HOT SPRINGS — A hiker who became lost while traveling the Appalachian Trail in Madison County has been found and is safe. Madison County emergency management director Jeff Willis said 35-year-old David Odowd, an AT through-hiker from Indiana, was found by searchers at about 11 a.m. today after becoming lost late Wednesday. Willis said Odowd was tired and wet but otherwise in good condition. Rescuers planned to take him to the Laurel Volunteer Fire Department “to get him something to eat and warm him up.” At Odowd’s request, officials then will transport him back to the trail near Sams Gap to allow him to continue his trek, Willis said. Odowd became lost as he hiked along the trail in rain and fog Wednesday. “He had gotten on one of the spur trails,” Willis said. Odowd used his cell phone to call his wife in Indiana to tell her he was lost. His wife called local authorities at about 11 p.m. Wednesday after his cell phone went dead. Because of poor weather conditions and rugged terrain, officials decided to wait until 6 a.m. today to begin the search. “We were confident he was okay because of his level of experience,” Willis said. “We felt like it was too big a risk to put people in the woods at night.” Odowd had made his way to Jerry Cabin, an AT shelter, where he was found. About 75 rescuers from Madison fire departments and other emergency personnel participated in the search including units from Tennessee, with a staging area at Laurel VFD. Willis said Madison authorities take part in an average of 10-15 rescue operations a year for lost or injured hikers, many of them on the stretch of the AT that runs through the county near the Tennessee border. Thousands of hikers annually attempt to hike the 2,179-mile trail that runs from Springer Mountain, Ga. to Mount Katahdin, Maine. Only about 25 percent typically complete the entire trail, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy.

Under a measure signed into law by Governor Gary Herbert on Wednesday, Utah’s concealed weapons permit system—widely popular among gun owners nationwide because it’s recognized by 33 states—will see some significant changes. Senate Bill 26 requires non-residents who seek a Utah concealed-weapon permit to first obtain one from their home state, if available. As a result, it will most certainly impact what has become something of a cottage industry for The Beehive State—the classroom instruction and issuing of its concealed-weapon permits to residents of other states who wish to legally carry in as many states as possible. In recent years, the popularity and wide reciprocity of the Utah permit spawned the presentation of training classes by Utah-certified instructors in states and urban areas nationwide, including cities like Chicago and New York. Of the 66,371 concealed-carry permits Utah issued in 2010, more than 70 percent went to non-residents, according to Utah’s Bureau of Criminal Identification. In 2010, Utah had certified 1,123 instructors for its concealed-carry permit courses, up from 926 at the end 2009, and from 825 in 2008. Approximately a quarter million Americans currently hold a valid Utah Concealed Weapons Permit, a number that increased by nearly 40,000 last year. “You don’t have to go too many years back to see when we didn’t have many (instructors),” UBCI firearms section supervisor Jason Chapman told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It’s really exploded the last few years.” In recent months, the neighboring states of Nevada and New Mexico ceased to recognize Utah CCWs, citing, among other reasons, the Utah training course’s failure to require hands-on shooting and lost revenue from its own residents opting for the Utah course rather that its in-state one. From 2009 to 2010 Utah permits issued to Texans more than doubled, from 2,173 to 5,678. Further, a Utah permit requires only four hours course work and no hands-on firearms training, while Texas requires 10 hours, including firing a gun on a shooting range. The Utah training/permit fee is $65, compared to $140 in Texas. Sen. John Valentine, R-Orem, sponsored the bill and said he introduced the measure to address the concerns of other states that were considering ending their reciprocity with Utah’s CCW permit. Valentine said he understands that states prefer to train and qualify their own residents for concealed-carry permits, and they should retain that option, if applicable. Further, Sen. Valentine said his measure gives states control over their own residents, while ensuring Utahns’ permits will be recognized more widely.

Julie Horgan, a 61-year-old hiker from Milton, Massachusetts, was found safe and without injury Sunday morning after spending a frigid night alone on Mount Jackson in New Hampshire. “Winds at the time were between 70 and 90 mph, creating blizzard conditions with near zero visibility,” according to Fish and Game Lt. Doug Gralenski. “These were life threatening conditions.” Search-and-rescue teams were out until 2 a.m. Sunday morning, and the search resumed at sunrise. Horgan was found just before 10 a.m. near the summit of the 4,052-foot peak where she had spent the night “holed up in the softwood.” She was able to walk out on her own after the ordeal, accompanied by about two dozen search-and-rescue team members. She declined to comment on her ordeal, except to say, “I am deeply grateful” to those who searched for her. So what went wrong? It’s easy to play armchair survival expert and say that someone should have done this or that. The reality is that people get lost. Few people ever mean to get lost, but it happens quite often. However, hiking alone can be very dangerous for anyone, at any age, and that was Horgan’s biggest mistake. What went right? A lot of things saved Horgan’s life. She had a cell phone and a signal that enabled her to use it. She was dressed for winter weather, and she listened to her instincts to get out of the wind.  “Under the conditions, had she not been able to find refuge from the wind, [as she was] prepared for only a day hike, [she] may have perished from the predictably unpredictable winter weather,” Gralenski said.