The lucky survival story of Chris Staff in the White Mountains - hallucinations, bugs and hunger
Christopher Staff disappeared June 24, 2019, Pemi Loop, Pemigewasset Wilderness, New Hampshire. Located on June 28, 2019, near Bondcliff Trail and Wilderness Trail.
Revised November 2023
On Monday, June 24, 2019, Christopher “Chris” Staff, 70, from Dorchester in Massachusetts, traveled to the rugged White Mountains region. The area is located in the Pemigewasset Wilderness near Lincoln, New Hampshire.
He planned to hike the 30.3-mile series of trails known as the Pemi Loop, which Alltrails rates as difficult and set out at around 1 am.
Staff got lost and was stranded in the woods for five days. Just five miles before the end of the trail, he was found by two other hikers covered in scratches, blisters, and bug bites. Afterwards, he said, "I knew it was the end. I knew this was it. I was resigned, I really was.”
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