On May 8th, a 35 year old physical therapist and yoga instructor got in her car, and headed out to the Makawao Forest Reserve, on the Northern side of Maui, Hawaii. She was dressed in yoga pants and a tank top. Her goal, a three mile hike, was about to become a very, very dangerous situation.
The Makawao Forest Reserve is pretty big, about 2,093 acres, and is host to more than a few dangers. These dangers can range from slick rocks, flash floods, centipedes, and, of all things, falling coconuts (or so I’ve heard.)
When Amanda arrived at her destination she took her phone, water bottle, and wallet out, and put them in her car. And then, she started walking. She traveled an unknown distance before getting tired, and when she did, she stepped off the trail, and took a moment to rest. Unfortunately, when she tried to get back to the trail, she became very, very lost.
She had hiked the trail before, but according to her, “my gut was leading me another way — and I have a very strong gut instinct”. Her gut instinct, had led her astray. She picked a direction, and started hiking, and she believed she hiked from about 10:30 until midnight, still looking for her car.
It wasn’t until the third day that Amanda was missing that a search by police began. Unfortunately for Amanda, the search wouldn’t range far enough, and she was getting farther and farther from the search area. She had stopped searching for the trailhead, and started looking for water.
The timeline of events at this point is unclear, but it was around this time, her situation was further worsened. Amanda fell nearly 20 feet off a cliff, and fractured her leg. The very next day, she lost her shoes in a flood. The perfect storm of bad circumstances was battering her body and mind, attempting to wear away her willpower.
Amanda refused to give up though. She covered herself in leaves for shelter at night, and ate plants, both identified and unidentified, as well as moths that landed on her. She spent one night in what is believed to be a wild boar den. When she couldn’t walk, she crawled, and she lost twenty pounds. The entire time, volunteers searched.
Finally, on the 17th day of the search, the pilot of a search helicopter decided to search farther out from the original search location. It flew about seven miles out, by air, an estimated 30 miles by ground, and while searching over a waterfall, Amanda was finally located. After being airlifted out, Amanda was sent to a hospital to recover from a fractured tibia, severe sunburns, and a torn meniscus. She had lost twenty pounds.
She later apologized for what she described as irresponsibility, stating that she should have brought her phone, some water, and other preparatory tools you would take on a hike. Unfortunately, only a few days after being rescued, another lost hiker on Maui, Noah Mina, was found dead.
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