Search with Billings Brown

In the summer of 1974 Peggy and I left Salt Lake in the early days of June and drove a then far past its useful years, Volkswagen van to Alaska. I think the basic intent of the trip had been to see friends in Anchorage but maybe the intent was to have our minds expanded by what was to be a once in a lifetime experience. We rafted the Yukon river for 175 miles, spent a couple of weeks backpacking in Denali park and then ran some more rivers, most notably the Gulkana which gave freely of its beauty and copious amounts of fish
 We drove down the highway and visited Banff and the breathtaking sights that it offered and then met friends by the side of the road in an austere town called McCall, Idaho.  Our meeting was the start of a another river adventure which included the Middle Fork of the Salmon and the Main Salmon, a fourteen day trip which was peppered with lazy moments on the river and moments of stark terror as we faced the highest water in history in one of the most challenging rivers in the lower 48.
  Our trip concluded with a drive back to SLC through Cascade, Idaho and then Boise which,
unknown to us at the time,  would become our home and the place where we would raise our children in what we now view in retrospect as the perfect place for that time of our life.
  We arrived home in SLC on an afternoon, almost evening and dragged ourselves into our
apartment with visions of  unpacking and sleep drifting through our tired minds. It was in this mental state of affairs with two solid months and close to 8,000 miles of driving behind us that our phone rang in the dining room. I stepped over backpacks, boating gear and food and picked up the phone.  Paul Brown, a former room mate and dear friend of years came on the line and simply said, "Mom is lost in the Wind Rivers and we have to go find her. How soon can you be ready?"  I explained that we had just gotten back from Alaska and were tired and didn't know if I could drive to Wyoming. He said that was not a problem, he and his cousin could drive and we could sleep in the back seat.
  My remembrance of sleeping was squirming around trying to avoid waking Peggy, waking up with a start when the hum of the road noise changed and seeing reflectors flashing by in the night. Some time in the middle of the night we arrived at a "lodge, bar, cafe, motel" that had become the temporary headquarters for the search. We rolled our bags out on the lawn and slept for a few hours waiting for daylight to spread across Wyoming so we could resume the search.
  At dawn we took another vehicle up the road to its end where we would begin hiking.  The elevation at road's end was almost 11,000 feet.  A combination of a short night and the elevation made the first bit of hiking kind of like jogging for the first time after a lifetime of sitting on a couch watching TV. In addition, there was not a member of the Brown family or extended family that was shorter than 6'5" so we were taking two steps to their one. We looked at maps and discussed the last time Barbara was seen then then launched off in
groups to cover as much territory as we could looking and listening and calling. The day
lasted forever and when the sun finally gave up to the oncoming night a group of us made
camp in the Dinwoody Creek area. We had a tent and our bags, it was cool and Peggy
was cold in the evening air so I crawled in the bag with her to warm her up. Once the zipper on the bag was up everything became a blank to both of us, we were so tired that we were unconscious until Billings awakened us at dawn.
  We ate breakfast, searched some more and then finally headed back to the ridge where we had first met and discussed the last time everyone had seen Barbara. We had heard
a helicopter working the area but had not noticed that it had changed it chopping noise so assumed it was still flying a search grid. The day had grown into a grey overcast with some light winds starting to blow making that familiar mountain wind song of swaying trees.
 Standing on that mountain side with Billings along wiht  some of his family members was a watershed experience. I had not lived long enough at that point to feel the depth of love that develops between a man and a woman over the period of 30 plus years nor did I realize the depth of feeling that one could have in this kind of a traumatic situation. We discussed our next move, our next effort in the search when Billings said, "...Barbara is dead and I'm not sure that there is any need to go on...."  My heart cried out in pain, i said to myself, "No, we can't give up we must go on, we must find her." It was in the midst of this conversation in the group and the internal pain that all of us must have been feeling that someone came down the trail and announced they had heard on  the radio that they had found her with the helicopter. Time slammed to a stop, seconds seemed like hours, they had found her but?? He then breathlessly announced that she was alive and well.  It is safe to say that a wave of physical relief washed though all of us bringing a sense of gratitude, joy and happiness. Standing on the slope of that high mountain became a memorable moment that we shall all remember.

Billings Brown passed away May 23, 2012.  He was the father of my room mate and friend Paul Brown, my dear friend Zina Brown (Kincaid), Rosemary, Zina's sister, Russell, Tom, Blaine and David. I had the privilege of being in the home of Billings and Barbara many times and knew everyone well. There were always lively discussions there and Billings always asked questions in conversation that made you think. These questions  gave way to discussions that were both stimulating and enlightening. He was a great man. He and his family will always be in my mind and my memory.