Buddy System (page 2 of 3)

"This Is Where I'm Meant to Be"

He had the same fears for Brennan. Using satellite maps of the Uintas, Bardsley sent volunteers out in teams to search the dense woods in 500-meter grids. He called everyone he could think of with horses or ATVs. Search-and-rescue workers were convinced that Brennan couldn't have gone far, but Bardsley's own instincts told him it was critical to scour outlying areas too. With another night approaching, there was no time to waste. Bardsley closed his eyes and prayed: "Where are you, Brennan?"

Back at camp, he tearfully embraced Brennan's father, Toby Hawkins. "Go home," Hawkins urged. "You don't need to relive this."

"No," said Bardsley, "this is where I'm meant to be." He suggested Toby and his wife, Jody, call a press conference. Bardsley always wondered if he'd talked to the media on the first day, would more volunteers have turned out? Maybe Garrett would have been found. Hawkins's plea worked: The next morning, Father's Day, 3,000 more volunteers showed up. After just a few hours of sleep, Bardsley sent them out to search new terrain.

Cupping his hands to drink from a creek, Brennan Hawkins was famished and exhausted. He had been lost for three days. He'd tried to eat lamb's ears, a plant he recognized from his Scout training as safe, but the leaves tasted so terrible he spit them out.

When darkness came, Brennan curled up into what he called "midget mode" -- pulling his sweatshirt down over his knees to stay warm. Fortunately, temperatures had dipped only into the low 50s the past few nights. But the woods were pitch-black, and he was scared. Bears lived in the upper elevations -- though Brennan didn't know that. He'd only seen squirrels so far.

During the day, Brennan prayed for directions. He thought of the Pokémon trading cards he'd ordered with his allowance. They should be arriving any day. "I'm going to get those cards," Brennan told himself. He kept walking.

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