LOST IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH

The tale of an experienced world trekker who disappeared during a spiritual quest in the Himalayas.

A well-trained American survivalist who had created a kind of cult following on social media through his arduous pursuits in the wild, Justin Alexander Shetler was just 35 when he vanished in the Parvati Valley in the late summer of 2016. Journalist Rustad has extensively interviewed those involved in Shetler’s life’s tale and disappearance. At the time, he was trekking to Mantalai Lake, “a holy site associated with Shiva” and “a manifestation of the divine,” with a sadhu, or holy man, before taking off on his own. The author underscores the dangerous lure of this part of the world, nicknamed the Valley of Shadows or the Valley of Death. “Since the early 1990s,” he writes, “dozens of international backpackers have vanished without a trace while traveling in and around the Parvati Valley, an average of one every year, earning this tiny, remote sliver of the subcontinent a dark reputation as India’s backpacker Bermuda Triangle.” Shetler was born in Florida and “raised in a religiously fluid and open household,” but after his parents divorced, he moved to Montana briefly and then to a small town outside Portland, Oregon. He was fascinated by the wilderness from an early age, and he trained as a tracker at the Wilderness Awareness School. He became disenchanted by Western materialism and yearned for a more authentic life, and he seemed to constantly have to challenge and reinvent himself, as his blogs revealed. Rustad does a good job probing Shetler’s motives, similar to those of many other Western adventurers. Was his disappearance an accident or the result of foul play by robbers and drug runners? Or did Shetler intend to escape his life and drop off the grid? There’s no definitive answer, but the journey is fascinating and well rendered.

A thorough, journalistic exploration of the mindset of a seeker on a visionary quest.