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GRAFTON, Mass. — Timothy R. Rick had planned to take only a short hike in the woods to "clear his head." That walk stretched into 10 days, prompting a wide-scale search and rescue effort at Upton State Forest.
Rick, 25, was found Sunday afternoon. He was not in the woods but at a coffee shop in Upton, safe, sound and a few pounds lighter.
"I needed time to think,” he said in a telephone interview Monday morning. “I went for a short walk, which turned into a few days.”
Actually, it was 10 days. He spent his time hiking, sleeping in a rock shelter and eating sparsely during his time in the 2,660-acre Upton State Forest. In the first three days, he ate one meal at the local Dunkin' Donuts before returning to seclusion.
This, however, was not the first time Rick has disappeared without a trace. In 2008, after three days missing, he was found camping at nearby Dean Pond.
Both episodes were driven by similar motivations — he simply needed to "clear his head," Rick said.
He started his sojourn Aug. 30 at 11 p.m. after a friend dropped him off at his Grafton home, which he and his father rent on the Ridge Valley Stables property off Upton Street.
On Sept. 6, Grafton Police issued a bulletin asking residents for help in finding Rick. The Environmental Police and the State Police Air Wing had already begun a hunt with ATVs and helicopters.
But he was nowhere to be found. For a majority of his hike he had perfect weather, predominantly warm and dry. When it did rain, the rock shelter was his home. “I stayed pretty dry,” he said. “And I wasn’t too cold.”
For the first three days, he didn’t eat. He said he wasn’t hungry. On Tuesday Sept. 4, he hiked to the local Dunkin' Donuts, then returned back to the woods.
Although Rick doesn’t have any formal survivalist training, he said he has a natural aptitude for it. And the forest, he said, has very few dangers. “There aren’t too many bears ... and coyotes don’t attack humans," he said. "Other than mosquitoes, it wasn't too bad at all.”
Rick said he has been in the forest dozens of times and knows the area “like the back of my hand.”
But he admitted he left for an extended period of time because he needed a break from family matters and to reflect on his life and career. In 2006 and 2007, Rick was enrolled at UMass Boston, majoring in biology. He dropped out after three semesters but never told his family.
Last week, while in the woods, he heard the ATVs and helicopters and wondered whether there was a hunt for him. After he had been missing for more than a week, some were worried whether he was still alive. Today, Rick is grateful to those who were searching for him.
“I’d like to thank them for their concern,” he said. “I’m sorry if I caused any worries.”
On Sunday afternoon, Rick emerged from the forest for the last time, recognized by an eyewitness at Dunkin' Donuts, then met with Upton police as he entered the Honey Farms convenience store. “They were amazed I was able to live in the woods for over a week,” he said.
Rick said he learned a lot about himself in that period of time, an unintended echo of Henry David Thoreau‘s stay at Walden Pond. He plans on starting fresh, returning to UMass and finally earning his biology degree.
Comments (14)
I agree with you Bubbly, Clearing your head is one thing, going on a walkabout without telling anyone where or when you will be back is cause for attention. He's 25 and he ran away like a 10 year old... Basically he stepped out of his current life and walked amongst everyone, like he was somebody else for 10 days... living in the woods, going to D&D and other stores, not making contact with anyone that may know him.... Serial killers do such things... "Hey, are you about a size 14?" The court should have 5150'd him.
As far as costs involved I'm sure there will be no charges or convictions since going for a walk at 25years old isn't against the law... Pony up tax payers..
"Serial killers do such things... "
... and Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau actually had a fairly good plan as far as where he was going, what he was doing, and no one was looking for him. You want to find yourself, tell people you don't want to be found!
eprisby, When people are being searched for there most certainly is costs that run over a normal operating budget. While equipment is paid for it has to be staffed and operated by people who are not on duty and not working regular shifts. If we had to rely on staff to go and search for people there would be no one working the streets The majority of employees who are searching are being paid overtime. There are also costs for fuel and equipment that would not be spent if the equipment was idle and not being used. Municipal budgets are just that, budgets, there is a general number that goes for all services. The biggest waste in my opinion is when you take these public safety people such as Police and Firefighters and you have them looking in the woods for someone that does not want to be found and then there is a real emergency. Towns like Grafton and Upton rely on Call Firefighters, when they are on a goose chase and there is a real emergency it will take them that much longer to get out of the forest and to the scene. How would you feel if yourself or a loved one needed help and the response time just doubled?
You almost had me.
If this were a case where resources really were diverted from a real emergency to the detriment of someone else's life, I could see your point.
But that didn't happen.
As a taxpayer, I'd rather pay more for services than have the government second guess whether I was in a real emergency after the fact, and spend time in the court's fighting their determination that I could have done more to protect myself.
NH has a law (I believe) that hikers in the White Mountains who stray from the beaten path will have to reimburse the state for rescue efforts once they're found. That I don't mind. There is a clearly defined demarcation between acceptable behavior and that which will cost you money. Here? Not so much.
OK,
So using that logic, if a person approached you on the street pulled out a gun and shot at you but missed, then no harm no foul right?
You said earlier the assets were paid for...ok
Thank goodness fuel for ATVs and Helicopters is free.
Thank goodness the personnel that operate those paid for assets work pro bono...
The fact that there wasn't a "real" emergency at the time this moron was allegedly reconnecting with nature is not much of an argument.
Do you think those conducting the search didn't think it was real?
What if one of the ATV operators had an accident and was killed or injured?
Or the helicopter malfunctioned and crashed, killing and/or injuring its operators or innocents on the ground.
Woulda, coulda, shoulda, we can argue all day. This guy is obviously unstable and should at the very least be committed for evaluation.
He admits to hearing the search party and wondered if they were looking for him?
Whacko!
Let's just call it a training exercise, I know more money is spent to set up training exercises that the cost of actually doing a search and rescue.
Chalk it up to better safe than sorry, otherwise all the special units just sit and wait to be called.
Practice makes perfect!
Probably pondering all the choices: slides or swings; energy savings or roads; DPW building or modulars; oh...decisions, decisions.
@commoncents
I agree with your post. We should all be happy that this ended positively for the missing person but it ended negatively for the town and the state who had to spend valuable financial resources to conduct a search for an irresponsible person. He should be billed for the services rendered!
How long until this 25 year old child shows up at a Batman premier? Red flags anyone?
Mr.Rick should take a stroll into his banking institution and withdraw the amount of money it took to needlessly search for him. He should also be placed on a do not search list!!
Thanks for your wise opinion online.
We all need time to think and reflect at times in our life but you have to be responsible about it. Does this guy have any idea how many resources and time by equipment and people that were spent looking for him. Perhaps to stop people from doing this a total cost of services should be billed to the individual. I can see if this man was ill or incapable of making decisions and he walked away but he sounds like an intelligent person who should know better. This story sounds like he purposely stayed away while he thought people were searching for him. I get upset when my tax money is spent on something like this rather than a actual search or assisting those really in need.
I don't mean to be flippant, but I hear this argument all the time as it pertains to missing people (where the missing people are at some fault of their own for being missing to begin with), and I wonder: How much money is actually "wasted"?
The ATVs and helicopters are already purchased assets. Was extra manpower called in, or were people already on duty simply performing the task for which they were hired? Isn't there a budget for this sort of thing? How are these services paid for?
Again, I'm really wondering.