[pct-l] Lost Hiker Found

[William A. Chavez]

You guys might recall a young thru, Brandon White, a few years back 
(2008) who carried a SPOT at the insistence of his parents.  He had  
agreed to send a "I'm OK" message each evening but forgot to around  
Highway 74.  His parents called the Forest Service and asked if there  
was a way they could help without a full SAR event.  But that was  
exactly what happened.  When he was found somewhere in or around Big  
Bear city his trail mates named him "Hoffa".  He kept a great journal  
and here is the link to his "discovery" on the trail:

http://trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=230662

Bill
On Apr 5, 2012, at 10:22 AM, Carl Siechert wrote:

>> I have a dumb question...what is the "lost person's" $ liability  
>> in the
>> event of search and rescue?
>
> Many years ago, a couple of buddies and I got caught in a winter  
> storm and
> waited it out secure in a tent. When our scheduled return date  
> passed, the
> folks at home were a little more concerned, a couple days later the  
> good
> guys at Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit <http://www.rmru.org> came  
> looking
> for us.
>
> While we waited--and while we eventually hiked out--we had three  
> concerns:
>
>    - That the folks at home were worrying needlessly
>    - That the media would be waiting for us upon our exit from the
>    wilderness
>    - That we'd be stuck with a huge bill for SAR operations
>
> Turns out we didn't need to worry about the last one. RMRU, like many
> SAR teams, is an all-volunteer operation. Like other nonprofits,  
> they rely
> on donations to meet their financial needs. (And even though we  
> didn't need
> their services that time, we're grateful that they're available. Our
> families and each of us individually donated for many years after that
> incident.)
> _______________________________________________
> Pct-L mailing list
> Pct-L at backcountry.net
> To unsubcribe, or change options visit:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/mailman/listinfo/pct-l
>
> List Archives:
> http://mailman.backcountry.net/pipermail/pct-l/
> All content is copyrighted by the respective authors.
> Reproduction is prohibited without express permission.