Read Skywalker--Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail for Free Online

attacks, drive off cliffs, you name it. But few ever die as strangely as 26 year-old David Coughlin.
    In the summer of 1999, David and his friend, Raffi Kodikian headed out on that great American rite of passage—the cross-country road trip. They left from Boston and on day six arrived at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the Chihuahuan desert in southern New Mexico. First, they went to the ranger station to inquire as to the cheapest place they could camp. The ranger recommended a campsite in an area called Rattlesnake Canyon. Specifically, they were to drive down a dirt road, park their car, and walk a mile down to the campsite on the desert floor. Raffi filled out their campsite permit for a stay of one day.
    The ranger also advised them to carry at least one gallon of water for each day they planned to be out there. David and Raffi were on tight budgets, however, and chose to purchase just three pint bottles for the two of them. They hurried out to make it to the campsite before dark.
    They easily found the parking lot for Rattlesnake Canyon, strapped on their backpacks, and soon reached the bottom of the canyon floor. They had planned to camp right there, but were in an adventuresome mood. So David and Raffi took a turn onto a lightly traveled trail which they followed for about a mile. Here they set up camp
    All was well.

     
    David and Raffi broke camp early the next morning to avoid getting caught in the broiling sun. Quickly they realized they were lost.
    Because of its shear vastness, hiking in the desert can be tricky. David and Rafffi spent the afternoon wandering thirstily in various directions hoping vainly to come across water somewhere. But wisely they elected to not wander too far afield. They reasoned that since they had filled out the camping permit for only one day, somebody would soon come looking for them.
    That night around midnight their hopes were suddenly lifted when both spotted a light on the far canyon wall. There must be a road over there, they reasoned. The following morning they began scaling a steep incline to try to find the road. Altogether, it took three hours in the blazing heat to arrive at the top. Once at the top, it became immediately clear there was no road anywhere around. But that wasn’t the worst part.
    The previous day, David Coughlin and Raffi Kodikian had actually played it pretty smart by seeking shade and not using up too much bodily water. But the trek they had just made to the top of the shelf probably used up as much as eight times the bodily water than if they had laid low. And it left them on barren heights completely exposed. This is when things began to get ugly.

     
    Vultures started circling over David and Raffii. Like almost everyone else, they had seen old westerns in which vultures wait until their prey is too weak to resist. At that point, the vultures strike.
    “They were probably about thirty feet above us,” Raffi later testified. “It would start with just one circling and then another one would come and then another one. They would just stick around and watch us. We would wave our arms to let them know that we were still alive. My understanding of buzzards at the time was that they start before you’re done—as soon as you’re too tired to fight them.” David and Raffi happened to be disastrously wrong on this point. Vultures are actually highly social creatures that like to hang out around outdoors people, as well as other vultures.
    They decided to head back into the canyon they had used up so much effort climbing out of earlier in the morning. First, though they found some pieces of cactus bush and began trying to suck water out of it. Since cacti absorb water, this theoretically could have helped. But they remained desperately thirsty. Now it was time to try the oldest trick in the book.
    They would each drink their own urine. Had they known better, however, they would never have tried it. A person’s body actually uses up more water