Deseret News | Boy Scout missing in high Uintas found alive

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Boy Scout missing in high Uintas found alive

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MWFamMember | 8:15 p.m. July 17, 2008

As a family member that was up late into the night praying for Trenton's safe return, I'm very touched by the amount of comments that express their relief to see Trenton found safely. Your prayers and thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thank you.

As has been pointed out by numerous commentors, there were fundamental safety precautions that should have been followed but appear not to be. The fact remains that this event happened in the past and all we can do is try and learn lessons from this to use in the future.

Trenton acted much braver than I would have in this situation. He kept his wits about him and relied on prayer and his faith to guide him. To those wondering why he didn't stop, the Lord told him to keep moving...and he ended up walking into Ogden's camp.

To DFS: Try going through a night like this family did and see how well you hold your emotions. Better yet, try and compose yourself and let the world speculate as to what emotions you're feeling/displaying. Robin and Brian are great parents and don't need cynical people like yourself questioning their parenting, especially during a time like this.

Tech Trek | 8:49 p.m. July 17, 2008

Hellllloooo, people...

This is 2008...

GPS anyone???

Another Roosevelt Mom | 8:47 p.m. July 17, 2008

I had the opportunity to spend the evening with the family of the lost scout and to be with the family in the morning after they were notified that he was found. I'm disapointed that people can be so condeming in things that they no nothing about. The boys parents are good honest people. Nothing that DCFS needs to look into. The boy's dad has voluntered several times through the years to assists scouts in the troop. Mom works with cubscouts now. They taught their boy, and this once the boy forgot. I bet all of you at sometime in life have forgotten something you were taught by your parents. The leaders are good men. They care for those boys, they give of their own time and money to be of service and don't ask a thing in return. Do you? The boys were taught, the leaders well prepared, an accident happeded, but if we condemed everything for every accident we would not drive, go out, cook in our home, turn on the electricty etc. We take all the good and bad that life has to offer and we learn from it and go from there.

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pedro | 8:58 p.m. July 17, 2008

At least we have shows like Man vs Wild and Survivorman to teach kids how to stay going mentally and physically out there. At least he had Cheeto's to eat, Bear has to eat grubs and raw fish on his adventures. Hopefully everyone learns from this experience, I hope that the scout leaders will maybe find some less intimidating places to go on the week long campouts so we don't have to hear about this happening at least a few times a year.
Go Cougs!!!

No Miracle | 9:30 p.m. July 17, 2008

For MWFamMember to suggest that "the Lord told him to keep moving... and he ended up waling into Ogden's camp" is blasphemy. If the Lord wanted to save this foolish young man, he would have intervened before the kid got himself lost in the first place! Don't cheapen miracles by calling this a miracle. This was simply a foolish kid doing a foolish thing, and he got lucky. Lucky is not miraculous.

Anonymous | 9:31 p.m. July 17, 2008

I'll bet that little bugger got a whoopin' when he got home! He should have!

WB Harris | 9:35 p.m. July 17, 2008

Very happy this boy made it out okay. We, as LDS troops, need to do a better job sometimes. Here is one stat that illustrates my point. LDS scouts account for about 17% of all scouts in the US. However, they account for 50% of the fatalities. I'll let you draw your own conclusions from that. I don't know what the solution is. I do know from my experience (scout volunteer for the past 25 years, in four different states) that I have seen many leaders that could be more aware of where their boys are and what they are doing.
Concerned leader

Anonymous | 11:02 p.m. July 17, 2008

It seems this kid used good sense.

How did Niephi discover Zions if he hadn't went out for a ride by himself and took a few educated changes?

I agree, that you need to lean outdoor skills. In all my years climbing, I never tied a bowline. I have never seen anyone but a scout, tie one.

It was taking time to spend in the outdoors where I gained skills. I read books but, you lean to hone your instincts by trying to tranverse streams covered with snow on skies, watching skies and listening.

Scouts are a option for kids who don't have a person to take them under his wing.

Contrarian | 11:51 p.m. July 17, 2008

Let's see here, despite getting separated, he managed to...

1. Camp over night alone.
2. Eat.
3. Stay hydrated.
4. Not panic.
5. Find his way back.
6. Stay on the trails.

I think he just proved the point in scouting. Make him patrol leader.

PiperRain | 1:50 a.m. July 18, 2008

:) Totally what I was thinking Contrarian! Kudos to him and his troop leaders and family! So glad the boy is safe and home with family.... too bad he missed the rest of the campout!

Greater problems | 9:58 a.m. July 18, 2008

All the comments about the buddy system and having the proper tools, even a GPS is not going to change the fact that if the kids don't see the importance of it, because they are too busy goofing off. Go visit you local middle school or go to your ward young mens and young womens activity. Go on a campout with some scouts. Then come back and comment on a story like this. All of us need to step up and teach our kids. I am not blaming the leaders or the kids parents. The whole education system and our society is out of control. We all need to do more.

Even leader should have buddies | 2:33 p.m. July 18, 2008

I have been a Scoutmaster for two decades. The buddy system works. With boys it must be constantly stressed and reinforced. Yes, accidents can still happen just like they can happen getting into the tub. But almost all of the recent tragedies in the Uintahs would have been prevented if the buddy system were used.

When I take a group into the Uintahs we assign buddies in 3's. Even the leaders are assigned. We also make sure that every person going with us has a topographic map of the area and a compass. Before we head onto the trail we identify our position on the map.

I haven't heard in all of this if buddies had been assigned or not. The leader who went ahead should have had a buddy. The boy who went ahead should have had a buddy.

I don't mean to be critical, I just hope everyone could learn something.

I was there | 7:32 p.m. July 19, 2008

I was part of the scout troop that found him, the news got a lot of things wrong. He didn't find us, we found him. He was laying in the middle of the trail while we were hiking. We shared our food and got him out of the rain and started a fire for him. Our Scoutmaster ran the 7 miles back that we had hiked to find his group and let them know where he was. And we are a scout troop from Logan, not Ogden. We had been looking for him since the day before. If he had stayed put like he should have or stayed with his group this wouldn't have happened. As always, there is usually more to the story than is told.

I know "I was there" | 9:56 p.m. July 19, 2008

Glad the boy was found! Thanks to the group who found him and especially to the scout leader who ran 7 miles to inform his troop and prevent a search and rescue operation (thus saving someone a lot of money and others a lot of time). Knowing the truth makes me wonder if any news story is actually factual.

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2 photos

Aaron Falk, Deseret News

Brian Taylor and his son Trenton Taylor, 14, talk at a press conference in Roosevelt on Thursday. Trenton, of Roosevelt, went missing during a Boy Scout hike in the Uintas on Tuesday and wandered back to the camp of another troop the next day.

Gallery (2 photos)