MARYSVILLE — “I’m still cold now,” said Daniel Anderson, the day after he was rescued from an expedition into the wilderness gone awry.
Anderson, a Marysville resident and Washington State Patrol trooper, was off-duty when he and a few friends ventured east of Darrington, first by biking 11 miles, then by hiking 10 more miles, before camping out in the mountains on May 13. On May 14, Anderson parted company with the rest of his party to continue on to Holden Village.
“I screwed up,” said Anderson, whose military service has included stints in the Marines, the Special Forces and the National Guard. “I was confident in my training, but when you go off on your own like that, just one little thing can leave you so vulnerable.”
It was a trail he’d hiked before, and he’d brought two GPS units to keep himself on course, but the one stopped working and the other began leading him down a questionable path as he continued his hike on May 15. When he set up camp that evening, 800 meters past the wood line, he realized that he’d lost his tent in one of his falls.
“I knew it was an emergency situation,” Anderson said. “It was just a matter of time before hypothermia set in.”
