GPS fails and they are stuck in woods
Nick DeBraz and Taylor Jones, both horseback riding instructors at Hot to Trot Stables in Philipstown, learned last week that no good deed goes unpunished.
Their good deed was mounting up late in the afternoon on May 28 to search for a lost dog. Their punishment was getting lost in the dense woods until the wee hours of the morning.
Laurie Yodice, who owns the stable on Route 301, said the problems began for DeBraz, 23, and Jones, 21, when their GPS unit malfunctioned. “It kept giving them faulty readings,” she said, adding that trails in the area are not well-marked.
Sunset was at 8:20 p.m. At 10:30 p.m., DeBraz and Jones called the North Highlands Fire Co., to say they were lost. The phone provided a rough fix on their location but soon died.
The Putnam County Sheriff’s Department set up a command center on Indian Brook Road and, along with the firefighters, used off-road vehicles to search. They eventually made contact using sirens and shouting.
The riders came out of the woods at 1:45 a.m. at the Reid Farm on Indian Brook Road between Dennytown Road and Route 9. “They had gone all the way over the mountain,” Yodice said. The dog, a Shar Pei pup belonging to Yodice’s daughter, Rebecca, was spotted on Route 301 at 5 a.m. by a sheriff’s deputy who escorted Teddy back to the stables.
