A front line no one wants to be on
Book on father’s search for his missing son outlines a physical, mental, emotional, and psychological journey
Called by Mother Earth By Greg F. Naterer Breakwater Books $24.95 275 pages
On Thanksgiving weekend in 2020, 25-year-old Jordan Naterer left for a hike and overnight camping trip in Manning Park, B.C.
He was reported missing three days later.
At home in St. John’s, his family — father Greg, mother Josie, and two younger sisters — get the awful news. Because the first alerts went to the Vancouver Police Department (Jordan was a graduate engineering student at UBC) the VPD headed the official investigation.
Jordan was an experienced hiker, well-prepared and fit. Obviously, he’s met with some misadventure, but even if he was lost or injured, he was in an area where he could potentially find shelter (mine shafts and old abandoned cabins), food sources, and water. There is hope.
TRACING HIS STEPS
Greg Naterer had flown immediately to Vancouver, Josie following the next day, and they quickly obtained access to Jordan’s computer, cellphone, and bank records.
They can see what routes he’d researched and what equipment and clothing he’d purchased, wore, and carried.
They begin to construct a timeline of his movements: when he left his apartment, where he purchased a coffee.
THE SEARCH
Manning Park, with 80,000 hectares of protected land, is massive. Popular destinations include Frost Mountain, Windy Joe Mountain, and The Larches.
As required, Jordan had bought permits for his planned trek and campsite. They could trace his intentions. But there were two ways of accessing his apparent summit, clockwise and counter-clockwise. And, in the most serious cause of detour or digression, there had been an unexpected snowstorm.
Through social media, the Naterers can contact other hikers who were contemporaneously in the park, who share anecdotes and photos.
They can begin to see who was where, and when, and if anyone had seen or spoken to Jordan.
Two pings from his cellphone might also help approximate his location. Ground searches begin to scour the most probable areas.
CALLED OFF
But on Oct. 18, the Naterers are informed the search is being suspended — a crushing decision that will even bring about a direct plea for aid to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
But with the official apparatus drawn down, Jordan’s family steps up. They have no intention of giving up.
Josie co-ordinates volunteers and data, issues regular news updates, and ensures posters of Jordan are in gas stations, churches, and resorts throughout the area (which crosses over the American border).
Jordan’s siblings fundraise for search and rescue efforts from helicopters and by canine teams.
DAD’S DETERMINATION
Naterer takes a leave of absence as Dean of Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial University and returns to the park to continue looking.
Not coincidentally, he has the skill set to logically and methodically co-ordinate a search. What he doesn’t know — snowshoeing techniques, calibrating drone operation — he will learn.
And day by day, he builds up his physical stamina, although his legs often hurt so much at the end of a hike he can hardly get in his car. And he’s not alone in this — a dedicated core of volunteers promise to hike and snowshoe with him for the duration.
Thus begins his off-trail and grid searches that will eventually cover 1,600 kilometres.
MEMOIR
Called By Mother Earth is a memoir built from distinct components. The first is the search parameters and logistics, always clearly set out and explained.
Although Naterer’s searches, day by day, periodically calling Jordan’s name, almost always result in no new clues, even that absence is new information. Such and such can now be crossed off as a possible site or clue.
These efforts include many encounters with volunteers, most of them helpful, engaged, and supportive, though others come with their own bizarre or selfish motives, for attention or grift.
Second it is anchored in this specific, riveting case — what’s more urgent than a missing child?
TRAVELOGUE THROUGH A JOURNEY
From this, Naterer consistently broadens the perspective to include geology, botany, historic expeditions, accounts of the psychological stresses of being lost, and Indigenous beliefs.
The search falls within the unceded territory of the Syilx Nation, whose permission for which is requested and given, and where Naterer encounters the concept/being of Trux*ulax* (Mother Earth), which proves significant, even pivotal.
Because, as Naterer moves through the park, month by month and gridline by gridline, he has conversations with his son and seeks advice from Trux*ulax*.
Sometimes, he feels a profound connection with Jordan, and other times, a great misery and peril emanating from the landscape.
This is a report from a frontline no one wants to be on. It’s a travelogue through a journey: physical, mental, emotional, and psychological; I’ve never read anything like it. (I believe all proceeds will go towards a scholarship in Jordan Naterer’s name.)