Learn About Donn Fendler’s Incredible Story in “Lost on a Mountain in Maine”

For some adventurous souls, nine days in the Maine wilderness is a dream come true. For Donn Fendler, that trip became a cautionary tale that transcends time.

Once you learn of the tenacity and terror a 12-year-old faced in the wilderness of Baxter State Park in the summer of 1939, you’ll never quite look at Mount Katahdin the same again.

Donn Fendler’s story starts somewhere between a Stephen King novel and a “parent’s worst nightmare.” Yet, it also showcases that the human spirit, even captured in a young Boy Scout, is as resilient as the wilderness Fendler was lost in. Even Charles Dickens couldn’t have come up with such a heroic ending.

The book Lost on a Mountain in Maine has been a staple of reading for Maine kids for decades. Now, his story is on the big screen, and his legacy lives on.

Is Lost on a Mountain in Maine a True Story?

Several iterations of Fendler’s harrowing story are out there, but it’s the book with the title Lost on a Mountain in Maine that Donn Fendler told to author Joseph B. Egan. The biography published was as accurate as Fendler could recall through the nine days lost in the wild.

More than 70 years later, a graphic novel titled Lost Trail: Nine Days Alone in the Wilderness was also designed in collaboration with Fendler, who was adamant about keeping the story true while connecting with a new generation of readers.

Then the documentary followed, Finding Donn Fendler, which also helped fund the motion picture.

The 2024 movie Lost on a Mountain in Maine is based on a true story, but expect some Hollywood liberties to be taken.

Who Was Donn Fendler?

Donn Fendler was a 12-year-old boy from Rye, New York, in July 1939 when he went on a family fishing trip in Aroostook County.

A last-minute decision to climb Mount Katahdin was meant to be a detour on their way to Caribou. They had never been to the park and were ill-prepared for a summit hike nearly 5,300 feet in elevation. No water was carried, and shoes were nothing more than sneakers.

Fendler went ahead of his father and brothers with a friend, Henry. A sunny, clear day turned into a stormy, fog-choked plateau. Fendler retreated to find his father, with Henry begging him to stay put.

As is all too possible in the inhospitable climate of Maine’s tallest peak, Fendler got lost. Worse yet–he was heading in the wrong direction off anything resembling a trail. At one point, he tumbled down an avalanche slide.

Through the nine-day trek, across up to 80 miles, he faced the wildest aspects the Maine Highlands can throw at a person. Fendler’s luck finally turned, and he spotted help 35 miles (as the crow flies) from the place where he lost the trail, now part of Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument.

Little did he know that a manhunt was underway, and his story made national headlines. Several honorary parades, interviews, and a medal of valor from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt followed.

Fendler went on to marry, have kids, and serve in the Army for 28 years. He became a fixture at local schools, always carrying extra copies of his books for kids who couldn’t afford to buy one.

“I’ve been up the mountain again, but for some reason, they don’t let me go alone,” Fendler joked many times and always elicited a laugh from his attentive fans.

Donn Fendler died in 2016 in Bangor, Maine, at age 90. In 2014, July 25 was declared Donn Fendler Day in Maine.

Who Made the Movie Lost on a Mountain in Maine?

Since Fendler’s book was welcome reading material for Maine fourth-graders, perhaps it made the biggest impression on Ryan Cook in Waterville.

“From that point on, he [Fendler] was a hero of mine. It was a story that I really connected with and was inspired by. I mean I hiked the mountain shortly thereafter, with my family. So I’ve known the story for a long time. It’s been a big part of my life,” Cook said.

The spark of interest kindled a friendship after Cook went to college. He traveled with Fender for speaking engagements and then created the documentary in 2011 and the movie in 2024.

The first showing was at the Maine International Film Festival in July 2011. Exactly 13 years later, the feature film debuted in the same venue and to just as much acclaim. Sylvester Stallone’s Balboa Productions took on the project with Blue Fox Entertainment as the distributor.

How Did Donn Fendler Survive the Wilderness?

“It was the stupidest thing I ever did,” Fendler recalled many times about his decision to leave his friend and venture through the fog alone.

He also admitted that he wasn’t the most attentive during Boy Scout survival training.

“When they were giving us instructions, for example, survival food to find in the woods… I was the kid in the back goofing around, and I suffered for it,” Fendler told a group at the Maine Historical Society 75 years later.

After reading the book several times, we found a few pieces of advice that can help anyone with wilderness safety.

The Will to Live

By many accounts, there’s no one reason why Fendler survived the harrowing ordeal. He wasn’t prepared for a day hike, much less nine days in the wild. The wilderness shredded his shoes in the first few days, and his jeans were washed downstream during a water crossing. Gnarled weeds ripped his underwear to shreds.

The search started with at least 500 people scouring the wilderness, but by the final days, that number dwindled to 50. News reports stated the search had “all but been abandoned.”

Even during unthinkable conditions detailed in his book, Fendler never lost hope that the next turn in the trail or waterway would lead to his rescue. He punctuated this point many times through his retelling of the story.

“I tell everyone that they have something inside them they don’t know they have. When it comes up to a bad situation, they’re going to find out how tough a person they are in the heart and the mind — it’s called the will to live,” he said again in a 2011 interview with the Associated Press.

Boy Scout Lessons

Two practical lessons Fendler learned from his time in the Boy Scouts likely saved him more than anything else.

First, he repeatedly reminded himself to “keep my head.” The saying means to stay calm, avoid panic, and think through the challenges in front of you. Even when delusions of ghosts and friends were right in front of him, he managed to make calculated decisions.

Second, he remembered to follow any trickle of water. A stream turns into a river, and a river leads to civilization. No matter how challenging the terrain was, he followed the Wassataquoik Stream to the East Branch of the Penobscot River–the very one Henry David Thoreau wrote about in The Maine Woods.

Even Thoreau lamented that this region was “primeval, untamed, and forever untamable Nature.”

His Parent’s Words

Fendler repeatedly refers to his “mommy” and dad in the book, an aching loneliness that catapulted every barefoot step.

He whistled, having remembered that his dad said that was a way to stay brave. Through swarms of biting bugs, he was concerned about how worried his parents were.

He kept his regular bedtime because “Mommy and dad think children need lots of sleep. Maybe that was a good thing for me because when bedtime arrived, I always stopped to find a place to sleep.”

Fendler even faced an ethical internal debate when he found a blanket that a mouse was using in an abandoned cabin.

He wrote, “I thought of dad… would he be mad if I took it? I remember he always told me never to touch a thing that doesn’t belong to you. Maybe dad wasn’t thinking of me lost in the woods. Something seemed to tell me to go ahead.”

Even during Fendler’s first post-rescue interview, he told a reporter, “I wouldn’t give up because my father wouldn’t like that.”

The Reality of Maine’s Wilderness

The highlands of Maine are as beautiful as they are unforgiving. Baxter State Park was just eight years old when Fendler went missing. Upon its creation, namesake Governor Percival C. Baxter declared the park to be “Forever Wild… Katahdin, in all its glory, forever shall remain the mountain of the people of Maine.”

Even calling it a park is a bit misleading, as Fendler recalled to the Bangor Daily News on the 75th anniversary of his rescue.

“A lot of people think Maine is a park and the woods are a park; they are not a park. They are hard to get through.”

Katahdin is also the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail, which was just two years into creation when Fendler got lost.

The guidance for Baxter State Park adamantly and unapologetically defends the notion that preserving raw wilderness is far more important than an individual’s comfort level. That goes as far as limiting trail access to the summit and banning generators within the park.

Then, there’s the rugged landscape and climate conditions.

Unpredictable Weather

The weather on Mount Katahdin can change suddenly, with clear skies turning into dense fog, rain, or even snow within a short time. This unpredictability can disorient hikers and make the trail more hazardous.

An incoming storm is what first spooked Fendler and his friend, and that same shroud of darkness led to getting lost on the trail. Even in July, Fendler faced freezing temperatures and sleet.

Rugged Terrain

The trails are often steep, with large boulders, loose rocks, and narrow ledges. Some sections require scrambling on all fours, which can be physically demanding and risky, especially in wet or icy conditions.

Puckerbush caused many issues for Fendler, as it was too unstable to walk on and miserable to tunnel under with its prickly branches.

Even seeking shelter in the water to avoid the biting bugs, Fendler learned how unpredictable and dangerous whitewater rapids can be.

Wildlife

Fendler faced off with two bears while scouring for strawberries. He hallucinated a conversation with a curious chipmunk. However, he was repeatedly the first to admit that the notorious and relentless biting bugs of Maine’s Highlands were the worst part.

Biting black flies in swarms, mosquitoes by the dozens, and sharp-stinging moose flies were repeatedly mentioned in Fendler’s story, with Chapter 5  named “Black Flies are No Fun.” He later said that his entire body was covered in bug bites, and at least every inch was bit at least three times.

As if that wasn’t enough, Fendler faced a terrifying encounter after coming out of the water covered in leeches.

Isolation

Baxter State Park is intentionally remote. It is surrounded by the Maine 100 Mile Wilderness, Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument, and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, just to name a few.

Fendler told in his book that he screamed for his father after just a short detour from the trail. He heard nothing in return except for “just the noise of that wind and the purring sound of sleet driving against my clothes.”

In a remote area, Fendler managed to find the path least traveled in just about every aspect. Not only did the confusing fog turn him around, but he believed he was on the right path and forged on.

What We Learn from Lost on a Mountain in Maine

The nine days that introduced the world to Donn Fendler could have easily fizzled into a distant headline of the Maine Miracle.

However, Fendler’s determination to pay back the people who helped look for him led to a lifelong mission. He didn’t just tell his story to just about every fourth-grade class in the state. Fendler connected with each kid, never tired of telling his story, and always made it seem like the first rendition.

He went back to Baxter State Park annually to talk to groups about survival safety. You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone over the age of 30 in Millinocket who didn’t meet Fendler.

For a little boy who got so incredibly lost, he sure found a place in the hearts of Mainers for generations to come.

Did you read Donn Fendler’s book? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.