Your daily outdoor news bulletin for July 31, the day Jimmy Hoffa disappeared without a trace in 1975, an appropriate anniversary for today’s Dirt:
Sad News From the Appalachian Trail
One hiker died and another went missing on the Appalachian Trail this week, putting a damper on what could be the last weeks on the trail for thru-hikers.
Robert “Lucky 10” Accola, 54, of Raleigh, North Carolina was found dead in his tent Monday that was set up along the Appalachian Trail in New Hampshire. Accola’s cause of death has been ruled a heart attack – he had survived another heart attack when he was 39 – and he was found at the Jeffers Brook Shelter. According to Whiteblaze.com Accola had started his through hike last year, but had to stop in Massachusetts due to injury, and was finishing up his hike this year. Others recall his kindness on the trail, sharing food and kind words to the sick and tired.
A Tennessee woman has been missing from the trail for over a week, and Maine authorities are ‘mystified’ by her disappearance. Geraldine Anita Largay, aka “inchworm”, is 66, from Brentwood, Tenn. Largay was reported missing by her husband last Wednesday who was expecting her in Stratton. On July 21, Largay left Sandy River Plantation near Rangeley and texted her husband that she was on top of Saddleback Mountain. Largay sent a text to her husband the next morning and planned to meet him in Wyman Township, about seven miles north on the trail, the next day, but she never arrived. Her last sighted location was on Route 4 in Sandy River Plantation on July 21. Largay set out for Baxter State Park from Harpers Ferry in April.
Any information can be directed to Augusta Public Safety Dispatch at 1-800-452-4664.
Happy News From the Appalachian Trail
Fifteen-year-old Neva “Chipmunk” Warren is still on pace to be the youngest solo thru-hiker of the A.T. She will be speaking at a Hike For Mental Health event in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania on August 2.
More information can be found here.
