July• 2019 | 57READER’S DIGESTon an untamed stretch of
road devoid of signs, and
got out. She grabbed her
mobile phone and the
urn, stashed her handbag
in the car, and locked the
doors. And then Jean and
Yoda entered the woods.T
he park fea-
tures one of the
world’s most
diverse popu-
lations of wildflowers, and Jean was
on a quest for blue alpine forget-me-
nots. Their beauty, Jack had once told
Jean, moved him. When she didn’t
see any, she walked deeper into the
woods and finally spotted a blanket
of blue through a small opening in
the trees. Relieved, she walked to the
flowers and distributed Jack’s ashes.
She said a quiet blessing and turned
to leave.
Then she paused. Had she come
in this way or that? Where was the
trail? Jack would have laughed. He’d
frequently teased her about her terri-
ble sense of direction. His nickname
for her was “wrong-way Jean”.
She saw a hill and headed to-
wards it. If she could make it to the
top, she could scan the horizon andspot Obstruction Point Road. Her
shoes, which had smooth treads,
were ill-suited for the climb. Yoda
ran ahead while Jean struggled to
maintain her balance. She slipped,
dropped the urn, and watched it roll
over the edge of the hill and tum-
ble into a gully. Jean crept her way
to the slope’s side. She spotted the
dark plastic urn, barely visible in the
underbrush. She hated abandon-
ing anything related to Jack, but the
steep hillside was too dangerous to
navigate. She eventually made it to
the top of the crest, where she saw
nothing but trees and more hills.
She’d been gone from home for a few
hours, and it was getting dark.
She reached for her mobile phone
to call for help. No service. Thirsty,
Jean needed water. She random-
ly picked a route, pushing her way
through underbrush and branches
that cut and pricked her, until she
came upon a small creek. She and
Yoda drank deeply. As night fell,
Jean was chilled by an awful reali-
sation: she would be spending the
night in the woods.
She’d heard stories about people
who had died in the park, including
one who had been mauled by a bear.
Just stay calm, she thought, forcing
herself to focus on the task at hand.
First things first – she needed a place
to sleep. She spotted a downed tree,
about two metres in diameter, that
had fallen on a big rock next to the
creek. The space beneath was largeJean Geer, months
before she and her
dog disappeared in
Olympic National ParkPHOTO, THIS SPREAD: COURTESY JEAN GEER