American mum Gerry Largay's happiness shone through when doing what she loved best, hiking.
Shown in the snap taken of her before she mysteriously disappeared, the seemingly sweet image has since been labelled as "the most disturbing photo in Appalachian Trail history".
The picture was taken just before she ventured into the Maine wilderness, The Daily Star reported.
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Tragically, the 66-year-old never returned home, making what should have been a happy postcard like picture, haunt her family.
Several hours after it was taken on July 22, 2013, the Tennessee resident disappeared.
Geraldine, who was called Gerry or ‘Inchworm’ by her friends, was a passionate hiker, who trekked around trails close to her home in Tennessee. At the time, she was seeking a new challenge.
Spreading through the beautiful Appalachian mountains to the east of the US runs the longest hiking only-footpath in the world, totalling 2,190 miles.
However, 1,000 miles into it, she got lost after deviating from the usual track.
Her husband, George, was worried after not hearing from his wife after 24 hours and a search party set out..
Over the next few weeks, search aircraft, state police, national park rangers and fire services were brought in but the only clue they had to go on was her chilling final photo, where she was beside a log cabin in an unknown area.
She sent a text message to Gerry and wrote: “In some trouble. Got off trail to go to br. Now lost. Can u call AMC to c if a trail maintainer can help me. Somewhere north of woods road. XOX.”
However, due to a lack of service the message never sent.
Nothing turned up and the retired RAF nurse remained missing for two years.
In October 2015, she was discovered two miles away from the trail by a US naval officer, who found human remains after peeling back a tent.
Lieutenant Kevin Adam said to the Boston Globe at the time: “I saw a flattened tent, with a green backpack outside of it and a human skull with what I believed to be a sleeping bag around it.
“I was 99% certain that this was Gerry Largay’s.”
She had maps, jackets and a homemade necklace, as well as her notebook which was found.
Gerry had survived for 26 days, waiting on rescuers to arrive.
Scribbled on the front of her notebook was “George Please Read XOXO”.
She documented her first two days which consisted of a series of wrong turns. On August 6, she scribbled a heart-wrenching message for her family.
She wrote: “When you find my body, please call my husband George and my daughter Kerry.
“'It will be the greatest kindness for them to know that I am dead and where you found me - no matter how many years from now. Please find it in your heart to mail the contents of this bag to one of them.”
She documented her thoughts in her diary for 12 more days.
Sadly, the hiking enthusiast was nearer to civilisation than she knew.
The camp was less than two miles from the Appalachian trail and just a 30-minute walk to a “clear logging road”.
Gerry's family said: “Gerry was doing exactly what she wanted to do.
“She'd hiked a thousand miles - after 200 miles of training hikes the year prior - and as the warden's report indicates, she was lucid and thinking of others, as always, until the end.”
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