About the author
Brian Gawley is a 43-year-old lifelong resident of Washington state. He graduated from Washington State University in December 1987 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism and a minor in history.
He has worked on a daily and weekly newspapers on both sides of Washington for almost 15 years. Along with hiking in Olympic National Park, he also has run numerous marathons in Washington, Nevada and California, including at Lake Tahoe.
This is his first book.
See photos of Brian's injuries while in the hospital here.
"We've all seen the movie scenes of people having mirages in the desert. They stumble desperately towards the oasis, only to find it's not there. Technically, mirages are optical illusions caused by light refraction. The best example is the shimmering highway in the distance on a hot day. What people generally regard as mirages actually are hallucinations.
"Whatever.
"All I know is I was seeing and hearing people and animals that weren't there, just like that oasis in the desert. It wasn't like seeing shapes in the clouds or a pile of clothes in a dark closet that looks like a monster. That's misinterpreting the shape or nature of existing objects. I was seeing and hearing what appeared to be actual people and animals as I made my way through the woods and along the creek on that Sunday night."
From Chapter Nine