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L
climber
The City of Lost Angels
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Bump for a doggie cause.
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10b4me
Trad climber
California
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Lisa, wish I could come up and help out. I 'd be willing to send cash for somekind of fund.
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Watusi
Social climber
Joshua Tree, CA
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Dog lover bumpin' for the cause!!
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Tahoe climber
Trad climber
a dark-green forester out west
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any update on this situation?
rooting for the dog, though it's been gone a while, now...
good luck in any case!
-Aaron
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Howie
Trad climber
Calgary, Alberta
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Here's hoping..........
Howie.
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Rankin
climber
Bishop, CA
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bump.
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misskristine
climber
walnut creek, ca
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Hey, Lisa. I'm so sorry I couldn't head over to Bishop and help out. I just got back, and was hoping to find some best-case-scenario news about Oof. Just thought I'd bump this up.
Hang in there!
--K
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Melissa
Gym climber
berkeley, ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 4, 2007 - 01:44am PT
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The search dogs came yesterday and were able to trace her sent all along an area just over the rim by the south parking lot dowon towards where there is a hiking trail to the river. Since the scent continued along just over the rim, but not up on it, and because we searched the area down in the Gorge pretty extensively, it seems likely that she got to that trail and went down the river.
If she made it to the river OK, as it looks like she may have, it's possible she would be able to survive the last couple of weeks, so we're holding out hope that she could still be found.
The search people said one of the best things we could was make people aware of her being lost so that if she reveals herself, Lisa's more likely to be contacted. Thanks for all off the offers of support and for keeping this thread going.
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Shirin
Social climber
Berkeley
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It was really cool seing the search dogs work - I was kind of pessimistic because I knew that after 2 weeks the scent might be gone. But apparently the conditions were just right for the scent to remain, since it was cool with little precipitation. I had focused my search mostly northwest of the parking lot, because that is the direction I last saw her. But the first dog picked up a very clear trail that circled around and went south of the parking lot and then to the edge of the gorge. It totally makes sense that that is the way she would travel because it is downhill (which she has developed a strong preference for over the last year since she has slowed down a lot) and she would have been seeking water. They confirmed the scent trail with another dog, and when both dogs wanted to keep going over the canyon rim I feared the worst because I thought it was likely she would have fallen over a cliff. However, its not a solid cliff - the terrain is a mixture of cliffs and steep hillside, and if she picked the right route she very well could have gotten down safely. Just south of where the dogs tracked her scent we found a path (apparently called the Horseshoe Trail) down to the gorge. We very carefully searched the gorge and the side of the canyon upstream and downstream from that area, and found no evidence at all of her remains. If she did make it safely into the gorge, it is very likely that she kept traveling downstream. I don't think she went upstream toward the climbing areas because there are too many difficult river crossings in that direction, and she is very wary of fast currents after having had some bad experiences in the last few years. Going south, the gorge widens out and the river spreads out and it would have been much easier travelling for her. Once she got downstream, the slopes become much more gradual and there are many places she could have come out of the gorge (or she might still be down there). Today I am going to hike down the gorge as far as I can, and we are going to continue our postering efforts south of the gorge.
I know there is still a good chance that she may have met her demise, but I keep hearing storing of very old dogs being lost in the wilderness and being found weeks later. Oof routinely hikes up to 10 miles in a few hours, so if she was traveling day and night she could be quite far from the original site at this point.
Thanks again for your support and we'll continue the search! I am posting a map showing the area:
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mdavid
Big Wall climber
CA, CO, TX
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good luck to you and your doggy.
Keep up the search.
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L
climber
The City of Lost Angels
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Lisa,
From the amount of traveling Oofy did, I would say she wasn't heading off into the wilderness to die. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Was she wearing a collar with your name & number on it? Was she a really friendly sort of dog? The more time that passes without finding her, the more I'm thinking someone picked her up and took her home with them.
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Shirin
Social climber
Berkeley
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She was wearing a collar with tags, but the collar was loose and could easily have come off. She is very friendly and sweet so it is very possible that someone could have taken her home, not knowing she belonged to someone. We worked hard this weekend to put up flyers in the wider area and get the word out in other ways, so I'm hoping if she is found she will be returned. She is microchipped also, so hopefully if she ends up at a shelter or a vet she will be identified.
Lisa
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