Rescued Shreveport Hiker Returns Home

Terry Harlon is still nursing a sunburn... A reminder of his fateful trip through the Rocky Mountain National Forest. "That trip was a deliberate short trip, just to get a feel for the area. I got a little more of a feel to the area than I really anticipated." said Harlon. He started his hike with a compass and a trail map. But Terry says he came across something he never anticipated. "I did not have an adequate respect for the danger of the snow." Snow covered most of the trail and he couldn`t get his bearings. "The snow was waist deep. I was virtually crawling through the snow. And got completely exhausted and even more lost." said Harlon. Terry made camp. And by the end of day two the situation started looking grim. "I was not in a position to find my own way out of there. And I knew my wife would be alerting the authorities." His wife Judy hadn`t heard from him in days. "It was just agony, you know... waiting...You don`t know what to think. You don`t know what to do." said Judy. After days of an extensive search, a rescue helicopter flew overhead. Terry took of his hat and used his sunglasses to reflect light at the chopper. "And I had a blue and white backpack that I would swing as wide as I could swing it." said Terry. A short time later, a team of ground searchers rescued Terry and reunited him with his family. Terry says he would go hiking in the Rocky Mountain National Forest again. But next time he`ll be better prepared. "I had an inadequate map and I only have myself to blame for that.. And my lack of respect for the snow. That was the 2 factors that made this dangerous." Despite the threat of danger, Judy is okay with Terry`s decision. "I have no problem with that. But he won`t be going alone." Reported by Kimberly Williams, kwilliams@ktalnews.tv