Lost Va. Hiker's Point of Despair

Among the other items, there was a fork and spoon and shaving razor around. "This was the first human contact we had in 60 hours," Day said. "So we're thinking, 'Great. Somebody can help us.' " Moving closer, they realized that the site was abandoned. "It was kind of an eerie moment," he said.

They rummaged in the backpack and found Donovan's writings. Allen noticed the day of the final entry.

"This is dated today," she said.

"But that's '05," Day replied.

"That's when it hit us," he said.

"That last journal entry was him talking about [how] nobody knew where to look for him, basically his last words that he was preparing for his demise," Day said. Donovan wrote that he had become trapped in the gorge, just as Day and Allen had. "He was running out of food . . . preparing for the end, and had some regrets."

Day did not want to be too specific, "out of respect for a guy who helped save our lives." The writing covered the margins of several maps, he said. And there were about a dozen entries.

"I didn't want to read everything," he said. "I'd read enough to know what had happened. I didn't want it to happen to us."

The pack also contained wet socks and the fleece, which the couple dried in the sun, and over-the-counter painkilling medicine. There was also a corroded radio and flashlight. Donovan's identification documents were in the Ziploc bag. So were the matches.

The reality of what Day and Allen found hit them hard.

"We definitely knew that we were looking at somebody's grave," Day said. "The thought was, 'Is this going to be our grave?' "