Lost and alone in the wilds of the Colorado backcountry for four nights, Gina Chase realized there was only one person she could rely on for survival: herself.
On Aug. 14, Chase, from Victoria, set out on a solo trip into the woods in the Lone Cone mountain area, outside the town of Norwood in the western U.S. state.
When the 53-year-old, who was was part of a group of campers on solo quests organized by Animas Valley Institute, failed to report at her daily check-in, a search and rescue mission was deployed, led by the San Miguel County Sheriff’s office.
For days, dozens of deputies and volunteers navigated difficult terrain and dense underbrush and trees, searching for Chase. Aircraft resources and canine search units also joined the search.
It wasn’t until Aug. 18, after she had spent four nights alone, Chase was found.
Media outlets at the time labelled Chase as a ‘victim’, a woman needing ‘rescue’. But for Chase, her experience was a different one; it was a tale of strength, resilience and empowerment.
“Nobody rescued me, I had to rescue myself,” said Chase.
"It just burned me,” Chase continued about the news headlines. “I don't want to take away anything from the search and rescue teams and their efforts, they are amazing and heroes no matter what. But it's quite important for my personal story, my journey, that people know I actually saved myself.”
Noticing a drop in the number of helicopters and planes searching for her overhead, on her third day alone, Chase says she began to fear that the rescue teams would give up on finding her.
And after spending her fourth night sheltering from a thunder and lightening storm, Chase decided it was “do or die,” setting off on the morning of Aug. 19 to find her own way back to civilization.
“I didn't feel like sitting there and waiting for rescue, that was not an option anymore,” said Chase. “Either I was going to find people, or die trying.”
After picking a direction of travel, Chase slowly began to recognize landmarks, which eventually led her back to a trail and then to her group’s base camp.
Here she intercepted search and rescue volunteers readying themselves for another day scouring the rough terrain.
Chase says she hopes that her tale of survival will serve as story of female empowerment.
“Not needing to be rescued, rescuing yourself … that’s a really empowering part of it for me, and something that’s transformational,” she said.
But Chase's own 'rescue' was only a small part of her tale of survival in the wilds of Colorado.
About how her incredible story began, Chase remembers the moment she got lost.
Camped only 10 minutes from the group’s base camp, Chase headed out on the afternoon of Aug. 14 to a designated spot where she could ‘communicate’ with her designated ‘buddy’ - the pair would move a rock at different times of the time to show that the other was well.
“I just got turned around,” said Chase. “I tried to correct, and then I tried a little more, and then I heard the creek … but then I got down there and it was a different creek.”
Chase tried to call for help by blowing her whistle, but her calls went unanswered.
With signs of bears and cougars in the area and the sun starting to set, Chase realized that time was running out for her.
“I felt scared and upset that I had only lasted for a short time,” said Chase. “And then something just clicked, and I thought, this is survival now.”
Inspired by reality television shows such as ‘Alone’ and ‘Naked and Afraid: Alone’, which challenge contests to fend for themselves in remote locations, Chase built her own shelter for the night.
“I just turned into this really smart, careful, calculating version of myself,” Chase said. “I had little room for emotion."
For survival, Chase had with her a bag packed full of gear, including an emergency food stash, a first-aid kit, blanket, pocket knife, a whistle and a head lamp.
And contrary to reports from the sheriff’s office that Chase and her fellow campers were encouraged to not bring any personal digital devices on their solo journeys, she had her cell phone with her.
“I was sending emergency calls and they failed because there was no cell service,” said Chase, who used her phone to document her adventures.
For water, Chase created a water filtration system using a medical mask and gloves. Days later she used a bark trough, charcoal and moss to filter water. Band-aid wrappers helped Chase to start fires to keep warm, which she also used to create smoke signals for the circling planes and helicopters above her.
“I was doing a lot of things to just signal the helicopters,” said Chase, who also tried waving an emergency blanket and a bright yellow pack cover to attract attention. “It would pass right over me and not see me,” she said.
With only her mind for company, Chase says she drew on classic pop songs from the seventies and eighties for comfort and inspiration.
“The first one was, ‘I Will Survive’,” said Chase. “It was almost annoying. But my mind was just keeping me upbeat and I just trusted that.
“When I thought about the male search and rescue volunteers that were going to find me … I had this song in my head, ‘It's Raining Men’, all day long."
But at times dark thoughts crept into her mind.
“I knew it was a dangerous situation and that there was the possibility that I could die there,” said Chase. “But when my mind wandered there, I was just like, ‘Not today’. And I just got thinking of what else can I do. What else can I do to make this a better situation.”
“I was just so determined to not die that there wasn't time for doubt or fear or anything,” she added.
Describing the moment she found the search and rescue volunteers, Chase says they were so happy to see her and that she was overwhelmed to see the "mind-blowing" number of people involved in the search.
"I felt guilty for causing such an ordeal, such a big operation,” said Chase. "But they were all like, 'You have made our day, we are going home so happy. This is the best possible outcome to find you alive.' It was phenomenal ... like overwhelming gratitude that all these people had come out to find me and to search for me."
Back home in Victoria, Chase says that she is incredibly proud of her strength and resilience and what she achieved, which has given her a new perspective on her identity.
“There are so many gifts that have come out of it," said Chase. "From my own sense of self. Although I wouldn't have volunteered for it, there's a part of me that is so grateful to have been put in that situation ... to really know myself, my strength and determination, in a way that I never have before.”
