The Stabber on the Trail

This story is one of my more frightening hiking tales…

One fine day in July of 2004, Best Friend and I set out of Ogden, Utah for a hike up Waterfall Canyon. It was a hot day-- way too hot for a comfortable hike. We got a late start since we were being very leisurely (lazy) and began the steep hike up the canyon around noon. It was a short hike, only about a mile one way to the waterfall. But did I mention it was steep? Oh, and did I yet mention that it was a hot day? I’m pretty sure that I didn’t mention that a greater portion of the trail was unshaded.

Not too many people were on the steep, unshaded trail on this hot day at high noon. (What a surprise!) We met two couples finishing up the trail. They were almost back to the trailhead and parking lot, as we were beginning. A few minutes later, we came across this complete weirdo. Then we met no one until we were almost to the waterfall. That's when two guys jogging down the mountain nearly bowled us over. That’s it. That’s all the people we were sharing the trail with.

Let’s go back to the weirdo…He was a weirdo because he was sweating like a pig in his grayish long pants, long sleeves, and bucket hat. (Now, I know I have mentioned it was a hot day by this point!) Not only was this nut dressed in artic clothing in July, but he was a crazy talker.

“Hey, are you going to the waterfall?” he asked. Duh! Where do you think we are going on this trail that leads to the waterfall?

“Yep,” Best Friend and I replied in unison, without slowing down.

Yet he continued to talk, though we didn’t even slow down for him. “It’s real nice up there. Nobody’s there. Usually, there are a lot of people by the waterfall but nobody’s there now. You’ll have it all to yourself.”

“Thanks,” we muttered now way past him.

Still, he continues to talk, now raising his voice so we can hear him across the growing gap between us. Best Friend and I continued to move, actually quickening our pace by this point. He says, “You can even play it in. You’ll have it all to yourselves. The water's real nice and cool. And you'll have it all to yourselves!”

You know what? We got it the first time. We will be there all alone.

We rounded a corner next to the water tower by a golf course now below us. I looked over my shoulder to make sure that he didn’t come back around the corner to follow us and tell us once again about how we would be all alone by the waterfall. He was nowhere in sight and so we pressed on discussing how creepy he was. Then we forgot about him.

Now on an important side note: I must remark that it is highly unusual for either Best Friend or I to not talk to other hikers we meet. I am constantly running into other hikers with southern accents and comparing adventure notes with them. (We Southerners like to that. It’s that Southern Hospitality thing going on.) Best Friend enjoys telling everyone she meets about the bear she once saw on a trail. However, we did not want to talk to this man. He was creepy. He was weird. And we both got a horrible vibe from him.

All was great as we forgot about him and reached a shaded section of the trail. All was perfect. I was feeling good. Then I saw it...a snake! A big, ugly, vicious-looking snake! I thought it was a Rattler. Best Friend claims it wasn’t. She said it didn’t have a rattler. I couldn’t bear to look long enough to see for myself. All I know is it looked like one, therefore in my terrified mind, it shall always remain one. (Another side note that I am sure comes as no surprise: I am terrified of snakes! I have an uncontrollable, irrational, psychotic fear of snakes.) I went into a full panic attack when I saw it. I screamed, cried, froze up, and began to shake so badly that Best Friend had to physically move me and to sit me down away from the sight of the serpent. Even after it left the trail, way beyond my sight, I still needed to sit to regain enough composure to walk again. I couldn’t breathe at all. Slowly, I began to calm down, thanks to Best Friend’s rescue. As I sat there on the rock, my sobbing finally declined to silent teardrops. Then I heard some kids screaming down the trail. They were probably playing in the stream. They didn't sound that far away.

So no one else, except Best Friend, would see just what a baby I am, I wiped my face dry and we continued up the trail. The last thing I needed was a group of kids seeing me in this fragile condition. Plus, more importantly, we needed to beat them to the waterfall so we could get some kid-free shots of the waterfall on film.

A short time later, right after being nearly knocked down by the previously mentioned joggers, we reached the cool waterfall. And just as promised, we had it all to ourselves. We took all the photos we wanted. We played in the water and cooled off. In fact, we were there for quite a while in its mist. For a moment, I wondered what happened to those kids we heard. They should have been playing in the waterfall with us by now.

We began our decent down the canyon back to the parking lot. Still, we met no one. I just figured that no one was as idiotic as we were to be in the heat on this trail and thought not much more about it…until….we saw the Utah Highway Patrol helicopter overhead.

What had happened? Did someone get lost? Did someone get hurt? Then I turned to Best Friend and asked, “Best Friend, uh, is there something you would like to confess? Are they looking for you?” She laughed, admitting she wondered the same thing of me. One thing was for sure: They were indeed looking for someone. The ‘copter went flew up-canyon and then back down again over and over, and always flying low and hovering over our heads. I could make out the pilot’s face and waved to him. He waved back and continued to follow us back down the trail.

When we reached the trailhead, a police officer was standing at the end of the trail blocking it off and apparantly, waiting for us. He called on his radio, “The last two hikers made it back down. They’re here.”

The officer explained that he needed to ask us some questions about the people we encountered on the trail today. We accounted for everyone we met, but he was most interested in the weirdo. We answered all of his questions regarding the weirdo. He radioed someone at the station, “Yeah, the girls talked with him. I’ll send them down.” Then he turned to us and told us that we had talked with a suspect to a crime who they were searching for. He instructed us to go straight down to the Ogden P.D. immediately to meet with a detective who will be waiting for us. He also instructed us to not speak with the media, who were now gathering in the parking lot like sharks in a feeding frenzy.

We did as we were told and dodged the cameras and interrogations of the media as we made for our vehicle. One news station van began to follow us. So is this what it felt like to be Nicole Kidman running from the paparazzi? (No thanks, Nicole. You can have it!) When we made it to the P.D., the detective came out to meet us. He took me to another detective for questioning and led Best Friend away for her own line of interrogation.

By this point, I am really wondering what this weirdo has done! We were told by the detectives that our questions would be answered after theirs were answered first. After our part of the deal was fulfilled, one of the detectives filled us in.

He informed us that after passing us on the trail, this weirdo scoped out the parking lot and then turned back to follow us to the waterfall. He made it past the point where we met him by the water tower and to an intersection where a side trail met our trail. It just so happened that he met a couple of other unlucky girls coming up the side trail before making it to the waterfall and he stabbed them. Golfers down on the course below, called the police. The detective told us that the girls were okay, though one had a punctured lung and was in for surgery. The screaming “kids” we heard were actually the screams of the women as they were attacked. I have never felt so guilty for not knowing to help someone in all my life. For a couple of nights I didn’t sleep well. Every time I lay in the quiet of my bed, I would hear the screams in my head.

We drove back to the house from the P.D. in shock. The detective that spoke with Best Friend thought that we were lucky. He told Best Friend that we were blessed with good instinct that he referred to as our “Spider Senses”. For if we had stopped to chat and evaluate the accent in which the weirdo spoke or to let him know that we had seen a bear on a trail, he would have stabbed us instead.

I watched the news that evening to see myself on TV. He was still at-large that night, wandering around somewhere in Ogden, free to stab another victim.

Fortunately, the stabber was captured the following day. The news reported that he had been released from a half-way house only days before. He had spent three months in the half-way house after being released from prison for….you guessed it!...stabbing a woman in Salt Lake in the 1980s. Nice.

And about the long sleeves and pants in mid-summer…We were informed by the detective that this is the type of clothing that you don over another outfit when you plan to stab and rape someone. After committing the filthy crime, you simply discard the outer layer of clothing. So be on the alert should you ever run across someone with long sleeves and pants in the hot summer! It may turn out that they are as crazy as they look!



View from the top of the trail of Ogden and beyond. You can see the Great Salt Lake right in front of the mountain range in the distance.





Best Friend almost blends in with the rock as she cools herself by the waterfall that "we had all to ourselves."







I was happy to finally cool myself in the mist, but even happier that it isn't the final thing I ever did!