The Painter Basin Marathon or the True Story of the Rescue of Trenton Taylor (lost scout in the Uinta Mountains)

Perhaps you have read about or heard on the news the story of the lost scout in the Uinta Mountains? Well, they were all wrong. My guess is that the kid found out that he was supposedly lost and got caught up in the hype. Who knows where he came up with the tall-tell of "walking into an Ogden Troop's campsite." Whatever. Here is the news as it should have been told (in my opinion--judge all you want).

The Painter Basin Marathon
or
The True Story of the Rescue of Trenton Taylor

Scout Leader Jason McKellar had been looking forward to his troop's 50-miler for at least a year. In fact, the only thing that topped his excitement for the 50 miler, was perhaps, running a marathon. He began training on September 20th in hopes of running the Top of Utah Marathon the next year. By April he was ready, often running 22 miles in a day. So he ran the Ogden Marathon on May 17th and completed his goal. Then, for fun he ran the Bear Lake Half Marathon on June 14th. He wanted to run the American Fork Marathon on July 12th, but had a conflicting schedule. Little did he know that he would get to go his marathon distance in one day, and some, during the scouts' 50-miler.

The Logan 25th Ward Scout Troop left at 6:00 am Monday morning to head for the Uinta Mountains. By Tuesday at 3:30 pm they had made it to Kidney Lake. About a half an our later a horse and rider came in to secure a spot for his forth-coming group—minus one. Trenton Taylor. Trenton had separated himself, going on ahead of his group. No one had seen him for a while. No one saw him that night. One leader, Chris, took his horse out to look for him and ended up on an all night hike (thanks to a sign signaling the wrong trail). He came back at 6:00 am with no news of Trenton. The other leader followed some footprints into the middle of the night and also spent the night out on the trail. The 25th Ward headed out at 8:00 am, leaving word that if they found him they would take him with them to Atwood Lake (their next stop), or on to Chain Lakes, or on to the Trail Head.

At 12:30 pm they found him. There he was, sitting in his sleeping bag in the middle of the trail with cheetos all over his mouth, and an unopened 2-pound bag of peanut M&Ms. This spot was fondly dubbed, “Trenton Point.” What did he have to say? He wasn't lost. He had hiked ahead and his group should be coming through today or the next so that they could go to Kings Peak on Friday. He was a little surprised to find out that people were looking for him and that Search and Rescue would soon be involved. What else did he have to say? He was hungry. Tyson Bloxhom offered him some Beef Stew. Bill Bradford gave up a water bottle. Todd Fluckiger offered him a snack out of his bag, of which he took the whole thing.

At this point there were several discussions about what to do. Should they take him on as planned? Jason was of the opinion that if they could get back to Kidney Lake and notify Trenton's group soon enough then they could possibly stop the search party or at least save them the trouble of going 18 miles to Atwood Lake (not to mention the costs incurred). Who should go back? The obvious answer was the marathon runner. Dean Bloxham sacrificed his IPOD as well as a map. Jason took a compass and lighter (just in case), some food and liquid. Then Jason was off...running a supposed 7 miles...through the rocks....over a mountain...in his hiking boots. At one point he came to that same sign that had pointed Chris the wrong direction. It cost him an extra mile down the wrong trail and then a mile back to go the right direction. So, now 9 miles later, he jogs into the Kidney Lake campsite with the good news, only to turn around a little while later and hike back to “Trenton Point.” (now with Gerald, a father volunteering in Trenton's troop). Jason said that he had to laugh a little when Gerald climbed up on his horse to start riding. But no matter the 16 previous miles (7 hiking to Trenton Point and 9 running to Kidney Lake), he hiked along 7 more miles...back to Trenton. Once there, Gerald explained to Trenton that he was taking him home. Again the boy was surprised and devastated. He still thought he was going to Kings Peak.

6 miles later Jason made camp with his scout troop. It had been a 29 mile day. He had been on the move from 8:00 am to 10:30 pm. Thus the Painter Basin Marathon.

Oh, one more thing. The next day was the day that Jason's group was supposed to go to King's Peak, a 14 mile round trip. There was one boy who still wanted to go, Todd Fluckiger. Of all the adults, some claimed the desire but lacked the ability, and others simply didn't want to try. So once again Jason stepped up. He and Todd made the hike of a life time and arrived back at camp two hours ahead of schedule.

All in all the 25th ward Scout Troop hiked around 45 miles. All except Todd who completed 59 miles and Jason who tucked 75 miles under his belt.

So now you know the true story.