CAVENDISH, Vt. – Ron and Bonnie Emig picked up Pieter van Schaik in Windsor on Sunday morning, Oct. 4. They drove to Oscarson Road in Cavendish, where they met Kem and Svetlana Philips, at 9:30 a.m., to walk in Lord State Forest.
The group met to explore the possibility of connecting a trail from the state forest to a 125-acre parcel of land van Schaik donated to the Cavendish Community and Conservation Association two years ago for conservation, with the eventual goal of transferring the property to the State of Vermont.
They were looking for an old foundation that they had discovered on a previous walk. There is no record of anyone having a house there in the forest, so they were curious, and they wanted to explore it further.
After some time searching unsuccessfully, van Schaik said, “We changed direction and split in the hope of finding [the foundation]…We decided to split up – 25 feet apart.” Van Schaik was at the end of the line that they formed.
Van Schaik said, “Once separated from the group, I realized I didn’t have my cell phone. I could hear them calling out, but they could not hear me, because of my low voice. I have Parkinson’s condition with low volume speech and I can’t yell.
“I was slow, because I’m 83, and it all happened within a matter of minutes. I realized I was lost, and I should try to retrace my steps to the cars. I didn’t realize it would be so difficult to retrace my footsteps. I couldn’t recognize anything – there was so much heavy ground cover – ferns and leaves. I couldn’t tell where they had been or see footsteps.”
“I continued walking in what I thought was the direction of the cars,” he continued, “but I got lost.”
“I gave up walking around what I thought was 5 p.m.,” van Schaik said. It was getting dark, and so he lay down in the woods. “The canopy was very dense, and I could see very few stars – I decided not to continue walking in case I hurt myself and rested for the night.” He continued, “It’s not a smooth surface, and around what I think was 7 a.m. the next morning, I got up and was determined to find a road.
“Within an hour I came upon a house. I walked down the driveway and onto Knapp Pond Road.” Van Schaik explained that he didn’t know where he was at the time, but started walking towards Tarbell Hill and eventually recognized where he was. “I was on Knapp Pond Road when Peter Kolenda found me.” Van Schaik said, “He was driving up Knapp Pond Road, and he picked me up.”
Kolenda, retired Ludlow fire chief, explained that he was aware of the search. Kolenda said as he “came by fire station in Cavendish I saw that there were about 100 people lining up to search.”
Kolenda explained that he saw that there were plenty of people ready to search for van Schaik, so he drove on. “I was heading up to camp and the fire department was behind me,” Kolenda said. “I continued up to Knapp Pond and saw someone walking on the road with a cane, and I saw it was Pieter.”
He stopped and offered van Schaik a ride. Kolenda said van Schaik said he recognized him as a familiar person, but didn’t recall his name, and he added that van Schaik said, “I don’t want to spend another night in the woods.” Kolenda reported, “His spirits were good.”
“I talked to him and he was coherent, probably a little cold, but otherwise he looked good,” Kolenda said. “I brought him to Oscarson Road, where Proctorsville Fire was set up to go into the woods to start searching.” Kolenda explained they checked his vital signs, and added, “He stayed in my truck until the ambulance came, and they transported him to Springfield Hospital.”
Kolenda continued, “Somebody would’ve found him – I’m just glad I was able to see him. It worked out well.”
Van Schaik concluded, “I’m grateful for the response of the community and getting together to search for me.”