Presumed Dead: Kings Canyon National Park

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Have you ever wondered what it was like to witness your own death? We all know that life moves on despite loss. It has to. The world keeps spinning. Family and friends grieve, move forward with their lives, albeit living with a small, empty hole where you once stood. But what if you were alive, clinging to life in the wilderness, but no one knew?

Imagine stepping back in your old life after defying all of the odds, clutching your own death certificate, realizing that this is not the life that you left. Things have changed, and even worse, your story of survival is questioned. For one man, lost in the Sierra Nevadas, battling against the elements of Kings Canyon National Park, he experienced just that. This is a story of betrayal.

survival, love, heartbreak, victory and loss, suspicion and exoneration. This is a story of a tragic end and an even more incredible return to life. This is the story. of Lieutenant David Steeves. Welcome to National Park After Dark.

Hi everybody, welcome back to National Park After Dark. My name is Cassie. And my name is Danielle. Thanks for joining us once again. We have a really interesting story for you today at a brand new park we haven't visited yet. But before we get into it, we have a couple things to announce, or a couple housekeeping things. I have one thing I'm so excited to share with everyone.

So we got a really interesting message from one of our listeners named Annie and they were so excited to tell us an update on one of our episodes. So a while back we did an episode on the Great Sand Dunes. And we mentioned the UFO Watchtower, and she works there. Yeah, I wasn't sure what you were going to say, and I was sitting here like, what is she announcing right now? But yes, oh my god, when she sent us that, like, we can see.

We can see her. We can go see her remains. And do you know how intact they are? Is it just her bones? I'm assuming. Okay, wait, you're getting ahead of yourself because we haven't even said the best part. So Judy, who is the owner of the Watchtower, we got to tell them first. Judy, who is the owner of the Watchtower, got her hands on Snippy's remains. And if you have...

no idea what the hell we're talking about you need to go back to that episode and listen to it because it is all about this horse named snippy and she has her remains now and she has a gofundme set up to get the display up and running because there was some challenges with COVID and things, but Snippy's remains have been secured by the Watchtower in Hooper, Colorado, and they are really excited to get her on display.

We are planning another national park trip as we speak because we have to go see this. This is awesome. U.S. college students get Google Gemini's Pro plan free for one year and use the best model in the world for multimodal understanding. So whether you're uploading a video to get feedback on your presentation, uploading a photo of your homework to ask for extra help, or transcribing notes...

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Head to your national park? You said we're going to Kings Canyon? Yeah, so we are headed to Kings Canyon National Park. And as always, we're going to do a brief overview of the park before we head into the meat of the story. So Kings Canyon is located in Southern California and was originally named General Grant National Park in 1890, but it was expanded and then they renamed it to what we know now in March of 1940.

The park is comprised of over 460,000 acres of foothills, montane forests and meadows, as well as subalpine and alpine areas. a ton of different species of wildlife find their homes here such as coyotes, cougars, bats, hares, osprey, there's king snakes and salamanders, but not all who once lived here still do.

If you were to visit Kings Canyon today, the only bear that you would run into is the black bear, which can be a little confusing because if you have ever seen California's state flag, it has a huge grizzly smack dab in the middle of it. The flag of California was first raised in June of 1846, and at the time, the state it represented had thousands of grizzlies, so it made sense. But throughout the 1800s and into the early 1900s, grizzlies were systematically eradicated from the state. In 1924,

There was a group of crew members working in the neighboring Sequoia National Park, and they reported seeing a mother grizzly and her cub, but the sighting was isolated and it was unconfirmed. They couldn't prove. that those bears were actually grizzlies. They were never seen again. So in 1924, the grizzly was declared extinct from the state, which is a huge bummer. But there is an upside. There is another species that's making a comeback into this part. The Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep.

In March of 2014, a total of 14 of these animals were translocated from the Inyo National Forest to remote areas of Sequoia National Park. Since then, they have migrated throughout the region and into areas of both Sequoia as well as Kings Canyon. Since then, they have migrated throughout the region and a total of 11 herds now occupy areas in and between Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.

making them the only park mammal listed as federally endangered under the Endangered Species Act here in Kings Canyon. And I know I just mentioned Sequoia National Park a lot, but... The parks are so close together. There's only actually a handful of miles that separate the two, so they're very closely related.

and a lot of people think of sequoia trees in Sequoia National Park, but Kings Canyon has them too. The park actually has Redwood Canyon, which is the largest remaining grove of sequoia trees in the entire world. And something else cool about the park is that the combined PCT and John Mueller trail transverses the entire length of the park from north to south.

even though Kings Canyon is covered in snow a majority of the entire year. Kings Canyon is expansive and mostly comprised of rugged wilderness far from visitor facilities and roads.

And it is here that our story takes place. The morning of May 9, 1957 was hazy and gray when Lieutenant David Steeves took off from Oakland's Municipal Airport. He sat comfortably in the cockpit of his Lockheed T-33 shooting star, preparing for takeoff. He went down his checklist, ensuring important details were not missed. Fuel gauges, checked. Instruments and radios, checked and set.

Seatbelt and harness fastened. Parking brake off. Cleared and ready for takeoff, he eased the throttle forward and accelerated as the brakes were released, racing down the runway and propelling up. straight into the California sky. The control operator watched him soar away and jotted down the time. 10.43 a.m. Steve's had nearly 1,000 hours of flight time under his belt over the previous two years since he got his pilot's wings.

and he had traveled this flight route before. The flight plan was to leave Oakland, head over Fresno, across the California and Arizona border, and into Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix, where he would refuel before the final leg of his journey that would take him to Craig Air Force Base, his home station in Selma, Alabama. Above the clouds, he left the hazy, gray world behind.

Now he was riding over a blanket that draped over the Sierra Nevadas, a 400 mile long mountain range running primarily through California. The range consists of over 24,000 square miles of wilderness. including General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume, Lake Tahoe, the largest alpine lake in North America, Mount Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states, and three national parks.

Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon. Gazing down and admiring the glimpses of the ice-covered rocks came a flash of harsh reality. Don't let the beauty fool you, he may have said to himself. as David remembered just how dangerous of a place these mountains could be. Just a few months earlier, a fellow pilot from his home base went missing. Lieutenant Glenn Sutton had been declared dead after disappearing into the Sierras, although no trace of him...

or his plane was ever found. Less than 30 minutes after takeoff, he radioed Fresno to report his position above the city. Moments later, it happened. A boom. Then darkness. Then smoke. He had passed out and came to again. Head spinning and ears buzzing, he took in what he had missed. Something had exploded inside of his jet, and smoke billowed through the cockpit. He wasn't quite sure how long he had been out.

but he was still in the air, and still alive. He attempted to correct the plane that was headed back down towards the clouds. He eased back on the stick, and when the plane didn't correct, he knew what he had to do. He shut his eyes tight. locked his seat harness, raised his right armrest, and squeezed the trigger. He was shot out of the cockpit and quickly pulled the D-ring of his parachute. Thankfully, it released and he was jolted as it quickly unfolded in the air.

But instead of floating through the clouds, he was falling, faster and harder than he had expected. Looking up at the orange and white segments of his parachute, his heart fell. There were long rips running through the length of his chute.

The earth was quickly approaching, and the space between him and the Sierras was rapidly shrinking. With little time to think, and even less opportunity to avoid the inevitable, he braced himself. David landed hard. right on rock projecting from the side of a peak his legs felt numb but he could move them and he reached to unclip the harness he assessed his situation and it wasn't looking good he had no idea where he was or where his plane went

Below him a few hundred feet was a snow-filled basin and above him was his torn parachute caught on a rocky outcropping. Reaching for it was dangerous. He was unsure of his footing, injured to some degree. and one wrong step would send him plummeting down the side of the mountain. But this was one of the only pieces of gear he had, so with calculated steps, he made his way up to the tattered pieces and snagged them. Getting back to his original spot,

He bundled it up along with his harness and what remained of his seat and backpack. Looking up at the sun he guessed the time to be around noon. His goal was to reach the basin before dark. as it appeared there was some sort of shelter in the form of some toppled trees and large rocks. The incline was so steep and snowy, he couldn't simply walk down it, especially with the injuries he sustained to his legs.

He took the bundle of gear and heaved it down the mountain towards the basin where it tumbled a few hundred feet before resting where the mountain started to flatten out. David turned around so he was facing the mountain and began to dig his hands and feet. into makeshift footholds and slowly started to make a descent. Hours passed before he reached his gear.

but he was finally at a spot that he could walk the rest of the way to the basin, instead of the agonizingly slow pace creeping down using the footholds. Plus, his hands were going numb. He wasn't prepared with thick winter gloves. He only had a thin pair of leather flying ones. After catching his breath, he reached down to grab his bundle, but collapsed as pain shot through his legs.

Both of his ankles were screaming in pain and they were unable to support his weight. Trying to keep panic at bay and quickly realizing what started as a hazy morning was beginning to turn darker. That would make it difficult, if not impossible, for search planes to find him. He improvised and made a mini sled out of his bundle, and sitting on top of it, he began to make another slow sliding descent.

He alternated between the sliding technique and crawling on his hands and knees until he reached the pile of tree fall he had seen from above the basin. The trees were pine and had fallen and rested on top of one another. Snow drifts had accumulated over them, and he was able to dig out a small little cave underneath the fallen trunks. He then cut small pieces of the stump with the knife he always carried.

strapped into a holster around his leg, combined the wood with some flight papers in his pockets, and made a small fire, pulling his flight cap down over his ears, wrapping his arms around him tightly, and hunkering down for the night.

he reflected on all the events that led him here to this very spot, injured, lost, and dying on a mountain. David Steeves was born on January 16, 1934 in Connecticut. and had grown up in nearby Fairfield with his mother, father, and older brother, Harold. I'm from Connecticut. Or I was born in Connecticut. Oh, really? I didn't know that. I was born in Massachusetts. Yeah. Really? We both made our way up to New Hampshire, I guess. Yes, we did.

His mom described David as always being full of plans, having a mind of his own. He was patient, determined, and usually got what he wanted. Throughout school, he was pretty average as far as student. wise, academically wise, but he was an outstanding athlete. He made the varsity football team when he was just a freshman and he was always very adventurous, always outside and exploring, but his family was...

actually quite strict. He grew up in a very strict religious family where they interpreted and taught the Bible literally, and they said prayers before every meal. They didn't smoke or drink. They didn't curse. He had really strict curfews, like everything like that. Despite all of that, he did have a really good relationship with his parents and him and his father even worked together on cars in their free time.

They would purchase a car, fix it, and then sell it only to buy a better one and repeat the process. And although he wasn't described as a rebel, David didn't subscribe to his upbringing and yearned to be on his own. He thought that his parents were way too strict and he looked forward to different opportunities that would get him out of the house and in different environments. And one summer he had an opportunity to do just that.

He went to work on a farm for the summer of his freshman year of high school. He met the owner of the farm through a leader. He was like a leader in one of their church groups. And so he met them. this guy through church but he gave him an opportunity to do something outside of the church and David worked on his farm all summer. He did everything from plowing the fields, butchering animals, doing daily chores on the farm. So it was hard labor. It wasn't like summer camp away.

but it was away from the strict guidelines of his home. Yeah, he was living more of the simple life kind of thing. So that group that he met the owner of the farm through was called Youth for Christ. And it's that group that he also met somebody else. Her name was Rita Lundstrom, and she met David when she was only 14 years old, and David was only 16.

Even as a teenager Rita was beautiful. Her parents were from Sweden and she could have been the face of Scandinavia. She had that typical wavy blonde hair. piercing blue eyes that pale fair skin like any pictures of her even though they're mainly in they are all in black and white you can just see how beautiful she was and they hit it off right away and they began going steady work on the farm that summer was a nice distraction but it wasn't enough

When David hit 18, he answered the call for adventure. He arranged to work on another farm, but this time it was in Alberta, Canada. So he took a bus from Connecticut to Chicago and hitchhiked the rest of the way to the farm. He made it. And he worked there, but not all summer. He moved on, making his way all the way to Alaska, working odd jobs, including a spot on a road tarring crew.

a gas station attendant, a salmon canner, and a crew member on an ex-naval ship carrying salmon down to Seattle. All in one summer. Sounds like just a bunch of... jobs for excuses to go live in beautiful places because Alberta Canada that's like I mean it's a huge province but it's beautiful there's like Jasper National Park Banff National Park go up to Alaska amazing beautiful

Down to Seattle. All of it. Sounds like he was just finding excuses to go to beautiful places. Well, it was like... one extreme to the other you know like super sheltered strict life to doing his own thing paving his own way i personally didn't grow up in a very religious home or a very strict home

But I have friends that did, and I feel like as soon as they hit 18, rebellion. They just had so much to do at that point. They were partying. They were... traveling they were doing everything as soon as they were able to I've seen it happen as well and so it's nice to have a nice balance when you're growing up you definitely need rules and guidelines and restrictions but If you go too far that way, I think as soon as the leash is unclipped, it's all over. But...

For David, he was still only a teenager. He was only 18. But physically, like I mentioned before, he was an extremely outstanding athlete and he physically mirrored that. So people described him like he looked like a full-grown man, like not a teenager. An old boss even described him as an ox. He was clean-cut and intelligent, but built like a tank.

He always kept in shape by lifting weights. And once his old boss said that he witnessed Steve's take a half inch steel handle, bring it behind his neck and pull it into a U shape. like a collar around his neck oh like some strong man type of stuff one time super unrelated but one time i was stuck in a uh

I was in a Jeep with someone and we got stuck in the snow and the guy I was with was so strong. He literally picked up the entire front end of the Jeep and pushed it. And I remember sitting in the car. I was in the car too. I was just like, what is happening right now? Sir, are you the Hulk? What's happening?

am i safe that's crazy yeah that's wild so after he had this awesome summer one for the books he headed home and that fall he began taking private flying lessons He arranged to start while his parents were on vacation, so he was very sneaky about it. And by the time they got back, he had already gotten a lot of hours under his belt and kind of like snuck in the fact like...

hey, I've already done this and I'm already kind of really enjoying it and I'm good at it, so I'm going to keep doing it. And they weren't psyched about it, but they also allowed him to keep going with it. In the fall of 1953, Steve's was 19. His girlfriend, Rita, enrolled in school to become a dental hygienist in Connecticut while he entered the Norwich Military University in Vermont. Sorry, what? That's right next to me. The Norwich?

It's super close to me. I actually went down there once because we were looking at a place to rent and I hated it there. It was... okay well but it's a really small town and they had nothing to do there and I looked at Al and I was like we're not living here there's no way but that's really funny because that's within half an hour of me He liked it there. And like I said, him and his girlfriend got engaged during Christmas.

Classic. And shortly after their engagement, Steve's applied and was accepted into the Air Force's Aviation Cadet Program. And after over a year of training, he earned his pilot's wings and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Force.

reserves. At the ripe old age of 21 and 19, David and Rita got married and were sent to Webb Air Force Base in Texas. And it was here that Rita found out that she was pregnant. She was sure it was a girl. While David was convinced that it was a boy. This went on the entire pregnancy and not really in like a joking, fun way that we kind of think of now. Like, oh, I think it's a girl. It's a boy. Let's have a gender reveal party. Like, that was not it.

David insisted over and over that he was having a boy, but when Rita gave birth in March of 1956, it was a girl who they named Lisa. David was horrible to Rita about it. He walked into the hospital room and stared at Rita with tears rolling down his face. He himself even later said, I can't explain how I felt. I know it was childish, cruel, and stupid even.

But inside me, I blamed Rita for having a girl. What's wrong with girls? Yeah, David. What the fuck? I would be so upset if I gave birth to a child and... They didn't love it because it was a girl and they resented me because I made a girl. Yeah, Rita was really upset. Like, truly upset. And she knew that he was going to be upset just based on... during the pregnancy, how insistent he was on it, but she didn't know how hard he was going to take it.

and she did describe that even before he came into the hospital room for the first time she was scared because she knew he was going to be disappointed and after the whole thing it happened when he came in he was crying and all that um she sat in her room all night holding her baby and cried and she was quoted as saying all of the joy of having her was gone that's really sad and upsetting

Yeah, it's not great. Within the first few weeks of his daughter's birth, he opened a small car polishing business. He put it in Rita's name to avoid trouble on the base and spent all of his free time there. He was actively avoiding his family and became very solitary. He was drinking more and would even avoid offers from friends to go out and get together. The business was successful at first and it provided extra money for his family, but it started to fail and he sold it within a year.

It was then that with all the sudden free time opened up, he took opportunities to take flight to the Hamilton Air Force Base near San Francisco, where he began an affair. He eventually told his wife, down to the details of the other woman's name and what she looked like, and Rita was absolutely heartbroken. She had been left alone with a newborn baby.

She felt like David was always angry with her for having a girl and he was always gone. So to learn that he had been seeing another woman just totally destroyed her. you're really not selling me on david i feel so bad for her david did say that he would end it Like, he came forward with saying, like, I don't think that Rita would have ever truly known unless David did tell her because this is the 50s. There's no social media. They're states away. Like, I don't think she would have ever known.

But he did come clean and tell her about it. And he said, okay, I'm going to end this. I will tell her. Just let me do it. And Rita said, okay. And she did find drafts of letters to the other woman saying as such, like he drafted some letters to her saying that he was ending the affair with her. Okay. But did he send them? Well, these were just drafts of...

Of letters that she found. I would be FBI investing. I'd be like, give me this woman's address. I'm going to her house. Ugh, David. David. David. All I can think about is Schitt's Creek. Ew, David. I haven't watched it. Have you listened? Someone call 911 on Cassie. You've never seen Schitt's Creek? I've seen like eight episodes. I'm wildly upset and I just, we can't even get on a tangent about this because we have to finish this story, but we're going to talk later.

okay it's fine you can watch it later but anyways okay

So back to David and Rita. So things were starting to look up for them. And in the Christmas time of 1956, David was promoted to first lieutenant and he accepted a transfer to Craig Air Force Base and was granted a vacation between. two assignments so they decided to take the time to spend together drive home to connecticut with their daughter have some time off before he got reassigned

And during that trip, they became close again, and they bought a house trailer to renovate together. And David assured Rita that his affair was over and done with during this trip. I'm suspicious. Well, you should be. David went on to instructor school where he passed. And a few months later, his flying ability was questioned by one of his students.

And that resulted in him being dismissed as an instructor and he was reassigned to the maintenance crew. So there was some trouble going on over there. But back at home, things were looking up. David became really interested in doing things with his family. He loved spending time with his daughter and showed a really sincere interest in fixing up the trailer with Rita. But once again, things took a turn.

For three months while they were finishing the trailer, Rita said that David brought up the other woman constantly, and he admitted to seeing her recently while he was on a work trip, and he said he needed more time to get over her. And Rita even said her name was a common word around the trailer. David would sit and talk about her, and I'd often encourage him. I wanted to know what she was like and what she had that I lacked.

That's so upsetting and sad because he's talking about her so much. To his wife, I need time to get over my mistress. Okay, that's... awful to say to your wife but also you're you're making her feel like she has to compare to another person and I feel this on such a deep level because I have so many similarities with this woman and

an ex as well because i dated a man in the military and he did some similar stuff and similar things when i'm just like i'm so like pro rita right now i'm like oh my god rita Let me comfort you. Like, I'm so sorry. We like Rita. Rita's... good people so she did go through obviously a horrific like imagine and again i feel like we say this all the time i feel like it's a phrase we say a lot but it was a different time because it truly was it was the 50s

Your housewife, she's very reliant on David. And even though she's gone to school and she wants to be a dental hygienist, she is not making enough money to support herself and her daughter. She can't just peace out, you know. things are different back then so family and I mean it's hard if you really care about someone and they're making you feel less than if

It's hard to leave that situation because you don't feel like you are going to find someone better. Yeah. Well, it's like emotionally abusive. It feels like. So eventually in April of 1957, Rita... She had had enough. She wanted to leave David. But when she told him she was done, he was wildly upset.

So here we go with the emotional abuse cycle. Like he's the one that's doing the wrong to her. And when she's like, okay, I'm done. Now he's upset. And in the heat of the discussion, David admitted he hadn't told the other woman. It was over at all. He thought that simply writing her a letter to end things was too cruel. What about your wife, dude? I literally wrote in parentheses, bro, what? Yeah. And...

He was begging her, begging her to stay, to work things out with him, yada, yada, yada. He told her in May that he was going to fly to California again. And this time it was really real. He was really going to tell the other woman it was over. Just stick with him that long. So Rita and Lisa went to Connecticut for two weeks while David was gone, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she became. On May 6th, she decided it was her turn to write a letter.

She wrote to David saying she and Lisa were going to stay in Connecticut until he got his shit together. She said that she loved a lot about him, but she was blind to other parts of him, like his self-centeredness, his vanity, his immaturity, basically the way that... He had treated her. She was willing to try their marriage again, but not unless significant changes in behavior on his part were made. Determined, sight-sent on a new plan, and likely with a renewed sense of girl power.

On May 15th, she returned to their house trailer, but wasn't met with David. Instead, she was met with news. News that he was missing. There was snowfall on David's first morning on the mountain. He still couldn't walk, but his ankles weren't as painful when he crawled. With him, he had a helmet, flying cap, oxygen mask, gloves, wool socks, calf length boots, a t-shirt and undershorts.

a summer flying suit and jacket, a .32 revolver fully loaded with four spare bullets, several books of matches, sunglasses, loose change, nail clippers, a pipe, and a pen and paper. In the jolt of his parachute deployment, he had lost a couple things like his wallet, social security card, and driver's license. He had made a small makeshift shelter, but nothing of any sort of permanence.

For the next three days, he slept curled underneath the pines in his parachute, and for the next three mornings, he awoke to gray and snowy skies. There was little hope for a rescue at this rate, especially in his location. If he stayed, he wouldn't make it here. He had no food and a flimsy shelter. By May 12th, his ankles were steady enough to stand on, and he made the decision to get moving. So he started to walk.

leaving unnecessary items such as his bulky helmet and oxygen mask behind. He started to put one foot in front of the other. David continued for three days, finding rest against landslide debris and rock outcroppings. He flip-flopped from being soaked from the snow and cold at night to dry and warm and sweating in the sun while walking during the day. Finally, a sign. Literally.

on his third day of walking he stumbled across a sign that read simpson meadow ten miles his first glimmer of hope in days david eagerly pressed on towards the meadow but lost the trail in the deep snowdrifts He ended up scaling rocky cliffs and followed a river, all the while seeing small game like grouse and occasionally some deer. Dinner with legs. But his revolver couldn't reach them, and he only had a few precious bullets.

Onward he went, trudging through the snow with an empty stomach. On the morning of his fourteenth day, he was granted his first stroke of luck, a campsite. There was a storage cache high in the trees, a corral, and a fire pit with rusty cans. This camp had long since been abandoned, but he managed to find a can with syrup at the bottom. He licked and scraped out its contents.

eager for anything other than snow melt. This is the first thing he had ingested in two weeks that wasn't snow. Wow, I can't even imagine not eating for that long. And he's moving and doing stuff during this, so he is getting no calories, and he's doing all this work. I can just, oof, that's hard. And he's not just moving, he's moving through snow that is...

Very high, like above his knees, up to his waist at points. It's not easy work. The cash that he had found was too high to reach. He may have been an ox before. but he had lost a significant amount of weight and was in a weak and fragile state. He couldn't manage the climb to the cache and had to move on. He walked again for hours until he reached a fallen log and sat down to rest.

Holding his face in his hands, he began to sob. Had this entire experience been a punishment from God? Was this some sort of grand karma unfolding for all the wrong that he had done? He was a mess. Tired, weak, and malnourished, he questioned how much longer he could go on. And that's when he looked up. Blinking away his tears, he couldn't believe his eyes. A cabin. No more than a large shed, but a cabin.

Sturdy, with four walls. Shelter. Heart racing with renewed faith, he stumbled over to the front porch, only to find it locked. Hours passed as David fumbled with the lock, attempting to break it open. It wasn't so long ago that he was bending steel, but now a small flimsy lock felt like a hundred pounds in his hands. Finally, with the use of a makeshift pole, he pried the door open and stumbled inside. Jackpot.

The contents of the cabin were sparse, but his eyes immediately were drawn to the most beautiful word he had ever seen. Foodstuffs. Scrambling through the cabinet, he found cans of beans, tomatoes, hash, gelatin, boxes of sugar and coffee, rice, pinto beans, dehydrated soup, tea, cornstarch, ketchup, and tons of spices.

He was ravenous and immediately opened the ketchup bottle and downed gulps of it. Knowing he was far from out of the woods, he slowed the pace, realizing he would need to ration all the remaining food if he had any chance of living. He glanced around the space and took note of other items. There were canteens and a mattress, first aid equipment, and a tent canvas. Grabbing one of the canteens, he headed out towards the nearby river to stock up on water.

and while returning, stumbled across yet another campsite, a tent platform, fire ring, and a picnic table that sat beside another sign, Simpson Meadow Ranger Station. No, this, this was Simpson Meadow. David thought that Simpson Meadow would be populated, that if he reached it, he would finally reach safety. But he was wrong.

On the downward plunge of the day's emotional roller coaster, he went back inside the cabin and sat on the moth-eaten mattress, eager for some semblance of a normal night. And for the first time in over two weeks, he was in a position to take his boots off. The pain of taking them off was almost unbearable. As they came off, he screamed in agony. To his horror, as soon as they were off his feet, he saw his skin. It was blue and orange and was swelling. Fast.

The swelling continued from his feet to halfway up his knees and was painful to the touch. He managed to lift them onto the mattress, used the tent canvas as a makeshift bed sheet, and passed out. Should have kept the boots on.

yeah he should have but he didn't he managed to get them back on but can you imagine that same day may 12th rita was awaiting the arrival of david's family she was shocked and grieving Even if she had been planning on leaving him, she was still willing to repair the marriage, and she did love David. She had confided with another military wife named Phyllis, and had previously told her of all their marital problems.

That day, while Rita was breaking down about David, Phyllis did the best to console her friend, but she also pointed out something very important. Maybe it wasn't such a terrible thing that David went missing. she said rita was still young and that this could be her opportunity for an entire new and happy life friend like oh damn phyllis she's like you know what he kind of sucked like maybe this is a good out you get his money

He's gone. It's been like, it's been less than a week since he went missing. She's like, you know what? Screw him. You don't need him. Like, okay, damn Phyllis. Damn Phyllis. David's parents and brother arrived on base, and together they worried for David. Then a letter came from the woman in California. Rita said, I couldn't read it, so Phyllis did.

thinking if it showed David had broken off the affair that I should know about it, but it was clear from the letter that he hadn't. Rita told David's family of the situation, and soon after, she turned from grief-stricken to numb. David's parents remarked at how controlled she seemed to be, but Rita was bitter. She was dazed and drained of all her emotion. The Steves stayed for a week, waiting on word about their son, but none came.

and they left for their home in Connecticut. And after 19 days, David was declared dead. At the end of the month, Rita left Selma and went home to Connecticut to live with her family. And in June, she enrolled back into school.

She had worked as a dental hygienist, but had new dreams of obtaining a psychology degree. As the months passed, she adjusted to her new life and began to feel happy again after the years of a difficult marriage and months grieving it. But back in time and back in the cabin, David laid on that mattress for days. He was in and out of delirium, brought on by a raging fever. Unbeknownst to him,

search parties had been dispatched for him by the Air Force. Within the first few hours of when he was expected to arrive in Selma, their search began. So they were on top of things right away. Over 17 days, they flew the skies looking for any sight of him. Efforts were hampered by heavy rain and over 90 inches of snow accumulation. But the search did reveal something. Three somethings, actually.

Three planes were spotted from the air, but none of them were David's. Wow, so whose planes were they? They were missing people. I know he said at the beginning that someone else had disappeared. recently was one of them that person yeah so they didn't specify in the sources that I read but it was just highlighting the fact that like it's so easy to get lost and to not be

your remains or your plane to be recovered in that type of terrain. So they didn't identify, they didn't specify who they belong to, but they did say they found three planes. After 17 days, while David was somewhere in the Sierras trudging through snow, the search was called off. Days passed as David lay on the mattress in the cabin, fighting off his fever and infection.

Finally, after coming in and out of lucid moments, he was able to get up and scour the cab or more food and resources. More beans and rice were a happy find, but even better, a signal mirror, ranger documents, and a map labeled Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, California. The map would finally give him a sense of direction. Where the hell was he?

studying the map he was discouraged to find no trace of anything that looked like a city or a town but he did find his current location simpson meadow for the first time his fears of being far from civilization were confirmed on paper Simpson Meadow was 6,000 feet in elevation, surrounded by 12,000 foot mountain ranges. Mount Whitney was 25 miles to his south.

Studying his options, he settled on a trail that followed a river to Tapiti Valley, which would eventually bring him to a ranger station some 20 miles later. He packed what items he could carry and headed toward the valley.

Able to walk, but at a slow pace, he managed to reach the valley. Sheer rock faces lay ahead of him as the trail came to a seemingly dead end. He spent the next couple of days there. wading through freezing rivers, attempting to climb the sheer rocks and to find another trail, all without success. Emotionally and physically drained, he returned to Simpson Meadow.

He spent another six days in the cabin before attempting another trail that he found on the map. Again, he set out with only his gear that he could carry, only to lose the trail again in waist-high snow. Again. back to Simpson Meadow, and this time he stayed put. Rummaging through the paperwork in the cabin, he read that in the previous years, trail crews had not reached that cabin until mid-June to early July.

Counting back his days, which now seemed to have all blended together, he realized that it was June 7th. Best case scenario, he had to make it here two more weeks, and in worst case scenario, a whole nother month.

Time to get crafty. His spices, sugar, and beans were starting to dwindle, and he could feel his hip bones protruding from his pants. David got lucky again though, when he found two small rusted fishing hooks. He fashioned a rod using hooks and some thread from the cabin and went fishing in the river nearby. He was successful at first and eagerly gutted and cleaned the many trout he managed to catch. But as the days wore on and his catches dwindled,

he cut less and less away from the fish and ended up eating everything from their eyes to their gills to their brains. You gotta do what you gotta do, I guess. If he was going to make it, it was becoming clear that he needed bigger game. His gun was no good for distant shooting, but he had yet another stroke of luck. He remembered the cash.

at the other campsite that he had stumbled upon before, and now that he had regained some of his strength from when he originally passed by it, he set out to climb it in hopes of creating a deer stand. While on his way, he stumbled across an old salt lick notched within a log with deer prints scattered around the surrounding snow. And another idea dawned upon him. A trap.

He spent all day rigging an intricate trap that held his cocked revolver to aim just above the salt block, which would be triggered by a series of weights that would put pressure on the thread attached to the gun that would set off the trigger. Crafty. Very crafty, yes. And two days later, he had success. A young buck had fell victim to the revolver. Finally, a sense of security washed over David as he hauled the animal back to camp.

cooked some of the meat, and processed, packaged, and stored the rest. He knew he had to ration, but the satiating venison was way too tempting, and in just five days he ate over half of that deer. Day by day passed, and once again, David found himself in a routine, attempting to fish, but always nervous of losing his only two hooks.

setting and resetting the deer trap as he would often find it set with fresh blood near it but no animal. So it would clip an animal but wouldn't kill it. He would forage for dandelions, snakes, and strawberries. He set up signs alerting to his situation around the meadow and the off chance that someone was passing by. And as time judged on, he felt himself getting weaker and weaker, physically but also mentally.

He was talking to himself more and more. He found himself praying and thinking of his family, and that all brought him to tears. He questioned his life and how he lived it up until this point. He thought of Rita, how badly he had treated her, and of course his mind was ever clouded with thoughts of food. Food that was not coming. He was down to one fish a day, if he was lucky.

and no more deer at all. He had to make a drastic decision if he was going to make it, and that was setting the forest on fire. He needed someone to notice him. Wow, California is the place to... Have a fire, too, I guess. I know. Well, he was really torn about this decision. He recognized the dangers. First and foremost, it would scare away the potential game in the area that he was... relying on for food.

And secondly, he was planning on setting it across the river from his camp, but if it raged out of control, it could easily jump and destroy the only resources and shelter that he had. And then the last thing... he thought about was the National Park Service. He was concerned about people. Like, if they sent in firefighters to combat this fire that he set, and then someone potentially died or got injured, he would feel really guilty about that.

Yeah, that's absolutely a concern, especially if it does rage out of control and you are sending people in. I mean, he's in a very desperate situation, so I can see why this would be...

a thought but there's definitely a lot of downsides to this decision he weighed the pros and cons but like you said he's in a desperate situation he has no other options so he went for it He set four different blazes and watched them for three days as they raged on. And then he heard the sweet, familiar sound of a plane. He grabbed his signal mirror and flashed it at the plane, waving his arms and shouting. desperation in his cracking voice, but the sounds grew fainter and the plane disappeared.

well the thing with small fires if they were small a lot of times if they're away from anybody there's no one around i guess it's in a national park but if it's far away from people they'll just let them die out on their own or they'll just have a plane fly by they'll drop some water on it if they're small enough and then we'll just let it die out as long as it's not interrupting or has any threat towards people so if he's really far out there then

I guess, or it could have been a scouting plane. You're going to tell me, but I'm just thinking of possibilities. Well, there's actually no more information on that. It was just like the plane came and went and that's it. There was no other follow-up in regards to that. see what was happening with the fires right so days were on and it was clear that nothing was going to come of that so his plan changed again he needed to hike out

It had been far too long with no signs of anyone making their way to the meadows. He spent the next few days stocking up on berries, fish, and flowers for his trek, and he decided to go to a place called Cedar Grove. That was his destination. he made the decision in his mind that this was it. He had to make it this time. There was no other option. He climbed mountains some 10,000 feet, wandered downhills and trails. He rock scrambled, waded through streams and the remaining snow.

some of which was still over his knees at times, even though we're now in June. A day later, he reached Daughtry Meadow and saw a trail sign pointing to Cedar Grove. He pushed to an area called Tent Meadow. and according to the map that he brought with him, at his current rate of travel, he was sure that he could make it to Cedar Grove within a day or so.

He felt really accomplished, and he sat down on a log to pick out some of the strawberries that he had packed away in an old coffee can. Reflecting on his accident, his journey, and all that he had overcome, David was grateful. In his mind, he was granted an opportunity, a chance to come close to death, reflect on all the wrongs in his life, and then a blessing of getting to live a better life after the ordeal was over, if only he could make it.

One more day, he thought, I can do this. And then it happened, seemingly from the heavens, a feminine, angelic voice. Hello there. A woman, on horseback, stared down at David. A shadow of the ox that he once was, a skeleton with skin and loose-fitting clothes. She and her other companions, also on horseback, approached him on the log. He jumped up.

Am I glad to see you. I have been here almost 60 days. Have you got any food? His first thought. It's like, please feed me. I need food. That's all I want. Yeah, he's desperate. One of the men dismounted his horse and introduced himself as Albert Aide, a guide from Squaw Valley, California. He was with his wife and another couple, and he explained that they were always the first ones to come and open the trail in the summer.

and David poured out his story. They decided to make camp on the trail with the promise to take David to Cedar Grove Ranger Station the following day. That night, David ate everything in sight. against the advice from his rescuers, but David couldn't help it. He was walking the line of starvation for the last two months, and he ate everything in sight. Steak. Chocolate.

oranges, cupcakes, raisins, bread, peanut butter, potatoes. He wolfed it all down and he told his stories in bits and pieces between the bites to his new stunned friends.

As promised, the next morning Abe brought him to the ranger station where once again he told his story. The ranger was skeptical but allowed him to use the phone. He called his mother and spoke at length. He was back from the dead. Where was Rita? He begged to speak with her. Sensing the reluctancy in his mother's voice worried him, but soon he heard the phone shuffling, being handed over, and a voice came through. Rita, said David.

Do you still love me? I feel like he's going, he's like, well, I'm back. I can emotionally fuck my wife again. Well, to him. He just had this life-changing experience. He's reflecting on all of the wrongs that he did. He's having like... But to her, she's like, he's gone. He's been abusing me for so long. And then his first... thing she hears is do you still love me i'm back right and that is where her problem was like she had a problem with that

So thousands of miles away, Rita's world was spinning. She had just worked so hard on starting a new life. She was healing from a broken marriage, a presumed death of a spouse, and was creating a new world for herself and her daughter. I don't know, David. I don't think I can come back, she answered. David seemed adamant that things were different. Not long after the call, word of David's heroic comeback was national news. Phone calls poured in from everywhere.

He was a celebrity, a legend. After speaking with a close friend, Rita came to a sombering realization. If she failed to play the part of a loving wife, her reputation would be ruined. No one would understand if she didn't support David and welcome him back home with open arms, because no one knew what had happened before. While Rita processed her new, upside-down world, David was dealing with a whole new world as well.

The rangers who at first were skeptical of his story became convinced by his detailed account, especially his intimate knowledge of the area and the map that he had. Over the next few days, he was transported to the hospital in Merced, California.

He had lost nearly 50 pounds. His ankles were still swollen and he needed to recover. Like as much as I dislike David for how he's treated Rita, I also... really sympathize with him for what he's been through like that is so 50 pounds 60 days of solitude not knowing if you're going to survive living off of scraps and now it's super publicized you have a marriage that's falling apart which is your fault but at the same time does probably

doesn't make it any easier now that you've had this life-changing experience and you see what a bad person you've been and

It's rough and it gets rougher. So the media didn't really seem to care about his... current physical condition, he was badgered constantly with questions and calls. He even gave a press conference in the clothes that he had worn for the last 54 days while he was stranded in the park.

He tried to escape the incessant attention by hiding for hours at a time in the bathroom, but his ears perked after hearing that there was a bidding war between a book and a magazine publishing company for his story. he may just be able to profit off of this. The next two days were an absolute whirlwind. He was flown to LA where he met with the Air Force relations personnel, made two television appearances, and then he was off to New York.

where more press conferences, interviews, and TV appearances followed. Wait, they didn't send him home? He just went off to publicize himself? Well, so his reunion with Rita and his daughter happened in New York. Okay.

while he went to new york he just went from thinking he was gonna die and starving to less than a week later being on this huge grand circuit tour it's all very very overwhelming and he did meet up with Rita like I said in New York and it was between all of these media appearances and interviews and scheduled conferences and things like that where they finally had a few minutes in private.

to speak. And it's here that David told her of his deal with the Saturday Evening Post for a magazine and a manuscript deal about his experience. Part of that deal involved flying back to California and trekking back to Simpson Meadows to show the world exactly where he was and what he went through. I want you to come with me, David said to Rita.

but only if you intend on staying with me. Torn and reluctant, but under immense pressure, she agreed to give it a try. So off they went to Simpson Meadow. They were accompanied by Ade and his wife, the couple that originally found David, a photographer, Clay Blair, who was the editor for the magazine that wanted to publish his story, and that editor's 10-year-old granddaughter.

They traveled through the park by horseback, bringing mules to carry their supplies. The trip was really difficult emotionally for each of them, but in different ways. Rita was resentful. She was annoyed that David thought he could just swoop in and get her back with the snap of his fingers and, for the most part, was pretty cold towards him during their trip.

And from David's perspective, he had just been granted this second chance at life and a second shot at their marriage. He was excited to show her what he had been through, and he was really bitter when she showed a lack of interest. But there was also another snag in this trip. While at the ranger stationed, they questioned him about his knowledge of that forest fire. And he denied being part of it because he was afraid of the backlash.

Even though later on he did finally admit that it was him, he originally denied it. I can understand that, especially in California. And like you said, the things that were going on in his head of the risk of... people being injured and damaged to the national park and i can see how you wouldn't necessarily want to be like yeah that was me right the trip only worsened after they returned from their trek to the meadow at the hotel in fresno

David had the brilliant idea to invite the other woman from San Francisco for dinner. Wait, did his wife know?

Yeah, so they talked about it and they agreed. I mean, obviously Rita wasn't thrilled, but this was kind of like his way of... mending things there's even a direct quote that I have here and this quote as well as the other ones that I said earlier in the episode and Most of this information actually came from an article by William Peters for the Red Book magazine, and it's titled The Survival of Lieutenant Steves. It's an amazing 11-page article. I'll link it in our show notes as always.

under our resources if you want a more in-depth look at the story as well as the other resources i used but this is where that quote came from and here it is i was desperate i saw all my struggles to survive as futile unless i could somehow make rita love me So that's his point of view, that he...

But he didn't end it. Right. Well, there's two problems. A, he didn't end it. And B, things weren't fine because we know what Rita's perspective is now. So he doesn't... seem to understand what her problem is so he's like all right well maybe if i just get the two of them together they'll understand and everything will be fine but it did not go that way surprise surprise for rita it was pretty much torture

She had nothing to say and the dinner served as the final nail in the coffin for her. It was over. And that was just the first blow of what was to come. After two weeks in Fresno, David and Rita traveled back to Connecticut but stayed in different homes. On August 6th, David received a letter from the Post terminating the story deal, along with the $10,000 payment that he was expected.

to receive for his story. Why? So the letter cited substantial discrepancies and inconsistencies between the facts developed by Clay Blair, so that publisher that went on that trek with them back to simpson meadows and as originally relayed by david okay within a week that went public and suddenly his story was front page again but this time he was no hero

he was being portrayed as a fake. That, compounded with the now public knowledge that Rita was planning a divorce, was not looking good for David. Overnight, he went from hero to hoax. The media pointed out that his boots were oddly clean and in good condition for allegedly being out in the wilderness struggling to survive for nearly two months.

His wishy-washy account of the forest fire and not taking blame for it right away also didn't look good for him. And finally, the most damning speculation came directly from the Air Force. Where was his plane? The questions kept coming, and from some pretty big names, including Thomas Allen, who was Kings Canyon National Park Superintendent. And these were some of the questions.

If the deer in the meadows were tame with the salt lick, why did you have a struggle trapping them? Why leave behind your parachute when you could have used it for warmth? Is it even possible to survive 15 days without food? Why were a full box of matches found left behind at your initial shelter? David fired back.

I had to leave some gear behind because I couldn't carry it, especially while I was injured. To the food question, he responded simply, I did. Like, how can you survive without food? He's like, I did. I'm alive. It sucked. And he explained that it is possible out of the several boxes of matches he had, some of them could have been dropped accidentally. His initial bailout from the plane was not questioned.

as this parachute was found in the dusty basin at 14,400 feet of elevation, precisely where David said that he had landed. What was for up to bay, though, was what followed. There were several theories floating around as to what Steve's really did with the missing plane. One of the more elaborate ones was that he had flown to Mexico and sold his plane to the Russians before being flown...

back into Kings Canyon area and then was deposited in the Sierras to make it all look like some sort of accident. People are coming up with wild scenarios here. Right. Well, this was the 50s and it was at kind of like the height of the Cold War. So people were thinking that he was somehow like a Russian spy. Yeah. So while the media was having an absolute field day with this, David was being tested in Washington, D.C. at the Bowling Air Force Base.

A Pentagon spokeswoman stated that he was in excellent physical and mental condition and that he would make a great combat fighter pilot. His commanding officer also said that after reviewing all the reports, he believed David's story. He admitted to wanting to know what happened to the plane like obviously that was a big question that everyone wanted answered but he also commented that during the initial search efforts those remnants of missing planes that were finally discovered

showed just how easy it was for records to stay concealed in that terrain. Aide also vouched for David, saying that he had been in those mountains since 1912, and that Everything David had said had checked out. He emphasized that he was an expert tracker and guide and that when he first stumbled across David, he followed his tracks all the way back to his cabin. He saw this stuff for himself. He was there. David was shocked at his entire experience and said,

and then thought to be a liar, well, it was rough. He kept trying to mend his family, and nearly a half a year later, Rita canceled the pending divorce. She said, another quote, Marriage and family are too important to jeopardize by clinging to selfish mistakes. After talking serious about it, we both feel we can and should make an attempt. We hope to be happy together and we would hope that we'll be left alone to live our lives.

the way that others do so she again is really trying to fight for her marriage and fight for her relationship with david yeah she's putting a lot of a lot of work into this and she's been through a lot But it was a short-lived attempt, and just two years later, David and Rita divorced and went their separate ways. They both eventually remarried, however, the scandal that enveloped David haunted him for the rest of his life.

It didn't matter how many people backed him and his account, there was always the same number of people against him. He requested to be relieved of duty from the Air Force and he returned to civilian life. His reputation was ruined, and he lived the rest of his life in scrutiny. He had gone on to have two more children and owned an aviation firm in Fresno.

There are reports of him renting planes throughout the years in an attempt to locate his lost jet, all to no avail. So he spent his life looking to redeem himself by finding his plane. In 1977, a headline appeared, Discovery Back's Story of Disgraced Pilot of the 50s. A Boy Scout group was hiking in Kings Canyon National Park when they discovered an airplane canopy.

The fading serial numbers matched those of David Steve's T-33 jet, and he was redeemed. The redemption came 12 years too late for David, though. At the age of 31, In October of 1965, he was killed in Boise, Idaho in an airplane crash. Oh my gosh. So everyone thought he was a liar his entire life.

He ends up very ironically actually dying in a crash. And then they find his plane 12 years later. Yep. So his story, everything he had said was true. And in recent years that there have actually been... on again and off again reports and investigations into the potential crash site area for the lost jet. Because the Boy Scouts only found a very small portion of the plane, and it just happened to be the one that had the serial number on it. So as far as where the rest of the plane is...

that there's been investigations into pinpointing that. And there have also been investigations into what caused the jet to explode in the first place. The most accepted theory is that the aircraft's fuel cap, which was located behind the ejection seat, was kind of leaking, and that David would have been unable to smell that gas as he had his oxygen mask on.

source ignited the fuel-air mixture which caused an explosion in the cockpit that knocked him unconscious. That would have caused the burns and tears in his parachute as well and would have also damaged his flight controls because remember he tried to pull up

on the stick it wasn't working and all that. David was likely unconscious for minutes rather than seconds before he was ejected because he also doesn't remember how long he was out and David also later reported that he didn't see his jet crash while he was parachuting down after he ejected, so that suggests that the plane likely flew away.

According to the flight paths previously set and taking into account the likely alterations due to the explosion, it's thought that the jet continued on into a wide loop for about 70 miles.

until it ran out of fuel. But that's just one of several theories, some of which suggest that by calculations that they can pinpoint the actual coordinates of where the remnants of the long-loss plane are likely located. But as of today, None of the plane has ever been found other than that small section that the Boy Scouts found.

So as of now, Kings Canyon National Park has held on to the last pieces of David Steve's story, and it's likely that the Sierras will keep their secrets. Wow, that's wild. Do you know for the plane crash, she'd... actually died in do you know what happened with that like where it was and if they had the plane and stuff yeah so it was actually from what i read it was at

the airport in boise idaho it was in front of people so he owned a small aviation firm and to my knowledge he was he had a passenger that was potentially buying this aircraft that he had fixed up himself and he was showing the potential buyer the plane. So they were in the plane together, and they were coming into land, and something happened, and they hit the berm at the end of the runway, and they both died. Yeah.

So it looks like he escaped death by plane once, but it's kind of like a final destination thing. He was meant to die in a plane crash. You may escape, but... Especially to survive that crash.

But not one that happened in an actual airport. It's ironic and weird the way that life works out in that story. Thanks for telling me that story about... eight hours before i'm gonna board my flight sorry i have this thing with like plane stories i feel like i've done several of them like way too many than i should

should have which is not no they're interesting in any way very interesting yeah so thank you everyone for hanging in I know that was a longer one but I wanted to be as thorough as possible and if you want to read into more of his story the sources that i used for the episode were that red book article that I mentioned before. Of course, Wikipedia was used as well. And then I also used a source from The Big Carnival.

which is a blog, and it's called After 50 Years and Air Force Pilots' Bravery Outshines His Public Humiliation, and that was written by David Paulin. So I'll go ahead and link those in the show notes, but it was a really interesting story and one that had a lot of twists. returns and I just wasn't expecting it to go that way so I hope everyone enjoyed it we're gonna head out of here but we do have one last thing to say we have heard you we have so many messages from people asking about merch

And we swear we're working on it. We are working on it. We just had a couple things to revamp. Stuff to make it a little bit smoother on our end. To make it... easier for us to put it out for you so we are working on it it is going to come out soon don't have a date for you but we are working on it in the meantime if you want any extra stuff from us you can go into our patreon you can find our link

on our website npadpodcast.com or on our instagram national park after dark we do have a twitter uh npad podcast and we have a facebook national park after dark and if you are looking for another way to support us when you support our sponsors you are also supporting us and we love to be able to put out these great promo codes and discounts for you on these products that we really do love so if you want to support the show in that way you can do that as well awesome

Well, that is it for us. We are officially on vacation, at least in our minds. Thank you so much, everyone, for tuning in. We will see you next week. In the meantime, enjoy the view. But watch your back. Bye. V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N Vacation In the summertime I'm Martha Stewart, and I believe the best gifts are not only beautiful, but useful every single day. And Lenox has brought timeless beauty and lasting quality to our tables for generations.

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