COURTESYLOUDOUN^ COUNTY^ SHERIFF’S^OFFICEThe search-and-rescue
drone has a camera so
powerful that “you can see
the nose on a guy’s face on
the ground from 120 metres
up.” Here, it pinpoints Bill’s
orange cap in the forest.He kept pushing upward until,
finally, he hurled himself onto the shelf
atop the rock wall. Everything burned.
He needed a rest.
By the time McDonnell got going
again, it was nearing 2:45 p.m.
Descending into the valley, he came
to a trail marked by white blazes. He
remembered that one of his grand-
daughters had mentioned seeing a
waterfall while she was climbing in the
area, so he called her for advice. He
described the ravine, the rock walls
and the white-blazed trail he thought
might take him back to the Jeep. “It
looks pretty easy,” he said.She didn’t remember the trail.
“Grandpa,” she begged, “go back to
the ridgeline.”
But he refused. “I’ve got it figured
out,” he said, then realized he was
talking to air. His phone had died.
McDonnell dug into his pants for
the GPS device he always brought in
case of emergency and pushed the
“on” button. Nothing. He’d forgotten
to charge it.
The trail looked to be angling down-
ward in the right direction. Soon,
though, it turned and began to climb
away from the road where the Jeep
was parked. So McDonnell decided54 october 2019