ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A faint sound made Peter and Albert Kottke stop and look around as they hiked out of the Gila Wilderness at the end of backpacking trip.A figure moved on the other side of the Gila River. As it drew closer, the University of Wisconsin-Madison junior and his older brother saw a woman, hunched over and moving slowly.
The Kottkes crossed the river to find Carolyn Dorn, 52, who had been alone in the Gila National Forest for five weeks after becoming trapped on the wrong side of the rain- and snow-swollen river. The search for her had been called off two weeks ago.
(Peter Kottke is a junior majoring in geological engineering at UW-Madison.)