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Show The Day That Dad Took McKinzi Fishing On The Mountain ESCALANTE When Esca-ante Esca-ante angler Mike Stowe took his 18-month-old daughter McKinzi on a fishing trip at 8 a.m. on Mar. 26, he expected to be back in Escalante to drop her off at the babysitter's and report for work at the sawmill by 2 p.m. Things just didn't work out that way. The avid fisherman headed for nearby Wide Hollow Reservoir just outside Escalante and, curious to see how the snow was clearing at some of his favorite fishing spots, headed up the mountain to check them out. Hours later, when Mike's wife Trudy returned about 6 p.m. from her nearly 300-mile round trip to a Cedar City doctor's appointment to find McKinzi hadn't been left at the baby sitter's and Mike had not reported to work, she knew something some-thing was wrong. She began checking with family members, but no one knew where r ' Mike had gone. The family began a little detective work around town and finally found someone who had heard Mike say he was going fishing, fish-ing, but not where he was going fishing. They fanned out, heading up the mountain in different directions. Trudy's mother Gloria Gracie and brother Derrick Gracie went as far as they could towards popular Posey Lake and Trudy headed for North Creek Reservoir, returning with no results. Mike's parents, Stanley and Marlene Stowe, continued on toward Barker Reservoir and called back on their cell phone for a four-wheel-drive vehicle. Back in Escalante, Jay and Dcrlynne Brooks responded to the call and at 1 1 p.m., the two couples discovered Mike and McKinzi. Little McKinzi, wrapped in blankets, blank-ets, was warm as toast in the below-freezing below-freezing nighttime temperatures, but dad was half-frozen from the icy waters of the creek where his truck had been stuck since morning. All his efforts to try and free it had failed. A simple fishing trip that could have been tragic had a happy ending and an important lesson. Mike vowed he will never again head up the mountain unless he has told someone where he is going. Escalante, just home to all the local folk, is situated, after all, in one of the nation's most rugged settings. 1 |
