WHAT WOULD HAPPEN if a group of fifty something guys decided to relive an experience of their past?
What if this experience included hiking, backpacks and the hottest weekend of the summer?
Would they all come out alive or would it end up like August 1971 with the recovery of a dead body?
The idea for a reunion-hike to Toleak Point, south of Third Beach in West Jefferson County, came about in May at the memorial service for Russell Thomas, the father of one of the hikers, Kent Thomas.
A group of old friends decided they never got to see each other anymore — some still live in the Forks area, but the majority lives across the state, including Thomas.
So the date was set for the “Hogs,” and the hike was named “Hogathon 2010.”
Those participating would be Thomas, Kevin Hinchen, Jeff Sullivan, Ron Archer, Mike Brandeberry, Dave Otos, Cliff Otos, Bruce Dunlap, Stephen Morgan and Bill Brager.
One younger “Hog,” Sam Hinchen, joined the hike.
Several of the participants still do some hiking, but the majority had not worn a pack for almost 35 years.
The hike to Toleak was a trip most of them made many times in the 1970s.
Ocean views, sea stacks and beautiful sand beaches just to the south of the point are unforgettable. There are excellent opportunities to view bald eagles and seals, and bird life is common on the sea stacks.
Their hike to Toleak in August 1971 was one that never will be forgotten, either.
On Aug. 12, 1971, a California man, his wife and her mother had rented a 17-foot fishing boat.
When they came too close to the shore near Toleak Point, the boat capsized.
The man managed to pull the two women, who weren’t wearing life preservers and couldn’t swim, onto a nearby rock.
He then swam for shore and walked three miles to the Quillayute Coast Guard Station in LaPush.
Upon returning, the women were gone.
Searchers soon found the body of the older woman, but the man’s wife remained missing.
The search for her was called off the next day, Friday, Aug. 13.
A few days later, the Otos brothers and friends were being driven by Otos’ mother to a drop-off point on the Goodman Mainline for a hike to Toleak Point.
They were aware of the boating accident, and the older boys in the vehicle began to tease the youngest, Cliff, that they were going to find a body on the beach.
It was not long after they arrived on the beach that their teasing became reality.
Otos recalled: “After the three of us found the body, I ran down the beach and drug Hinchen, Brager and Farrell Thomas back to help get her above the high-tide mark.
Hinchen and I jogged out to LaPush and told the Coast Guard. We came to find out later some guy we talked to at Scott’s Creek didn’t tell us he had a radio, so by the time we got to LaPush they already knew.”
Thirty-nine years later, as they readied their packs on a Thursday evening in August, comfort was something being considered.
Brandeberry had a collapsible chair rolled into a foam sleeping pad that was attached to his pack.
The other consideration was food; all agreed they would eat and drink better than during past hikes.
Once on the beach, respects were paid at the spot the deceased had been found in 1971.
Temperatures soared that weekend. Thomas said it was like camping in Mexico — with evergreens.
Luckily, all the “Hogs” made it back alive.
Old friends reliving the past, in one of the most beautiful locations in the world . . . do I hear Hogathon 2011?
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Christi Baron is a longtime West End resident who is the office and property manager for Lunsford & Associates real estate and lives with her husband, Howard, in Forks.
Phone her at 360-374-3141 or 360-374-2244 with items for this column, or e-mail her at hbaron@centurytel.net.
West End Neighbor appears on this page every other Tuesday.
