The couple who went missing when Christmas tree hunting in Oregon's high country are safely home after three days stuck in the snow. What a relief of an end to a frightening story.
Permits are sold each year by the national forest service to those who, like the Lees, wish to search the wilderness for a tree to cut down and bring home for the holidays. Unfortunately, each year also brings search efforts for those who get lost or run into problems in the process.
Have you ever gone Christmas tree "hunting" for a tree for your home? Do stories like this one deter you?
Read more on the story of Oregon's Keith and Jennifer Lee here. Image: Bob Pennell / The Mail Tribune
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No, stories like this do not "deter" me. If we stopped doing everything that had ever led to any sort of bad outcome for someone in the world, there would be nothing left for us to do.
Be prepared in case something goes wrong and then .... enjoy yourself. It's a holiday :)
I'm happy with a farmed tree, so I wouldn't go to this much trouble anyway. I do think it's a bit ridiculous to put yourself at risk for a tree, particularly if public resources will have to be used to look for you.
ditto heather77
"I do think it's a bit ridiculous to put yourself at risk for a tree..."
I think it's ridiculous to take more than an hour or two to go get a tree...
...and leaving their 4 kids with a friend?
Staying in the car while hubby is outside trying to get the car unstuck? Spending time wondering where Santa is gonna go if they die?
That's some screwed up priorities right there.
Which forced other people to risk their own lives and go after them. For what? For a stupid tree. Sad.
Why is it always white fools who wind up doing crap like this? What, going into a National Forest to "hunt" a tree intead of using a tree farm like the rest of us is somehow gonna put you in touch with your pioneer roots?
If it weren't for the fact they had kids, I'd say let them freeze in their car so as to deter similar fools from do the same thing and saving us taxpayers the cost of having to go look for them.
lol white suburbanites who have never been further than 200m from a Wal Mart venturing out into the harsh and unforgiving wilderness
how could it have possibly gone wrong????
P.S. I just read the story and like others am more steamed after reading it. Damned fool is gonna go back again NEXT year to do the same thing.
And apparently, the couple went down to Siskiyou the year before to hunt down a tree and nearly got lost then too.
(fSiskiyou is a national forest that covers inland NorCal to the southern Oregon border - deep, old growth wilderness - wandering around out there in the middle of winter looking for a Xmas tree is sheer folly)
Can we just hand this guy a Darwin award and be done with it?
Morons. Maybe they should start requiring an IQ test before giving out those permits.
We never hunted for the tree but have gone to tree farms and cut one down for many years.
I will agree that if you can't do this w/out getting lost then don't do it. Some people never learn. I think they should get the bill for the resources used to hunt them down, that might teach them a lesson or two.
These days, Mom has a nice prelit artificial tree she bought 3 years ago and I have my 6 year old $18 dollar 6" artificial that I have to string myself and we've never looked back.
Ooops, I meant 6' tree.
ciddyguy - I wish you hadn't corrected the typo. It was funnier when it was 6 inches tall.
What idiots. Honestly, why?! To impress the neighbours with their exotic silvertip fir tree that only grows above certain elevations?
And I like how the wife sat in the car and prayed while the husband was working to get the car unstuck. Real helpful there! Well at lease she has learned her lesson. The husband, not so much. He sounds like one of those macho guys who gets all touchy about his manhood being threatened and can never admit defeat. He's going to conquer that wild Christmas tree hunt even if it kills him... and it would be an honorable, manly death!
wow..harsh..."white fools" "morons" "idiots"....those words never came to mind when i heard that story. i was just relieved they got home to their kids.
I want to go christmas tree hunting! I wouldn't get lost though, I fare pretty well in the wilderness.
@aafilipp: you have to read the article. After you do, yes, "fools", "morons", "idiots" are fairly accurately descriptive...... especially for the husband who plans on doing it again next year!!!
They got lost last year, yes, but that wasn't the problem this year. The husband did what he should to free the car, and they went prepared. It is valuable to thin the growth in forests, which is why the National Forests do this. It is similar to the effects of a forest fire, but without the fire. A scary situation, but one that anyone who goes out to enjoy the wilderness faces, no matter what the reason. If we condemn them, then we should condemn anyone who needs emergency rescue in the wilderness, and there are many more stupid situations than this!
It was a tradition in my family: When our Dad got home from work on Christmas eve to dash out and find beautiful Christmas tree that was still growing... My mother was very detailed about the beautiful part - and don't fail her!!! One year my brothers took it upon themselves to chop a beautiful tree down in the local reserve - not a good idea and lots of explaining to do!!!
After that, the task evolved like "The big honey hunt" - to searching and searching and ending up at the local tree store and parting with a little cash!!!
You know, I was going to say that there is nothing wrong with leaving your kids with a friend. I mean, who doesn't get a babysitter so they can see a movie, go Christmas shopping or say, go on a hike? But after reading the article, I don't mind "condemning" them.
Anyone who goes an frequent escapades in the wilderness with full knowledge that they tend to get lost is pretty silly. They brought water and blankets, but neglected to tell anyone where they were going or to bring any food. Just because there are people more idiotic out there doesn't excuse them. People forget to respect the unpredictability of nature. And like some pointed out, think about the resources used to find people like this. Ridiculous, but alas that's life.
Cutting your own tree is great fun. We did it as kids, but our dad watched the weather, put on the snow tires and we packed lots of food and blankets (just in case!)
Those people from the middle-of-nowhere (aka Medford, OR) sound like they are idiots--some people just don't have a clue!
Our family did the same thing too, when I was small.
It was a chance to see some snow, do something a little different, & pay less for a tree.
But we always had chains, food, blankets, etc., & my parents always checked the weather. And we always did it at the lower altitudes, off larger highways that got cleared by the highway service.
I think these people were total dimwits for going without chains.
We cut down our best ever Christmas trees in Greenwich CT. Our parents' best friends planted free pine tree seedlings from the State of Connecticut when they moved into their expansive Greenwich estate and 15-20 years later we reaped the benefit with free 12 foot trees. Dad and us kids loved it because they were free and we could junk the pathetic plastic tree my Mom insisted we have because of her allergies.