"Where's Justin?"

January weather makes logging difficult, especially snow. It was 12:30 pm and the snow began to fall. The ground had not thawed out all week so the accumulation was rapid. We had just changed roads to log the next section of the unit and the first two choker setters arrived from a long walk up the steep hill.

After only a few turns Tyler hollered out to me, "Where's Justin?" Good question as he is usually the first one back up the hill after a road change. "It's been an hour already. If he doesn't show up real soon we will have to go on a manhunt for him."

Within fifteen minutes we had stopped all work and the crew set out on a quest to find our missing man. I had heard the descriptions of the hill we were presently on and was quite happy that my job didn't include traversing the rock bluffs and steep slopes. I walked up to the trailhead that the crew had established and listened as they hollered out his name. Soon the dense brush and old growth timber muffled any sound of the crew.

The snow was falling quite heavy by now and we were getting quite concerned that no contact had been made with our missing man. Tyler had just returned to the landing and we discussed what to do next. The boss wasn't thrilled with the idea of having to call in the county search and rescue team but if we couldn't find Justin soon there would be no other choice.

Tyler waved to me to follow him and we made our way down to Larry's pickup and went for a short drive on the road below us. I stood by to monitor the radios as Tyler walked down the road to search a new area. I got a good laugh when I heard Larry remark, "I been doing this for 35 years and haven't lost a choker setter yet! I guess there's always a first time for everything."

Soon amongst the chatter I was listening to on two different radios was the voice of our MIA. Next was the question of where is he geographicly to our position? Tyler and I had just started back to the landing when he heard Justin say that he could see Larry's pickup. We stopped and hollered to him. A voice came back to us and we searched the open hillside to pinpoint his location. Finally I was able to spot him and was a bit confused as to how he ended up there.

Back on board the crummy the crew was full of questions for Justin. Since we had spent almost two hours looking for him the questions were inevitable. Seems that instead of following the established trail, he had gotten quite lost in the old growth timber. He had veered to the right instead of the left as he neared the top of the hill thus missing even the short spur road we were on.

After hearing his tale the crew figured out what road he had come out on. My question was why didn't he use his talkie-tooter to call us when he realized that he was lost? Logger pride perhaps or sheer stupidity, I guess we will never know for sure but our man was back on board and we were on our way home.

Another day done but with one logger that will not soon live down getting lost.

Rescue Dog