Jonas Bare and longtime friend and travel companion Cynthia Hovsepian set out for an excursion of a day at Chena Hot Springs Resort, east of Fairbanks on August. 10.
“By simple choices that were not good an hour hike can led to the survival of eight days,” Bare said.
He claimed they followed the loop trail, which took them to a burning area, but they lost their way and lost their way. They became confused.
“You cannot tell the difference between burned marks and real path,” Bare said.
They walked through the muddles of dead trees and marshy Tussocks that Bare as if they were giant cushions.
“As soon when you enter the door, you must use all the energy you can to get your foot out, and then step back up,” he said. It’s exhausting.”.
They consumed the snacks they had on Aug 12 and were wary of eating wild fruit. However, the primary issue was thirst.
“Food was never a problem. We didn’t think about it. We didn’t even consider it. We didn’t feel hungry,” Bare said. “We simply wanted to continue moving but the it was so hot that it seemed as if we couldn’t drink enough water. We were thirsty the whole time.”
Bare stated that they mainly stuck to the banks of a creek to gain water access, but they did make forays from it in search of an escape route. Bare said they would build fires to heat up and dry out following the frequent downpours.
“We established camp over the course of the eight days, in four different spots,” he said. “We came across two bears, but nothing that was particularly scary for us however we were alert about our surroundings throughout the night. You can’t sleep. You need to keep the fire burning. It’s just a matter of taking a few breaks every now and then and continue pushing.”
Bare regrets not having their cell phones, or any other device for communication or signaling. Bare estimates that they were less than 6 miles away distance from their resort all times and even were able to see aircrafts searching for them.
“They were miles away in a different area but there wasn’t any way that we could reach them. We started a smog fire in order to try and smoke them out, but nothing could be able to do it,” he said.
The night of August. 17 Bare states that they’d become weak and had become hypothermic.
“We were aware that if weren’t able to leave at their own initiative we would be already dead.” the man said.
He claims Hovsepian who is visually impaired was doing worse.
“She’s physically finished. She’s not able to see. She’s not able to climb. Therefore, I created an entire safe zone with firewood backup. I promised to return within five hours.” he said.
This was in August. 18, 18. Bare claims he hiked north.
“We had a general notion that it should be this way, as we have eliminated all other options at this moment,” he said.
Bare claims that he finally discovered a trail and ran into two other people who were walking, and returned towards the Hot Springs.
“There were a lot of people in the room. My dad was also there and was from Ohio,” he said. “He didn’t recognize me at all and that’s likely the image that a lot of folks have seen across the internet.”
Bare claims he accompanied those searching, using ATV and helicopters to search for and bring Hovsepian into the Chena Hot Springs. Bare thanks everyone who took part in the search for Hovsepian that lasted for a week.
“There were a lot of people in the crowd, and it’s easy to realize that we were lost and lost on Friday night. I was unable to interact with people enough to know everyone’s names and names but they need to be acknowledged,” he said. __
Bare and Hovsepian took a break to recover before returning back to Tennessee. Hovsepian says Alaska is the 50th state they’ve traveled to together. Being lost prevented them from visiting other areas of Alaska He says they’ll be back.
