Stay On the Trail, Off the Tracks

Fog and trains could move in at any time.

A A A Comments (1) By Mike Seely Wednesday, Jun 24 2009

Often when tragedies occur, there are few easy answers. But this weekend's local tragi-ledger offered two cases with seemingly clear-cut solutions.

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This is not the way to express one’s affinity for railroad culture.

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The first involved a 22-year-old Eagle Scout, Mark Albrecht, who went missing for several days after embarking upon a solo hike in the North Cascades. Usually when hikers disappear, they're hiking alone. And usually the way tragedy could have been averted can be explained as simply as "Don't go on solo hikes."

Fortunately, Albrecht emerged safely from the wilderness, saying he'd encountered a thick blanket of low fog after inadvertently veering off course. Had he been hiking with a companion, perhaps he'd have stayed on-trail, but the fog would still have been an issue. So Albrecht's situation ended up not being as open-and-shut as presumed.

But as for the guy killed by a train at Carkeek Park on Saturday night, the way his death might have been avoided is simple: Never, ever loiter on train tracks. "Besides [being] a violation of the law, it's just not a good idea," says Seattle Police Department spokesperson Mark Jamieson. "If we were to cite somebody, it would likely be for criminal trespass."

Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which owns the stretch of track where the accident occurred, maintains its own private security force, which also issues trespassing citations and regularly patrols company property, says BNSF spokesperson Gus Melonas. "Trains can move on any track, at any time, in any direction," he adds.

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