Comes now, Sun intern and Olympic College student Chris Carter, explaining how he inadvertently became part of a horse rescue story, even though he really wasn’t.
Oh, the difficult life of a Kitsap Sun intern. Other than our stories being returned to us flowing in red ink due to our “newbie” mistakes and the constant roaming to find a computer that a full-time colleague isn’t using, our job is actually not that difficult and becoming lost in the woods is not part of our job description.
My summer intern partner Jon Miller and I had a somewhat less-than-enjoyable time tracking down the horse that had fallen into a ravine somewhere in the Gold Creek area.
The Kitsap Sun ran the story and its updates straightforward. However, still alive on KOMO’s Web site is a story that reads: “While crews were looking for the horse, two intern reporters for the Kitsap Sun were sent out to report on the rescue. In the process, the pair became lost, prompting rescue crews to turn their attention to locating them.”
Being on the other end of the story is an interesting and also depressing feeling. As we both admit freely, we were not as well prepared to enter the vast black hole that is Green Mountain. However, our trek was not as ill fated as the story made it out to be.
Jon and I headed out on what several rescue personnel labeled as an hour or so hike. But, instead of heading to the left where apparently crews had cut a makeshift pathway around the mountainside, we continued full steam ahead on clearly marked path…the wrong way.
What makes our adventure more interesting is that as we headed the wrong way (unbeknownst to us of course) we happened to run into several employees of, I believe, Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue who were “headed to the horse,” also the wrong way. So we welcomed the company along our long and arduous hike up into nowhere.
I, being the photographer, am greatly concerned about getting photos before darkness befalls us. So, naturally I entertain the fantastic idea that we should hurry up ahead the trail to nowhere and get to the horse before sunset. Ah, here is where things fall apart. From what we gathered, those who we bumped into and eventually ran ahead of had made the decision to turn back due to the looming threat of darkness and eventually made the comment that two reporters were still up on the mountain and headed the wrong way.
Well, being the hardcore junior journalists we are, Jon and I clamored on endlessly only to reach the summit and find nothing but emptiness and definitely no injured horse. So at this point let me mention that we knew where we were the entire time. We had looked at a map and had planned our hike accordingly. We just planned to go the wrong way due to instructions from people encountered along the way. We have to blame someone right?
So finally upon urging from our editor, we journeyed back down. Let me emphasize DOWN. Trying to navigate even a well-marked trail in the dark is not something I recommend to anyone. My ankles still feel the stress.
And then, only when we reached the bottom, we saw the light. The headlights of a truck full of search and rescue volunteers looking for none other but “the missing reporters.”
All’s well that ends well I suppose. After confirming our identities we located the horse, now safely on its feet and being examined by the vet. And our wonderful Brynn Grimely posted the story and updated it with the wonderful newsgathering Jon accomplished after we had been “rescued.”
Interns are supposed to give the entire newsroom something to laugh at for a week, right? Well the week is almost over, so I am not sure how to top our latest parody of responsible journalism. We’ll think of something.
p.s.- I strongly dislike horses.
– Chris Carter
Too funny…hard to know what to say…so didn’t.
BUT I can’t let the “dislike horses” pass.
Interns should always ride a good horse. Funny that wasn’t the first thing they told you before allowing y’all into the lostroom.
Sharon O’Hara