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Hiker’s family decries reports that criticized her skills

Geraldine Largay.Dorothy Boynton Rust/AP

The family of Geraldine Largay, whose body was found last fall after she died while hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2013, issued a statement challenging “characterizations made by the media” that she was unprepared and possibly suffering from an anxiety disorder.

Largay, 66, of Tennessee, became lost on July 22, 2013, while hiking a densely wooded section of the Appalachian Trail in Redington Township, Maine. She wandered for a day or two before setting up a campsite on a knoll about 3,000 feet off the trail. While there, she kept a detailed journal that provided information about her condition, as well as letters saying goodbye to family members and friends.

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The family’s statement, released Friday afternoon through a spokesman, David Fox, said Largay was thinking clearly and had considerable experience hiking.

“Gerry was doing exactly what she wanted to do,” the statement read. “She’d hiked a thousand miles — after 200 miles of training hikes the year prior — and as the warden’s report indicates, she was lucid and thinking of others, as always, until the end. Her final days were a testament to her bravery, resourcefulness, and her faith.”

The family did not specify which media they were referring to, but a New York Times story in Friday’s paper characterized Largay as a “diminutive 66-year-old woman with a poor sense of direction” who was “prone to anxiety.”

A story in the Portland Press Herald cited a 1,579-page report from the Maine game warden and said Largay was not well-prepared and did not know how to use a compass, which the paper called “startling.”

The Boston Globe also ran a story about Largay on Page 1 Thursday.

Largay’s body was found in October 2015 in a densely wooded and remote area used by the Navy for survival training.

The Largay family said in their statement that they maintained confidence in the warden’s attempt to locate her, despite the difficult conditions.

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“While we grieve for Gerry, we do not second-guess any of the efforts to find her when she went missing. We witnessed firsthand the passion and commitment of the hundreds of game wardens and volunteers who searched for her.”

This was the first public statement since the Maine game warden released its report Wednesday about her disappearance and extensive searches for her.

The warden’s report said that Largay had attempted to text her husband, George, after becoming lost, but that the crucial texts were not delivered because of poor cell reception.

Her body was found a 10-minute walk from a trail that turns into a road. She had died from a lack of food and exposure.​

The Largays have asked for privacy as they continue to review the warden’s report and to mourn.

“We miss her every day,” said the statement. “She was, and still is, a beacon of light for her family and everyone who knew her.”


Kathryn Miles can be reached at Info@kathrynmiles.net.