Date From Hell Leaves Young Couple Stranded Wilderness | I Shouldn't Be Alive S3 EP2 | Wonder

young lovers Gina Allen and Brandon day are on a day trip from hell lost in a freezing mountain wilderness with no way out the city dwellers are trapped in a nightmare that cannot escape we're stuck we're completely stuck and just when it seems it can't get any worse that plunged into a tale of death and despair it's threatens to engulf them too we make mistake probably will die [Applause] [Music] [Music] of course I will it'll be fine he's a really nice guy Jessica knows him too she says he's very nice we met in the spring of 2006 he had seen my myspace profile and within a couple of weeks went on our first date and we immediately hit it off we were almost inseparable at that point and a few days later and he asked me to go with him to California it's amazing no I can't believe I'm here either oh he is totally gorgeous and he's been such a gentleman no he's gonna be you wouldn't do it at a business conference woody I had qualified to go to a national sales convention I'm a financial adviser I was allowed to bring a guest with me and thought it'd be a really good time and invited her out with me hey look how would you like to go on an all-expenses-paid vacation into a resource how bad could that be [Music] at the end of the convention Brandon and Gina head out on a day trip to a nearby beauty spot intending to be back well before nightfall the couple dressed light I'm gonna leave my purse here somewhere we could hit peacefully his pockets full Brandon leaves his mobile behind we didn't think anything of it we were only gonna be gone a couple hours or I guess so we thought 10834 feet above sea level Mount San Jacinto is the second highest mountain in Southern California and as we're going up she mentions you know there's this is mountain lion territory there's also a lot of rattlesnakes in this area you stay on the trails you should be okay among the most rugged wilderness regions in the US mount San Jacinto is the second highest peak in Southern California with no access road the only way up or down is by cable car and while temperatures can hit the 80s and 90s on the desert floor during May the summit is still dusted with snow [Music] somebody mentioned it's going to get cold because you're going up 8500 odd feet and there's gonna be a wind so you might want to grab a sweatshirt or a jacket something like that to have with you so we got up to the top I'm about to head out for our walk it was totally perfect and I guess you just think you don't have a care in the world at that point and we you know we're the typical young couple in love [Music] seeing the snow I decided sneaking behind him that I would mess with him Brandon what I just kind of turned to him and just nailed him right right in the head with the snowball and that point it was on it was just so fun just throwing snowballs at each other in in May wait what is it do that sounds like a waterfall yeah so we headed off to go find this waterfall [Music] can you see it yet not yet unused to this kind of environment the city dwellers from Dallas Texas don't realize that the mountain is playing acoustic tricks on them while the sound of the waterfalls seems nearby it is actually rebounding of the hard rock walls and echoing around the mountain it didn't sound far but I guess you know the sounds play with you play with your mind and play with your head gotta be here someone are we there yet this is getting to be like a real hike further Jeana it should be really cool [Applause] we eventually did find the waterfall which was not impressive Wow it's not exactly Niagara Falls is it maybe you don't want to see this squat way I took some pictures with didn't turn out very well at all in in this and then decided to turn back Tom should be getting back yeah Gina and Brandon have 20 minutes to meet their tour party at the cable car station but going back the way they came is not easy it seemed so simple when we walked off the path to get to the waterfall it felt like all we did was around two boulders behind a tree and over the top of another boulder and there it was so we kind of you know retraced our steps and it was seeming to take much longer can you hear that this way can't be far we could hear voices but we couldn't really match up with them it's now less than 10 minutes before the to a party leaves Brandon and Gina can hear the other tourists but they cannot find them this way we couldn't get to them they seemed to be just just right there and we lost the voices we couldn't hear anyone else talking and at that point you kind of okay something might not be right here meanwhile the rest of the tour party has descended without Brandon and Gina and will soon return to the hotel Brandon and Gina now realized that not only missed their rendezvous they've lost their way back to the station it's beginning to be a true test of their fledgling relationship you've got no idea where we are have you not exactly at least I'm looking for a way out you know you can sit there if you want to when I'm gonna keep on moving I think he wanted to be the big strong tough guy that's not scared in front of me at that point it was probably important that I sense a little message of okay we can't panic we have to stay focused on the task at hand despite Brandon's determination to find the mountain station the dense pine forests is steep rock faces block their path their tantalizingly close to the station but they just can't see it I think we're close we just need to go a little bit further this direction or this direction we'll see something we recognize I'll be fine that went on for a while and then I realized that no I think actually I do think we're lost and so at that point we decided okay we have to start yelling for help [Applause] we're too short must have taken a taxi back okay let's go we've now passed the rendezvous time now we have a real problem okay before it was there's something that was very manageable now it's sinking you know I think we have an issue as night falls Gina and Brandon are lost in one of the most desolate and unforgiving parts of the Southern Californian wilderness but even worse no one knows they're missing the most immediate danger for Brandon and Gina is hypothermia lightly dressed they're at the mercy of the plunging Mountain temperatures which can drop well below zero at night they must retain body heat or frostbite exposure and eventual death may follow all we had was wind pants and windbreakers on not any type of gear or you know something for to prepare for this type of type of weather or food or water anything because we originally and only intended to walk maybe a few hundred yards to take a picture and then head back to a mountain station so we weren't hikers we were tourists okay I really felt responsible it's one thing to put yourself in a bad situation but to put somebody else in a bad situation is tough to stomach and so you know at one point you know Gina started to cry she was very scared and you know I started to just apologize I'm so sorry for for putting you in this situation and she stopped me right there I said no no we're okay we're in this together we both took the wrong steps were both following each other here were we're okay or we're in this together so I think at that point he accepted that I was not blaming him by any means that I was right there with him that we were gonna get through this together past caval the way back it's better than being out here in the office come on [Music] stumbling their way through the darkness Gina and Brandon are aware of another very real mountain danger we have been warned that there's mountain lions and rattlesnakes in these mountains we weren't really looking to see any wildlife we were hoping Creedence any wildlife at that point why not know anything could be in there I don't know if it was just a gut reaction or just instinct or how he knew to do it he took my camera which I thought was genius I don't know how he thought of it give me the camera [Music] it's clear Oh well they'll no longer out in the open Brandon and Gina is still at the mercy of Mount San Jacinto is bitter chill well that night it really got to a level cold that I've never experienced before I'm looking at my watch and it's 11 o'clock at night and I'm thinking okay we have seven more hours of this you know and we're already freezing shivering in how much longer can we endure this [Music] Brendon and Gina survived a long cold night in their makeshift shelter exhausted that had nothing to eat or drink in the last 24 hours even so Gina's mind is on more everyday anxieties this was by far the most Awkward date I had ever been on in my life um Here I am with this guy I barely know and I'm stuck now he's going to you know smell my morning breath and he's gonna see me without my makeup on and I'm gonna I have dirty hair and it's all those classic girl things you think of when you're in a new relationship Brandon's thoughts there are more practical matters in my mind I'm going through a checklist okay there's a series of fail-safes you know first off the tour bus had a head count in a list of names so they would have known we didn't make it back on the bus secondly at dinner that night you know some people from my firm but if noticed we're not there unfortunately the fail-safes have not triggered a search with the convention winding down Brandon's work colleagues have not noticed their absence Brandon and Gina are not expected home for another two days so their families have no idea they're missing Brandon and Gina climbed further up the mountain thinking they need to go higher to reach the cable car stations they're in for a shock there's no sign of the station Gina and Brandon now realize that cross to a different ridge of the mountain Hey look do that there are a lot of trees dead one we passed on the way up from the cable car they now know they're more lost than they thought and facing another freezing night at this altitude could kill them the young couple need a plan Creek cake running their heads towards Palm Springs yeah we made the decision that we're gonna try and walk walk our way out of here we're going to try and follow the Mountain River and it has to lead out somewhere what Gina and Brandon don't realize is that between them and the river is some of the most treacherous terrain the mountain has to offer so we kind of look at each other and say all right well we have nowhere to go but down and it's steep it's very steep at that point but on our butts I guess with one leg straight out in front of us the other leg bends up and we moved definitely shook loose some of the rocks around us she's got a little frightening Boulder about the half of the size of a suitcase goes tumbling tumbling all the way down and then you hear that just hit the bottom of this rock face if we make mistake we're either dead or we're hurt to the point to where we probably want time Gina as she was trying to slide down head kick to rock or some rocks and here it's coming straight for me straight for my head this thing probably missed me bait by about a foot foot and a half okay that was really really close the mountain is too steep and treacherous declined back up Brandon and Gina are now committed to sliding down the rest of the rock face despite the danger Texas the better part of a day in around four or five o'clock we finally make it to the bottom it's the first water Brandon and Gina have trunk for over 24 hours water could prolong their survival but with no source of food their health is already deteriorating and their judgment too they think that following the river will lead them to safety they have no idea what lies ahead in this hostile wilderness the stream we were following would get really narrow to the point where you could almost jump across it to really wide to the point where we had to look for like four and five rocks to hop across and you essentially kind of play leapfrog trying to just hop on rocks to get your way over you know the last thing you want is wet feet under normal circumstances getting wet would be an inconvenience but with night approaching in the cold mountain environment it could spell disaster for Brandon and Gina we get to a point where I'm leading and I'm going down like a downed log and I guess it's something that I learned through my years of cheerleading is that you you think light you train your body to think the light I made it down safely but you know he's you know 60 pounds heavier might not support him the way it supported me instantly I'm soaked from the thighs down in wet clothes brandon is now at real risk of hypothermia with no cave to shelter in the couple need to think first to prevent the creeping cold of night from freezing Brandon to death at that point I guess my my nurturing instinct kind of kicked in I guess to take care of him and we huddled up again to keep us warm and she sat on my feet throughout the night trying to keep help keep them warm because I was shivering pretty good throughout the night the Sun comes up Monday morning we waited a little bit longer because my shoes and my socks are still pretty wet so try and let the Sun hopefully dry those out for another hour or so after two nights stranded in a savage mountain wilderness with no food or way out old Brandon and Gina have left is a determination to keep going we're not gonna die here and also we just really didn't want to sleep another night out in the freezing cold we wanted to get ourselves out of there [Music] now at this point on Monday we haven't seen or heard anything or anyone so we have no evidence no reason to believe a search is started at that point it seems surreal that we haven't heard anything but but that's the situation we're faced with and I think we had come to accept that there's a for whatever reason that a search wasn't coming or at the very least wasn't started [Music] what you said oh no I was just praying is all I don't think we're gonna get out of this on our own yeah I do just it just gives me hope that's all [Music] but jeana's prayers are going unanswered there Hotel computerized booking system has automatically checked them out but the rooms have not been made up so no one knows they're lost in the mountains fighting for survival and we really just have to be careful as we make our way you know we don't get it get ourselves into a situation where we can get bitten or falling it hurt or anything that's gonna get us stranded with little sleep nothing to eat and no sign of rescue they've been driven on by grit and sheer determination then suddenly signs of life appear in the distance well first I I'm making sure I'm not hallucinating you know we haven't eaten we haven't slept and at this point I'm sure that my judgment is starting to not be as sharp as it once was see that what Dad also you get this feeling of hope I think we made it Brandon and Gina realize this is not your average campsite we definitely know right off the bat that something's wrong [Music] stuff had been buried a little bit by dirt and at this point we're realizing this is not a good situation we don't hear anybody we don't see anybody it's just a very ominous feeling hey so we start going through the bag the contents of the bag we're discovering these maps we had no idea really what we were looking at but just that there were some sort of maps and there was obvious writing in the white space random luck this is today [Applause] no Gina Stivers year at a date it's May 8 2005 it was just a blow but for one how have we found this exactly one year ago to the day and in seeing everything that he had he was obviously prepared for something you know he was an experienced climber experienced hiker that this campsites abandon you don't know what the hell is going on May 8th 2015 Doan is gorge no way out Wartrol look gorge listen here's another one listen May 11th I'm 60 today down to last two crackers god this is this is here May 14th had him down to Creek for water goodbye and love you all I'm looking through the bag and I come across all of his identification I see his name is is John Joseph Donovan and he's in his 60s from Virginia and I come across a driver's license his credit cards his debit cards his everything she did these are these are someone's last words Jeana we've just read someone's last words now it's exactly a year ago to the day and we found this campsite of somebody saying goodbye to the world and now here we are in the same place exactly a year ago to the day and to go from such a high to such a low in such a short amount of time was just something that shakes you this stuff this doesn't happen you know this is stuff that people make up you know in and and put into a movie and digging through all of his cards I see the prayer card that has the st. Christopher prayer and that's when just too many too many loose ends were tied at that point that st. Christopher is a patron saint of travelers and I had been praying to Saint Christopher my whole way along his penmanship was very much like my father's and my dad's birthday was May 7th and it's just all kind of coming to a head at that point I just I can't take it it's too much and Brandon is continuing to read and I'm starting to freak out at that point I took his bag and I gathered up everything I could I gathered up his glasses his shoes his jacket because in my mind that's somebody's dad and somebody's dad didn't come home and it was just important to me that any of his family have his things I can't I can't think of anything but getting the hell out of there wait - wait stop it's just a mess or losing all sense of cool which we had we've maintained our composure the entire way and that was a breaking point and you know Brandon came up and grabbed me I'm just kind of excited breathe just breathe and settle just we have to settle and you know just that look in his eye I knew that he was afraid for me and it we kind of just took a moment to do be try to try to gather ourselves a little bit and all you can hear is this rush of water for Gina and Brandon the horror story they find themselves in is unrelenting again the water gets this every time so we get closer we make our way back around some big trees that were close to the water and make our way around and that's where we see the gorge that Charton had talked about and nor stuck we are completely stuck he had the maps he had the compass he had everything he couldn't get out so how the hell are we clearly you know looking back upstream what we had just cut down there's no way we can get back up it we had jumped down so many boulders and trees that there's no way we can call him back up to our left was straight sheer rock walls into our right it was a vault it made a big giant bowl to know that something so beautiful is so dangerous it's just so hard to put into words that feeling of seeing all this tremendous beauty and I'm stuck we see what he'd written about there's about a hundred and forty hundred and fifty foot waterfall and no way to get around it you know we're at an impasse you know now what we we can't at this point it's sinking in we can't walk our way out they thought that following the river would be their escape route instead it's led them into a trap now after two days struggling against fear they're losing the battle at that point we knew we were not getting out there's no way there's no way we can get out this man was prepared he had everything he needed we were not prepared for anything we just had on our running shoes in chapstick a digital camera sunscreen and running shoes so this man was prepared and he couldn't get out just some very defeated very difficult on Donovan has left Brandon and Jeeva a lifeline yes badges I think there's still work I don't know how we missed it that throughout all of his things bag inside a bag inside a bag inside a bag he had another little bag of wooden strike-anywhere matches that were still dry by some miracle they were still dry in a duh we decided ok let's start making fire it's that nice by know that what it's a helicopter it's waterfall now it's the waterfall [Music] [Music] the young couple have no idea whether the helicopter was ferrying tourists or looking for them whatever the case Brandon and Gina may have just missed their only chance of being rescued that night we were alone it was the one night that we wanted to side by side we slept a good why they slept but we rested a good 10 to 15 feet away from each other he did his thing and I did mine you would think at that point you need each other even more so than you ever would but we didn't and I don't understand that at that point is when I started to really lose lose my faith I lost hope and I lost faith that that we were really were gonna get out at that point I started letting go I'm just resigning all hope and accepting it and realizing that it's okay but I'd spoken to my mom I had spoken to my sister I had spoken to my best friend and I knew it was okay I had spoken to everyone that I loved in the last few days and it's okay it's okay that I it's okay that I don't come home [Music] Tuesday morning you know that we felt by far the worst we'd felt since we've been out there in just standing up from a crouched position it was difficult over four days the young couples physical resilience is driven them on but not any longer just the constant nights of not getting any real sleep of shivering the days of climbing and getting cut and scraped and bruised trying to make our way down this mountain being dehydrated not having any food think it it all finally really hit our bodies although they now have a means to collect water starvation is having a dramatic effect on their health our bodies are starting to tell us that they don't have much more we had turned some type of a physical corner and it was downhill exactly what happened to John has been a mystery until now when I was gathering water from this pool I did see and didn't notice something out of the ordinary something that didn't seem right I think really maybe part of me knew what it was but the other part of me didn't want to know at least not at that point in time for Brandon the discovery of John Donovan's body is the last straw that's when I made the decision I'm gonna light the whole place on fire the whole damn place and they're gonna they have to see the smoke from that we only have so many matches we don't know how many times if any they will see another helicopter so this was our this was our last bullet this was our last shot and it took much faster than than I anticipated made sure the fire caught and within 60 seconds it's a large fire and getting larger No Brandon [Music] Brandon [Music] to see the fire and the smoke and not see him I'm I'm losing it again I'm I'm like running around on this little rock trying to get every vantage point I can see to see if I can find him anywhere in there [Music] and finally I see a little little head moving through through the mess and the flames are getting bigger and I'm just hurry up get up here get to me hi just come on how do you not see this again not a cloud in the sky crystal those guys just amazing beautiful and all you can see are these huge plumes of just black black smoke [Music] they burn for about 45 minutes or so I produce great Neela smoke there wasn't a cloud in the sky and thought was I mean they have to say have to see this I mean they you know if they don't see this you know what next we just kept on putting her hope in this this is kind of our this is our last shot and we watched the fire begin to smolder and eventually when putting out nearly same smoke it basically burned itself out and now about an hour's gone by and we still don't hear anything we don't see anything and so the thought starts to creep in both of our minds of that was our best shot what are we gonna do next you know I'd always tried to be positive that we're gonna find a way out there's gonna be a search for us there's gonna be something we just have to keep you know ourselves safe and we're gonna be okay but no here we are you know in a spot where we know somebody's died and in what what are we gonna do [Music] a lot of a lot of things run through your minds when you're really faced with okay this this could be it [Music] and in it was the most beautiful sound we'd ever heard thank us coming up from the valley floor does that sound of a helicopter [Music] I think we both would have cried if we had tears but we're both suits so dehydrated I don't have enough moisture in our body to come up with tears but yeah the the [Music] the pure joy - you're gonna make it out [Music] we're just or hugging or kissing it it's just we know we're going home it's just such a feeling of just pure just joy that I don't even know how to formulate the words I don't know what to II would say it's a pretty amazing feeling and if we hadn't had that bag there would have been no way out and to know we're really going home after four dates I am a burr turning to him what I'm saying is you saved my life cuz he lit that fire but if he hadn't lit it I don't know I hate to even think I don't let myself think I don't go there we're so thankful to John Donovan for you know his his sacrifice and you know his last action even not being on this earth anymore was was helping two people so [Music] certain people just have a way of leaving their mark [Music] John Donovan's remains were recovered three weeks later the Navy veteran was buried with full military honors [Music] [Music] Gina and Brandon stayed together for two years after the ordeal and then separated [Music]

Channel: Wonder

Views: 3,204,516

Rating: 4.7582226 out of 5

Keywords: i shouldn't be alive, i shouldn't be alive full episodes, wonder i shouldn't be alive, i shouldn't be alive date from hell, i shouldn't be alive s3 ep2, date from hell, wonder date from hell, i shouldn't be alive lost in the wilderness, They Survived Days Lost In The Middle Of The Wilderness, I Shouldn't Be Alive S3 EP2, extreme survival, i shouldnt be alive new episodes, lost in the wilderness, survival story

Id: Q10-mB2FG7s

Length: 48min 10sec (2890 seconds)

Published: Tue May 22 2018