Family and friends of Robert Budinski meet for Celebration of Life

On Saturday, April 12, hikers, trail angels, and friends and family of Robert Budinski filled the main room at Silver Pines Lodge. Robert, who was known by his trail name “Ambassador,” passed away in April of 2024 while hiking on the north flank of San Jacinto peak. Members of Budinski’s family flew out to participate in the event, which included the planting of a tree by the hiker’s two grandsons, Cooper and Keegan Mott, residents of Grosse Ile, Michigan.

The Fowler O’Sullivan Foundation organized the Celebration of Life, which included lunch and much appreciation for host Raj Panchal, who meets many PCT hikers at the Silver Pines.

Cathy Tarr, founder of the foundation, spoke about their efforts to find Budinski, whose remains were not discovered until September. Tarr noted that the foundation, in addition to conducting searches and supporting families of missing hikers, also facilitates monthly Zoom meetings that allow loved ones to help one another. “I can’t say ‘I know what you are going through,’ but I can introduce you to people who do.”

John Formentin, guardian of Budinski’s grandsons, said the family had gone through a long grieving process and that the Fowler O’Sullivan Foundation had been very helpful during the months of uncertainty. He praised Tarr’s “exemplary effort” in connecting often-distant families with the agencies conducting searches. “Without her, we were literally on an island.”

Kim Dobson, who said she had been briefly married to Budinski many years ago, also praised Tarr for her work to support the families of missing hikers. She noted that the “trail family” of Pacific Crest Hikers is really a second family to many and that only they “can understand the drive and passion that can propel a person, forces that one’s own family can’t understand.”

Dobson shared details of Budinski’s adventurous background. She said Robert had been a surgical nurse with a “very successful practice,” and a mountain climber. He was in Kathmandu, en route to Mount Everest, when he was involved in a traffic collision between his taxi and a bus. He suffered broken bones and a severe head injury, spending two weeks in the hospital in Nepal. The injuries destroyed his dexterity, leaving him unable to function in the operating room or technical climbing. At that point, he began trail hiking.

The hikers who found Budinski were also there: a married couple residing in Los Angeles who go by the trail names “Spetzel” and “Yeti.” Tarr pointed out that they are very experienced hikers, having completed the “Triple Crown” of long-distance hiking: the Pacific Crest, Appalachian, and Continental Divide Trails. They had completed the PCT that summer and returned to Idyllwild in September for a three-day hike.

Temperatures were extremely high. Yeti recalled that on the desert-facing side of the mountain, it was 106°F. They had begun the day with 4 liters of water each but were down to half a liter after ten miles. Their air was also hazy from wildfires. There was a spigot several miles of switchbacks ahead. They decided to separate and stay in contact via cell phones. Yeti would leave the trail and hike down the canyon, where they could see a Desert Water Agency tank and road.

As is often the case, the “shortcut” was more difficult and dangerous than it appeared. There was a dry waterfall, and Yeti had to descend another route down 30 feet of polished granite. He said he barely managed with the help of trekking poles. Along the way, he saw a blue backpack and called out, thinking perhaps a hiker was relieving themselves nearby. There was no reply. He noticed that the pack was covered with dust and twigs and had clearly been there for some time.

He looked in the pack for water and found none, but he found Budinski’s PCT permit and saw they were both part of the “class of ’24,” hikers that had entered the trail that year. A quick Google search of Budinski’s name revealed his story. Almost immediately, the wind shifted, and Yeti smelled a faint odor of decomposition. Budinski’s body was a few feet down the canyon, in a place where water would have likely flowed in April. He also found the hat the missing hiker had worn in photographs. Yeti called Spetzel and then the authorities. They met officers from the Riverside Sheriff’s office 45 minutes later near the DWA tanks, and Yeti helped them bushwhack back up the canyon through the brush, including poison oak.

After the memorial, author Andrea Lankford spoke to a full house at Town Hall about her book Trail of the Lost. Idyllwild figures in several of the stories in the book, as do many residents. Lankford and Tarr answered questions from the public, and the author called Tarr one of the “quiet heroes” she met in the “wild west” of online groups focused on missing hikers. Trail of the Lost is available online or locally at Speakeasy Bookmarket.