Prologue

The title may have confused you as to the end result of a recent search that I and two others conducted on Wednesday, August 17 for James Hepworth, father of eight, missing since August 1st.  His van was found in a remote area in Wexford County near the Pine River, our nearly four hour search covered a few square miles along that river.  We effectively found nothing indicating that James was ever in the area.

How can I cruelly delude you into believing this was a successful search?  Please allow me to elaborate, I wasn't meaning to trick you.

Typically, when you search for something, to be successful at that search means you found it.  However, if, for example, you winter-proof your windows in November and later conduct a search for cold air leaks and find none later on, you have reason to say your search was successful because you found no leaks.  Leaks are bad, bad just like what could be left over after somebody has expired for a couple of weeks in the woods in scorching August weather. 

When you diligently conduct a search like this and find no signs of that, it is a truly successful search because you have actually bolstered the hope that James may still be alive by reducing the probability that he is somehow incapacitated in the region.

There were two other probabilities for our search. 

We may have found signs that he may still be alive and living feral.  Considering James' background, this is a legitimate possibility, and a good reason why we were looking for hidden shelters and other indications of transient camps. 

Or we may have found James himself either injured, dead, or trying to stay hid.  These aren't all favorable results, but whichever happened the search would have been successful in determining what was going on.  So it was plain to me at the start, that whatever happened regarding James, the search was guaranteed some degree of success, provided the searchers all made it home alive and well.  That last almost didn't happen.

The Search

Joining me in this search was Sheree Foster and her husband, Gene, who both were able to donate their day to the effort after my invitation was given.  Few folks can take Hump Day off for the prospect of walking several hours in a hot, humid and dense forest setting looking for something that potentially could be quite horrible to behold.  These guys were true troopers, however, and they even came better prepared gear-wise than me.

                                   The minimal search area we covered this day in Wexford County near the Dobson Bridge

After about an hour of travel from Ludington to the Dobson Bridge parking area, we went north along the Pine River and found the terrain rather slick and hilly.  After about twenty minutes  of checking around a couple of river bends and climbing a couple of hills, and seeing more inhospitable terrain a coming, we decided to check out a two track we passed on the way to the bridge that looked to follow the Pine River on the other side of the bridge. 

This turned out to be an idea that would allow us to cover quite a bit of ground.  The main path had a few side paths, some were two-tracks themselves, others were foot paths, even others may have been once-used deer trails.  Keeping our eyes open for anything of significance in the brush and the pathways, we started taking each sidereal trail until they ended or led to an opening, wetland, or otherwise led to far away from the main path. 

In this manner, we covered the majority of a forested area and more much like veins covering a leaf, with the path we originated on being the main vein.  The land was very lush, so there were likely some areas where we would have not seen in this area, even though we may have walked just a few yards away.  The lushness protected us from the sun that eventually popped out, but it also took away most of the refreshing wind, leaving us with soaked shirts.

The first path I took had a gate across it and seemed like it could be an entrance to a seasonal or hunting cabin; a place like that would be an excellent place to seek shelter for James, but it turned out that it just was a path that went into the woods.  I made it clear that we were not only looking for James, but for signs of some man-made shelters and other evidence of there being a fresh 'mountain-man' moved into the area recently. 

After several hours of continual hiking these side paths individually, I was on one when called by Sheree who frantically told me that Gene had been stung quite a few times by bees, and that he was allergic to bee stings.  They had found a bunch of tarps together and had started separating them when they found it was not sheltering anybody lately besides some angry bees.

The tarps were actually the first sign of some sort of shelter that we found, but Gene was hurting pretty bad and they started back to get to the main path, beating me there.  I caught up to them, and then hurried ahead on the path with all of our extra gear in tow to try and bring back my SUV, because Gene was hurting pretty bad and Sheree was trying to help him along. 

I met them near the beginning of the trail, popped the hood and allowed Gene to get some power steering fluid and motor oil from the vehicle.  Apparently, these products help bring the bee venom out and help in the healing process, which was news to me.  I couldn't help thinking after seeing Sheree  smear motor oil on Gene's back and legs of Dorothy doing the same with the tin man in "The Wizard of Oz" when they first met.  All that was missing was Gene squeaking out "Oil can!"from a half-closed mouth. 

So a potential disaster was averted and we'll definitely have to bring something for potential stings on our next trip, which I guarantee will be a success for all just like this one was, even if we don't find anything helpful after a long days searching other than a relaxing bath afterwards.  Perhaps if those whose lives are in crisis had a better, more inclusive, definition of success, we could have less searches like this in the future. 

Epilogue

Still at the end of the day, despite the hardships of the bee-stings, bug-bites, and the soaked outfits, the crew were optimistic about continuing searching for this missing man until he turns up.  After staying awake until the midnight hour, was woken the next morning, today, by the noisy Ludington street sweeper, and got up before 7 AM, and decided to check this website and the news on Facebook, and right at the top of my Facebook page (I am Xavier Luft) posted in the proverbial Facebook time of "just now" was this:

The day after I searched for him over nasty terrain, he found and reminded me that we had been Facebook friends for three years to the day on cyberspace.  Is it a sign from James, or is it just some Facebook notification designed quite rationally by Mark Zuckerburg and crew.  I took it as the former or maybe even from a higher source.  We'll find you buddy.