Found Deceased NH - Hiker Emily Sotelo, from MA, dropped off in Franconia, Lafayette trailhead, Hiking Mounts Lafayette, Haystack & Flume, 20 Nov 2022

[Alethea]

WAIT, this doesn't make sense. The Lafayette Place campground is on the other side of the highway from Mount Lafayette, Little Haystack, and Flume. You would not start there to hike those trails.

There are other trails that start at or near Lafayette Place campground and they're easier - they are the ones I usually do. Kinsman Ridge, Lonesome Lake, Cannon Mountain, those trails all start on the side of Lafayette Place campground and you reach them from that side of the highway.

If her mother was in the Lafayette Place campground, how did she see her walk up the trails across the highway?

 

[Alethea]

Here is a map.

 

[Tealgrove]

It would be dark at 5:00 am.

So you would start a hike in very difficult weather, not dressed appropriately, in the dark ALONE?

Hmmmmmm

I think my hinky meter is going to get a work out today.

MOO

 

[ForensicMass]

I’m not saying it would be a wise option! I’m just saying it may have been her thought process, since she was only going to be out two hours (or so) before sunrise and was not necessarily expecting frigid weather, based on how she was dressed.

Understood. And maybe it would have been her thought process- but I contend that after 15 minutes someone taking that approach would realize their phone was dying and it wasn’t going to work. I’m just saying cell phones don’t work as flashlights for a period of two hours in the wilderness and anyone aiming to use one to light their way would almost certainly decide that wasn’t going to be effective after 10-15 minutes. They’re not very effective for hiking. I trail run and occasionally have been out longer than expected and the sun sets. Even when this happens I don’t pull my phone out because all it really does is illuminate the place right in front of your feet and makes it hard for you to adjust to the dark and see ahead of you. They’re not bright enough to be used as real flashlights.

I don’t know- I want to give her more credit than that if she’s hiked 40 of the 4,000 footers.
Because lighting is an issue wether warm or cold and you really need a headlamp. Then again by my logic she also should have turned around after 20 minutes when she realized it was freezing.

I just can’t envision a solo hiker actually following through with this plan.

 

[Alethea]

WAIT, this doesn't make sense. The Lafayette Place campground is on the other side of the highway from Mount Lafayette, Little Haystack, and Flume. You would not start there to hike those trails.

There are other trails that start at or near Lafayette Place campground and they're easier - they are the ones I usually do. Kinsman Ridge, Lonesome Lake, Cannon Mountain, those trails all start on the side of Lafayette Place campground and you reach them from that side of the highway.

If her mother was in the Lafayette Place campground, how did she see her walk up the trails across the highway?

I keep thinking about this because the statement from LE said her mother watched her start her hike up the trailhead. There are trails IN the campground parking lot. The trailheads for her planned hike are NOT there, they are across the highway. So her mother may have seen her walking towards the highway (if she was going to cross in the dark at 5am??) but that is very different than actually starting up the trailhead IMO.

There is no way for a car to drive from the Campground exit to the trailhead. This is an interstate with tiny exits where each exit here is an individual stop in Franconia Notch state park. There are no interconnected roads. You can walk (though they ask you to NOT walk on the highway because it is a highway!) but the exits are set up to give you parking for whatever trail you are going to do.

I know this would be extremely obvious to the SAR rescuers who are experts in this terrain but I wonder why Fish & Game or NHSP didn't update a clarification?

 

[maine2016]

I'm in ME and following this pretty closely. Each MSM article that comes out gives more and more info on how NOT prepared she was for this. BUT... the Globe article above that states she was trying to finish the 48 and only had a few to go is super weird to me. IMO, There is literally NO WAY she did ANY of the other 4000 footers dressed the way she was for this hike... which leads me to there's NO WAY she would have dressed for this hike as described (IMO). So, did she NOT hike the other 48s? The amount of resources being spent on this, with serious implications to those SAR teams should something go wrong, is baffling to me. So many things don't add up... and I'm not implying something nefarious happened to her... it's just all super weird.

 

[maine2016]

I joined just to comment on this. I have hiked the area. I am super suspicious. The girl has a very sheltered like history it seems like from google and her Facebook. What does anyone know about this family ? How does ANY mother pratically send their child off for a death sentence? Why has been there no mention of a cell phone ?

IMO because I don't have the link, but, my googling yesterday lead me to an article about her HS cross country races... so, she exists... but where are all her friends commenting, all her hiking companions? etc. IDK.

 

[White_Mountains]

When was she last seen? I am asking about before the supposed hike??

I don’t think this has been reported.

There are about 10 things I am curious about to help me make sense of this…1) who saw her last outside of mom/dad? 2) Why was she being dropped off and she didn’t drive herself and park? It’s not like it’s October and the parking lots are packed with cars. 3) Was she a college student? Have a job? 4) History of or new onset depression? mental health concerns? 5) Relationships? 6) Where was the family staying or did they drive up here at 3 am for a 5 am drop off? 7) Did she have a pack? Did she carry the 10 essentials? 8) Did she have a phone? I don’t have service in most of the notch but can get occasional service (enough to text) with Verizon. I’m just assuming no beacon or Garmin whatamathingabob. 9) If she has hiked dozens of 4000 footers, she has to know how the conditions can change in an instant…did she have a plan if she needed to turn back and get a ride home? 10) Where is her online presence - sans FB w/ 3 friends? I don’t have an online presence but I’m old enough to be her mama.

Where is she?

 

[not.a.muggle]

IMO, There is literally NO WAY she did ANY of the other 4000 footers dressed the way she was for this hike... which leads me to there's NO WAY she would have dressed for this hike as described (IMO).

I'm assuming she hiked them in better weather. Her birthday is tomorrow and so she was rushing to finish before then.

 

[maine2016]

I'm assuming she hiked them in better weather. Her birthday is tomorrow and so she was rushing to finish before then.

The 4000 footers are not something you would hike in sneakers with no gear, no matter the weather. Northeast Technical is a real thing.

 

[Alethea]

Last post, I promise. But here is an example from Apple Maps about what the "exits" look like off i-93 in Franconia Notch. It's not something where you can drive anywhere. If you want to turn around, you basically have to get back on the highway and drive all the way through the Notch to Campton or up to Franconia town (where there's an actual town) and turn around and get back on in the opposite direction.

 

[ForensicMass]

The 4000 footers are not something you would hike in sneakers with no gear, no matter the weather. Northeast Technical is a real thing.

I dragged my wife up to Lafayette summit six or seven years ago in the summer. She’s fit enough but not a hiker. We were just in sneakers. I found a picture- I was in a bathing suit, no recollection as to why. I have a small pack with water. To Lafayette summit and back is only about 7 miles if I recall. You’re right the area is tough but you can do it in sneakers in summer.

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

“Fish and Game officials said the teen's mother dropped her off at the trailhead just before 5 a.m. Sunday morning.
…

Officials said Sunday that the temperature along the ridge was near zero, with 30-40 mph winds making the wind-chill factor in the minus-30 range. Stewart said Sotelo wasn't dressed for the cold.”

What the what?

“Fish and Game officials SAID the teen's mother dropped her off..

MOO, that’s odd.

 

[not.a.muggle]

The 4000 footers are not something you would hike in sneakers with no gear, no matter the weather. Northeast Technical is a real thing.

We Vermonters would/do!

 

[wrytergirl]

Have definitely hiked in sneakers but the kind of people who do things like car camp (not that she was, but serious hikers I know) so they can start hiking at 5am regardless of weather don't, imo!

 

[not.a.muggle]

The video in this article shows the trailhead at the campground with a sign for Lafayette (4.0 mi), so it does look as if she could get to the first peak from there. My screenshot is too big to post...

19-year-old Mass. woman never returned home from hike in NH mountains

Her family said the Westford, Mass. native who turns 20 on Wednesday is an experienced hiker but does not have much winter hiking experience.

www.wcvb.com

 

[ErinC]

I keep coming back to this- while my mother isn't necessarily going to win parenting awards, under absolutely no circumstance would she agree to drop me off in the middle of nowhere in these conditions, nor would she knowingly allow anyone else to. That certainly doesn't mean it's impossible in all families, it's just odd.

 

[maine2016]

We Vermonters would/do!

(I'm a trail runner, I get that) But not without gear or proper lighting. That's more what I'm getting at.

 

[White_Mountains]

WAIT, this doesn't make sense. The Lafayette Place campground is on the other side of the highway from Mount Lafayette, Little Haystack, and Flume. You would not start there to hike those trails.

There are other trails that start at or near Lafayette Place campground and they're easier - they are the ones I usually do. Kinsman Ridge, Lonesome Lake, Cannon Mountain, those trails all start on the side of Lafayette Place campground and you reach them from that side of the highway.

If her mother was in the Lafayette Place campground, how did she see her walk up the trails across the highway?

I was wondering this as well. Although, I am wondering if the news and fish and game reported the drop off as the campground because it is more of a landmark than saying “the drop off was at the I-93 N side parking lot across from Lafayette place campground.” Economizing words yet being less precise for those of us who want precision and value each word’s meaning. As I tell my students, words matter.

When I drove by this morning, I didn’t see any cars visible from 93 in the lots - I did see a couple cars closer to the flume (in the lot on I-93 N) across from the basin. Perhaps the search resumes at 10?

 

[Alethea]

The video in this article shows the trailhead at the campground with a sign for Lafayette (4.0 mi), so it does look as if she could get to the first peak from there. My screenshot is too big to post...

19-year-old Mass. woman never returned home from hike in NH mountains

Her family said the Westford, Mass. native who turns 20 on Wednesday is an experienced hiker but does not have much winter hiking experience.

www.wcvb.com

That's the other side of the highway. If you go to google maps you can do a street view at the intersection and see the camp ground parking lot is on one side and the trails start on the other. So you can cross the highway if you park at the campground, but it's not something someone sitting in the parking lot at the campground could watch you head up the trail.

It's definitely possible that her mom dropped her off at the Bridle Falls Trailhead (taking the exit off 93 north) but that is just not the same place as the Lafayette Campground.

Maybe I am being too literal but given the original report came from Fish and Game I thought they would be exact to try to locate people who saw her physically on the West side of the highway at the Campground.