This is actually not really news.  The UK Daily Telegraph released the details in an article in August, 2009.  A local tribal leader saw the kidnappers crossing the border from the Iran side, and noted cell phone records of the call that alerted the kidnappers to the hikers presence. The article also notes that, at that moment, the tension between the US and the Iranian government was high because of US protests of the 2009 election in Iran.

So, why didn’t this information come out in the US before? Iran covered up this information and their official story was to allege that the hikers crossed the border and were going to be tried as spies.  Anyone that knows Sarah, Josh or Shane, is aware that this is complete B.S., but maybe this is the only way for Iran to save face keep them in Evin.  I am guessing here, but my sense is that there has been a tension between using official means to try and release the hikers and using the media to build public support.

I am still speculating when I suggest that nobody really knows WHY Iran is holding the hikers and this is responsible for creating this tension.  Is it because of the protests that the Daily Telegraph mentions? If so, why do they continue to hold them, wouldn’t this only strain the relations further? Is The Iranian government waiting for an opportunity for an exchange? (This came up in the media throughout the time that the hikers have been held. Most recently, it was  reported in February  that Ahmadinejad proposed a prisoner exchange and then, earlier this month, that Iranian officals said it is not in their practice to “exchange people”.) Is Ahmadinejad just looking for a way out that he can save face?

So because nobody knows why they are actually being held, since they are clearly not spies and clearly did not cross the border, it is completely unclear what the right tactics are to pursue their release.  As has been stated by the Free the Hikers campaign many times, this is a historically safe area.  It has only been within the last month that tensions between Iran and Kurdish rebels have begun heating up.  The border crossings of Iranian troops were distinct enough to be newsworthy. Outside magazine notes that Europeans and Americans regularly travel in this area and that at peak times, this trail does have significant use.  The article also notes that Iranian-US relations are at an all-time low due to “Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denials and anti-Israel diatribes, the surging power of Iran’s anti-Western Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the regime’s suppression of the country’s pro-democracy movement”.

It seems that the few hateful American’s that post comments saying that they deserve their fate for being so stupid may be the only ones that have ever thought that their jailing makes any kind of sense.  And now, with the public release of this border information, not only can I send a big FU to those self-righteous people, but it is the final piece of a puzzle that points to the fact that is was not a stupid mistake that the hikers are paying for, but is instead an international hostage situation, and one that has been downplayed for too long.

But here’s the rub, and how the situation is turned upside-down version of  a simpler hostage situation.  The hikers “are the opposite of ugly Americans” (as Outside puts it). They can’t be held up as models of imperialism. Instead, they are warm and generous people wanting to bridge gaps between cultures and advocate freedom, information and education for everyone.  They are pro-Palestinian.  While it would certainly be a stretch (and an incorrect one at that) to say that they are supporters of Ahmadinejad’s, they are not even close to his worst enemies and  are even farther from being enemies of the Iranian people.

Because of these personal qualities and the consequential journalism, teaching and activism that they have done here in the Bay Area and internationally, I have hope that international allies in Europe and the Middle East will step up and ultimately mount enough public pressure to lead to their release.

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I met Sarah’s mom before I met Sarah.  We were at an earthquake preparedness meeting where we were discussing, as a community, how to be prepared and connected to people in our own neighborhoods and how to get in touch with people in other neighborhoods if lines of communication go down.  At that point, Sarah “Bean” (a nickname that we all use as a way to differentiate her from other Sarah’s that we know), was practically a legend in my mind.  My friends had been asking me for over a year whether I knew her.  She was roommates with a close friend, but never seemed to be around whenever I was there.

Finally, a few months later, I met Sarah at a party and I adored her immediately.  We decided to  begin trading massage.  I am a professional massage therapist and am fairly picky about who I will trade with.  Sarah’s modality is different than mine (her Tui Na to my Deep Tissue).  Although I prefer deep tissue massage, I have benefited and enjoyed all modalities when done well.

A practitioner can be good with touch intuitively or be mediocre, even with a lot of training.  Sarah is a talented bodyworker because of her ability to connect with others.  She did not have much training when I first started receiving massage from her, but she always had a wonderful touch.  Throughout the year that we traded, her work evolved as she furthered her training and offered more fully integrated sessions.

Like many young people in the Bay Area (and many bodyworkers), Sarah is a person of many hats.  She is a teacher, a thinker and a healer.  Given the opportunities, Sarah’s possibilities are boundless because she is the kind of person that turns everything that she touches into her own.  She was working hard in many apsects of her life, including preparing for her trip logistically and learning Arabic.

Sarah gave me this photo before she left for her trip

Despite her light and easy presence with others, she takes the world and her position in it quite seriously.  I’ve always been impressed by the gravity that she holds the well-being of others, which translates into her politics, her employment and her friendships.  She often spoke of her love and concern for her family and friends and was fiercely loyal and loving to both.

The Hikers

What I really appreciate about the campaign to get Sarah, Shane and Josh released is the focus on the fact that they are hikers.  Of course, this does not comprehensively define them, but is a part of a lifestyle that I share with Sarah.  I can imagine her joy in being able to explore this area. The Free the Hikers website is filled images of them in nature.

Shon Meckfessel, who was travelling with them (but did not join them on the hike) explains their discovery of the area.

Every one of them told us to visit a place called Ahmed Awa. Not one of these people mentioned that Ahmed Awa was anywhere near the Iranian border. In fact, on the wall of our hotel there were three photos of tourists standing near the Ahmed Awa waterfall.  Ahmed Awa seemed the clear choice for appreciating the stunning natural beauty around Sulaimania, far from any sort of risk. However, it may have been unclear to the people who encouraged us to visit Ahmed Awa that we intended to go hiking in the area, rather than simply visiting the waterfall.

News reports say that the hikers may have entered Iran and it is plainly obvious to anyone who learns anything about them (including the involved governments) that they would not spy and also would not have entered Iran intentionally.  Either one would be antithetical to their personalities and life choices.  This was simply an awful, tragic mistake.

I have not followed much of the media, but I was particularly struck by Sarah’s mom reading an email that Sarah had sent just before they traveled to this Kurdish region or Iraq.  She assures her mom that the area is completely safe and pro-american and there is no history of American’s being harmed there.

Helping

Unfortunately, those of us hoping for the release of the hikers are currently subject to a bit of a waiting game. My understanding is that the situation is precarious because the US does not have diplomatic relations with Iran and communication with and about the hikers has been somewhere between non-existent to scarce to not trustworthy.

It is my understanding that what they need most, other than raising awareness for the situation is money.  T-shirts can be bought here (which will do both).  The list of ways to help and ways to follow the situation is being constantly updated here.  I hope that I will be able to plan some sort of fundraiser for them and encourage others to do the same.  I also know that the families are already traveling for meetings and media opportunities and are welcoming the donation of frequent flier miles.

My take is that no one really knows at this point what will help expediate the release of the hikers and because of that, it is difficult for the families to know what to ask for.  Because of this, I am beginning to try and work with the folks involved to support them personally.

Massage is a really wonderful thing to be able to offer.  In times of stress, trauma and crisis, massage can relieve the physical and emotional holding patterns that begin to happen for people.  It also helps clear the mind; “let go” is not the right word, but maybe reorganize a little.  I have been lucky enough to be able to work on some people on their team that cannot right now afford much time or money to devote to their own self-care.

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I found out about the place because one of my geocoins was placed here by someone.  We sought three caches.  Vya’s Adventure, Hiding in Wait…, and Back In Black (Stone). The first and the last were pretty easy with clues in hand.  Apparently the second provides a photo to help that my palm pilot can’t download.  That was pretty tough, although my new gps pegged the coordinates as right on. Still, J- and I were tromping all up and down a crazy hillside when my gps was basically sitting on it the whole time. I got close to it at one point, but had taken the wrong access point and turned around.

I hope to go back soon and I will definitely bring my camera this time and post pictures.  Check out photos by sdarken on Back in Black (Stone).

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So, I decided to organize my own trip to burn off those Thanksgiving pounds as long as the rain was still staying away. I found out that a controlled burn was happening, which would slightly detour our route. It also cut out one of the twelve caches required for getting to a final cache 50sumtin’s Big Basin Park HQ to Sea Baker’s Dozen! . Luckily, we picked up another cache on our detour and Bud was kind enough to let us count it towards our 12…we missed a clue, but it didn’t prove to affect our deduction of the correct coordinates for the final.

I expected it to be a really long day because of the mileage and because we would be stopping frequently for geocaches along the way. So, we met at Waddell Beach at 6:30 am, just as th sun was rising. It took just under an hour to get to the trailhead. Google maps routed me on a gated, dirt road. Luckily, I checked my facts and saw that the only accessible route was way over through Bonny Doon.

We left our car just after 7:30 am. There was a controlled burn happening and soon things got pretty smokey. The rangers kept commenting on what an early start we got. I was surprised since we are getting into the shortest days of the year.

As we walked along the fire road, we were shocked at how much smoke we saw and then we started actually seeing flames. As we turned off the fire road, we were greeted by a whole group of good looking, hairy twenty-something fire crew members. We descended the very steep trail (I believe that it was Sunset trail) and were within feet of burning redwoods.

For me, there were three major highlights of the trip. First off, This may be only the second time (the first being the first time that I did this hike) that I have been in so much contiguous redwood forest, including some old growth. I would get moments that my focus on whatever I was doing would just break and I would have a perfect picture in front of me. Everything still, except for a small creek moving next to me. The goliath trees just everywhere providing shelter, warmth and a soft forest floor of their needles.

The second highlight was Berry Creek Falls. Although the water was certainly not high at this time of year after a very dry fall, it was absolutely jaw-dropping nonetheless. There is something primordially peaceful about watching a waterfall…a place where the beauty and force of nature overcomes anything manmade.

The final highlight was up to the western ridge of the park. We had to go up there for our final cache in the Baker’s Dozen. We debated for a while at a previous fork that we had seen that had confusing signs. It turns out that the trail is only used seasonally and we were off season, so we had to do an out and back from close to the end of the trail. After doing 12 miles, it is not an easy thing to be at the end of the trail and look back and up at where you need to go. We took a nice break and regained our energy. The trip up was well worth it.

It was a narrow, canyon side trail that made a slow ascent and brought us through a completely different eco-system than we had seen during the rest of that day. We took an unmarked turnoff into a memorial grove that had simply stunning views out the canyon opening to the ocean.

We arrived back to the car at Waddell Beach at about 3:45, I think. Being intrepid cachers, we decided to cache along the ocean on our way back and also check out a cache that had been recommended to us along Empire Grade Rd. our cache total was 21.

The last one was off a very rough trail with steep terrain. We had a short sweet view of the valley below (Scott’s Valley?) and scrambled back up with our headlamps blazing. I think that I was the last one over the guard-rail entrance, my leg swinging over, literally, as we lost our last bit of light. We had a challenging drive back to pick up the second vehicle and drove out into Saratoga on the super-windy and narro 236. We were happily greeted by a holiday-lit and bustling downtown Saratoga.

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