The Stolpa family, marooned east of Vya, 1993

FO

Foy

Resident Geologist
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Gents,

As my map study of northern Nevada moves into advanced stages, I find myself wondering if anybody here on WTW has a specific location for where the young Stolpa family found themselves marooned in Dec/Jan 1992-93. An LA Times story still searchable on Google shows them having headed east of Vya on 8A and getting stuck in Hell's Canyon. The LA Times story doesn't indicate it, but I recall young Stolpa, his wife, and their baby walked some distance from their stuck truck, found a cave for shelter, and Stolpa then walked +20 more miles west to Vya.

I'm just curious if any WTW regulars have the exact location(s).

If I pull off the Rogerson, ID--Golconda, NV traverse next year, I'm hoping to locate the site of the Chretien's marooning in the upper Bruneau River canyon. You may recall they were the couple from British Columbia who attempted to shortcut from Mountain Home, ID to Jackpot, NV along county, BLM, and Forest Service Roads--IN MARCH! The wife survived for nearly 7 weeks by staying with their stuck vehicle, and the husband's body was not found. Their situation was referred to as "death by GPS", where they relied solely on GPS for their shortcut.

I suppose I have a morbid curiosity.

Foy
 
I posted about the Stolpas here, Post #9.
And Smokecreek1 responded about it here, Post #27. He seemed to know "the rest of the story", so I bet he knows exactly where it was.
 
I posted about the Stolpas here, Post #9.
And Smokecreek1 responded about it here, Post #27. He seemed to know "the rest of the story", so I bet he knows exactly where it was.


Well, yes, and perhaps I should "read the instructions" a bit closer before popping off a post. The very LA Times article I'd mentioned noted the Stolpas had walked some distance E-SE from their truck which was stuck on 8A, then turned down Hell Creek into Hell Creek Canyon, where they found a cave. After a night in the cave, the wife stayed with the baby in the cave while Stolpa retraced his tracks to the truck, overnighted there, then walked for 30 hours back west to Vya. I hadn't seen that detail when I posted.

Appears that Hell Creek is a tributary of Virgin Creek and is within the Sheldon Antelope Range.

Foy
 
Too early for plb's or spot. GPS was uncommon then. They got stuck the old fashioned way. I wonder if a cb radio might have raised someone back then.

I wonder if they have a camper now? I figure I could spend weeks marooned and while it wouldn't be fun it wouldn't be a survival issue either.

Didn't it turn for that Oregon couple that they were very near a cabin and never knew it?
 
craig333 said:
Too early for plb's or spot. GPS was uncommon then. They got stuck the old fashioned way. I wonder if a cb radio might have raised someone back then.

I wonder if they have a camper now? I figure I could spend weeks marooned and while it wouldn't be fun it wouldn't be a survival issue either.

Didn't it turn for that Oregon couple that they were very near a cabin and never knew it?
[/quote}

Puzzle solved, to a large degree.

Taking the info from the LA Times article and opening up my Benchmark Nevada map book late last night, I quickly homed in on Landscape map page 31, which includes Denio. Following Virgin Creek up to where Hell Creek enters it from the west, then up Hell Creek Canyon, my eyes focused on "Stolpa Rescue Site" shown as a place name, in English, right there on the dang map. Duh-Oh!

And man-o-man is that spot out in the bush! They'd apparently gotten stuck on 8A somewhere west of the Fish Spring campground, walked along 8A for a few miles, then turned east, thinking the road they turned on was 8A to Denio, I suppose. The intersection shows 8A turning sharply north-northwest and Hell Creek Rd continuing east, so they figured staying on an easterly path was the thing to do. They then walked some 12 miles E, then S-SE, entering the uppermost Hell Creek Canyon just southeast of North Hell Creek campground. The Benchmark map shows the site being about 2 miles almost due east of Blowout Peak, along the south side of Hell Creek Canyon.

The area where the truck got stuck is the higher ground between Vya and 140 west of Denio, and Hell Creek drains the east side of that high ground.

I recall looking at a Rand McNally atlas during the time of the incident, and seeing a two-line unlabeled road running off of 299 to 140, and assuming (correctly, it turns out) this was the shortcut they were trying to make. Seems likely such a map, if not the exact one, was what they were using. My 2010 Rand-McNally and the new Benchmark each show 8A and a variety of other roads as "not maintained in winter".

Other reading shows the Stolpas received several hundred thousand dollars for their story made into the TV movie "Snowbound". They divorced and the wife remarried. Both husband and wife lost most/all of their toes to frostbite, but their infant son was unharmed.

I'm not familiar with the case of the Oregon couple Craig333 mentioned, but the couple from British Columbia who attempted a shortcut along the ID-NV border in March 2011 was not near any sort of settlement or cabin that I'm aware of or read anything about. The elk horn hunters who found the surviving wife were astounded to see their vehicle, as they know the area well and were aware nobody had been up there since the snow flew in October/November 2010. The horn hunters had entered the mountains on ATVs and had had much difficulty getting in over the Mother's Day weekend when they found the survivor.

Foy
Click to expand...
 
I recall looking at a Rand McNally atlas during the time of the incident, and seeing a two-line unlabeled road running off of 299 to 140, and assuming (correctly, it turns out) this was the shortcut they were trying to make. Seems likely such a map, if not the exact one, was what they were using. My 2010 Rand-McNally and the new Benchmark each show 8A and a variety of other roads as "not maintained in winter".

The thing is, it's not much of a "shortcut" even under summer conditions. More like just a scenic alternate route...and not drivable as fast as pavement.
 
The thing is, it's not much of a "shortcut" even under summer conditions. More like just a scenic alternate route...and not drivable as fast as pavement.


That's a good point, Mark, and my choice of the word "shortcut" was poor. Stolpa was trying to get to Pocatello, ID from Paso Robles, CA, via I-80/US 93/I-84/I-86. He learned of "closed" status for I-80 at Donner Pass while still in CA. Thinking (likely incorrectly) the closure was long-term, he sought an alternate route. He was attempting to reach Pocatello for his grandmother's funeral, so had some motivation to remain on the move rather than wait out I-80's re-opening. Armchair quarterbacking by yours truly, and by most anybody who travels extensively in the West, tells you the Donner Pass and other passes close frequently, but most often just for a period of hours, allowing the teeth of a particular storm to pass, the visibility to get back above zero, and the plows to do their thing. We watch I-80 being plowed at Parley's Summit pass (7,017')east of Salt Lake City enroute to Park City each January while on our annual ski trip, and it's very, very rare it's closed for more than an hour or two. Parts of I-80 in Wyoming are badly exposed to wind and hold elevations between 6,500' and 7,700' for over a hundred miles, and they get closed for a few hours to overnight fairly regularly, but something tells me CalTrans keeps the commercial traffic and recreational traffic flowing through Donner to the greatest extent physically possible, and did so back in 1992/1993.

Foy
 
That's a good point, Mark, and my choice of the word "shortcut" was poor. Stolpa was trying to get to Pocatello, ID from Paso Robles, CA, via I-80/US 93/I-84/I-86. He learned of "closed" status for I-80 at Donner Pass while still in CA. Thinking (likely incorrectly) the closure was long-term, he sought an alternate route.

I wasn't disagreeing with your calling it a shortcut, just Stolpa.
smile.gif
I was comparing it to the less-foolish nearby paved and maintained and patrolled route -- continuing north on US395 to just north of Lakeview, OR, then east on 140 to US95 then north to I84 -- that they could have taken.
I remember when this happened...thinking how crazy Stolpa's thinking was: "OK, the Interstate freeway is closed by snow, so naturally the best way to get through heavy snow is to take a remote gravel road -- yeah, that's the ticket!." That's crazy...well, incredibly foolish, anyway: "Stupid Stolpa".
rolleyes.gif
 
I'm trying to figure out (without a Nevada Benchmark map that I could probably purchase on Amazon) where the Stolpa rescue site is. I was in Vya earlier this month (population is now 7 but the pipeline people are long gone) and traveled just under 20 miles to the east on 8A (from the intersection of 34 and 8A). There was a point almost 20 miles in where the road forks. I could see someone mistakenly going to the right at night in a snowstorm. Not sure if this is where Stolpa walked to the east rather than following 8A to the north. But now as I review some of the comments it appears that Stolpa may have gone further along 8A than I thought. We had not yet reached the massacre site either. If anyone can shed some light on where Stolpa's truck broke down I'd be curious. Or how far the truck was from the intersection of 34 and 8A. The town of Vya (back then just an MTCE station) is very close to that intersection. Dusty Ferguson is still there as the County road man but I did not ask him or realize that he was one of 3 people to rescue Jennifer and Clayton (baby) Stolpa from Hell Creek. But even from Foy's description it's hard to see what road they turned east on b/c there is more than one place where the road forks. Had we continued on 8A we might've come to an even more difficult decision to make.
 
I would also like to note that Stolpa was not the only one lost out there on 8A going east to 140 (which by the way is way up there and he was nowhere near it as it required him to drive due north for long distances). In 2001 two army privates got stuck in a car on 8A during a snowstorm. They had to walk about 35-40 miles back (not counting the distance they hiked up hills to try and get a cell signal). One guy twisted his ankle badly and the other had to carry him back west on 8A. When they arrived at the intersection of 8A and 34 they said a prayer for guidance whether to turn right or left. Their prayers were answered and the made the right decision. They went right (north) towards Vya and found the MTCE station (the Old Yella dog ranch was not operating til 2 years later). Dusty Ferguson was working (yes the same Dusty Ferguson who was one of the trio who rescued Jennifer and Clayton Stolpa) and they were rescued. He took them to the hospital in Cedarville (available on call). They were guided by Christmas lights on the station. The Modesto County paper published an article about them. I read it while I was in Vya. Also the locals say people have died on that road but could or would not provide any specifics.
 
Also it's important to note that even if one makes it to the intersection of 8A and 140 there is nothing there. Denio is 92 miles from the intersection of 34 and 8A. Stolpa had apparently traveled about 20-35 miles (what I'm trying to figure out) but in any even Denio is a long way away. So even had he followed 8A to 140 that intersection is in the middle of the Sheldon and in the middle of nothing especially in early January 1993 or even now really. There are also mountain lions in the area. There is an interesting story of a mountain lion that got killed by a Mule defending its owners.
 
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