every wrong turn possible for 6 hours to get there by accident.

i gathered her up and took her back to my camp and told her i would take her home in the am. luckily i travel with 2 sleeping bags. we got up in the morning and i packed up my camp and we drove 5 1/2 hours back into to phoenix to her house. the whole time she kept forgetting our previous conversations and repeatedly asked me if her can was parked at some mexican food restraurant in phoenix. i had to explain to her frequently that her car was out in the sticks with a ripped out oil pan. needless to say i wasn't to comfortable with the thought of leaving her by herself at home. we finally found the house and contacted her husband (he was in toronto, canada working). he had filed a missing person report the night before and the police were on the lookout for her. i called the cops and told them i had her and we were at her home. well i figured i would try to set up a wrecker to recover her car and so i got online and she headed for the shower. not long after i hear a scream from the bedroom. i open the door and there karin is collapsed on the floor having a seizure. quick call to 911 and had the paramedics there in a few minutes. they transported her to the hospital, leaving me at the house to get the wrecker sorted. her husband called and said he was catching the next flight to phoenis and that i could stay the night at the house.

the next day i took the car key and meet the wrecker driver about an hour north of phoenix and told him where the car was and he was off to get it.

i later talked to her husband and found out she had a second seizure the next day. man, was i glad she didn't do that to me when were in my tent. i have not spoken to them since and hope she is doing all right.

[maarten.1975]

Great work man! That woman has to be really glad you found her!
I as well hope she is doing oke by now!

[Iceaxe]

Wow.... incredible story.


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[stefan]

wild story and kind of you to help out!

[jman]

That's crazy!

I fear that's how my mom is going to turn out... Take a drive to Moab or escalante and do something like that ..

[denaliguide]

wild story and kind of you to help out!

she's the same age as my mom. i hope everybody would do what i did to help her out. i could not imagine anyone ever leaving someone like that to just sort it out by themselves.

[oldno7]

Well gone,Les

Glad she found you

Why do you camp at swimming pools in Phoenix?

[erial]

If you hadn't of camped where you did and then let curiosity lead you to investigate, that person would have been destined to die under terrible circumstances. In a fictional desert setting Rick Blaine tells Victor Lazlo that "it seems that destiny has taken a hand." In Arizona it was you who lended a hand. Bravo.

[Scott P]

Amazing story. Sounds almost like an X-File.

[denaliguide]

Well gone,Les

Glad she found you

Why do you camp at swimming pools in Phoenix?

best place to pick up chicks and you don't have to go as far to get water?

[Sombeech]

Incredible story, that was quite the good deed you performed there.

[Scott Card]

Les, well done. Glad there are people like you out there.

[Iceaxe]

crazy lost woman story

I noticed you used both the words "crazy" and "woman" in the title.... just for the record.... they are ALL crazy, some just more than others.

[hike2kolob]

You are a good man!

[denaliguide]

I noticed you used both the words "crazy" and "woman" in the title.... just for the record.... they are ALL crazy, some just more than others.

straight from the department of redundancy department.

[Mtnseeker1]

I always stop to check on others in the desert.
Ran into a couple of old boys with the tail gate down eating lunch and washing it down with a cold one.
Come to find out the other side of the truck had two flat tires and they only had one spare. They were happy that I took the time to ask if all was ok.

[Deathcricket]

LMAO! Crazy story!

When I was reading the story I was expecting you to drive her back 5 1/2 hours to find out that wasn't even her house, but some place she lived in as a child or something, haha. When the mind starts going all kinds of crazy crap comes out. Good on ya though, I feel bad for you, but am so glad you were there to save her life.

[Mtnseeker1]

@ Deathcricket I had the same floating around my mind before I finished the story. My mom is real close to this now and it is scary.

[denaliguide]

update.


@Deathcricket, fortunately she had a drivers license with her correct address on it. she wasn't sure where she lived until we pulled up at her house.

yesterday i received a very nice card from her and her husband. things are doing better now. the doctors think the seizures were related to a withdrawal from the medications she had been taken, dehydration, and just the stress of the whole episode.

[Deuce]

Incredible story, that was quite the good deed you performed there.

X 2.... Crazy.....

That woman, her husband and family/loved ones, are VERY lucky you're "nosy like that."