[pct-l] Reporting Lost Hiker?

[tahoe.cat at verizon.net (Bill & Cathy)]

Hi All   Just thought I would chime in here, with some thing that happened
to me and one of my grandsons. We went on a short day hike out of "Dripping
Springs" camp ground, this is off of Hwy 79 just out of Temecula, Ca. about
an hour north of Warner Springs. We had a day pack between the two of us,
had water, a couple of 20 oz bottles each, and some snacks. We were going to
be gone about three or four hours. We started at 9am. We took the left
branch of the trail out of the camp ground and had hiked about 10 miles when
I realized that it was starting to get dark. It was suppose to be a 6 mile
loop. I had my cell phone so I called my wife to tell her we would spend the
night on top of the mountain. This was January 3rd 2001 and by 8 o'clock it
started to get a really cold. We only had wind breakers and T shirts and we
were starting to shiver. We had hiked into an area that had burned a few
months before and could only see gray on the ground and a black night with
black logs sticking up every where. We could not find a trail anywhere. I
called my wife back and told her that it was getting to cold for us to stay
up there all night. I said to see if she could get some one to get us off.
She called the Temecula sheriff station, which is Riverside co. She gave the
watch commander my cell number. Next thing I know, He says he is going to
hike up, the way we came up, to get us. I said that we were only three miles
up from the camp on the right trail but to come up the left trail would be
about ten miles. He says He will get Help! I thought they would call in a
chopper and get us off. No not that easy. He tells us to hang in there and
they will get us down, like we are stuck or something. I found some matches
in the pack that my wife had put in and we started a small fire to try to
keep warm. By day break we found the trail  that had been so over grown just
where the fire had stopped. There were little yellow tags in the trees. We
started down and we hear a chopper coming up from the camp below. I waved
and he waved back and left. We got about half way down and we meet SAR
coming up the trail. They radio that they have found us. Like we were really
lost? When we got to the bottom, they had an entire base camp set up. There
must have been thirty or so Orange guys and a couple of Sheriff's units, a
news paper guy and food like you couldn't believe. They were trying to give
us every thing. They even  had a Doctor check us out. It took a couple of
hours before we could go home. The SAR team came from Desert Hot Springs
because the local team was busy else where. We were on the front page of the
Press Enterprise the next morning. I could never live this down at work.
They got together and bought me a survival kit, including a Boy Scout
Manual. If I would have known what was going to happen I would have never
called my wife the second time. They were out in force for nothing. Thank
God they didn't charge us. Why did they respond so quickly and in such
force?                Remember
"Be Prepared"   Ground Pounder Bill      "Semper Fi"
----- Original Message -----
From: <dsaufley@sprynet.com>
To: "Andrew Witham" <awitham@postnetburney.net>;
<pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 12:39 PM
Subject: RE: [pct-l] Reporting Lost Hiker?


Andrew,

Thank you for this thoughtful response.  I will share with you more of the
details off-post later, but I do want to comment generally.  Of course,
you've hit the nail on the head -- the ratio of missing persons reports to
actual need for SAR is very skewed.  That fact is exactly what I ran into,
and what caused the frustration.  I too have taken countless calls from
worried to nearly hysterical loved ones back home when their hiker didn't
call in at the appointed time at our waystation, and had to make judgment
calls as to what to do (generally, wait a day or so and see).  In 99.999% of
those cases, the hiker rolled in soon thereafter, after some thing or other
altered the plan.  John Donovan is the sole exception in my modest
experience.  Directly to your point, SAR was called out for a missing female
hiker down south this past season, and she was merely off having a great
time, oblivious to the worry of other hikers.  So while I understand and
have empathy for law enforcements' predicament, that knowledge did little to
console John's friends crying on the phone long distance, hoping against the
odds that he would be found.

There seems to be a very grey area about when it's appropriate to call, and
what constitutes an emergency.  As to what my hope would be, there's no
question.  When it comes to the safety and welfare of the hikers, I have a
prejudice and bias that I openly wear -- no effort to locate them should be
spared.  It would also be my hope that all law enforcement agencies
contiguous to the PCT would educate their officers on the activities of the
PCT, and be aware of the support network and contacts (angels, registers,
accommodations hikers use) in their footprint, as it sounds that you are in
your local area.  I hear great stories about local agencies being extremely
supportive of hikers along various stretches of the trail, but also of those
who had no clue about the trail or the endeavors of the long-distance
hikers.

The rugged geography and relative distance of the PCT from the urban beat
rendered the officers I spoke with completely unfamiliar with the nuances of
long-distance thru-hiking.  Their experiences were with more local hikers
and backpackers, who leave a car at some trail head which is a great sign
someone is missing, as is not showing up for a pre-appointed pick-up.  That
we knew John was missing because he didn't pick up his boxes at the post
office and hadn't written to his friends just didn't seem to hold much
weight as  criteria to immediately start a search.  We in the long-distance
community all know that's not a good sign, but educating and trying to
convince the officer of that fact was difficult.  So, more knowledge of the
PCT and thru-hikers in ALL contiguous law enforcement jurisdictions is my
hope.

As to the time that elapsed, John Donovan's situation is different from
most.  He did not have a person that he would call at each appointed
interval.  Perhaps this is the biggest lesson we can learn from his
disappearance.  John's M.O. was to write post cards, and just before
disappearing had sent his first-ever email.  He had started out hiking with
a friend, but that friend who had gone home early due to a foot problem, and
he was suddenly solo in extreme conditions.  He joined a group of hikers,
but didn't follow them down into Idyllwild but unbeknownst to them continued
north alone when a big storm was impending, and hit.  Beyond that, we don't
know exactly what transpired, and may never have the answers unless and
until his remains are found.

I personally believe this preference for written rather than telephone
communication is one of the main factors leading to the elapsed time
involved in reporting his disappearance.  He had no immediate family, other
than a cousin he was supposed to rendezvous with when he got to Wrightwood.
He had corresponded with that cousin for 30 years but never met her -- they
were looking forward to the meeting.  When John didn't call her around the
span of time he'd written he would call her to pick him up, she was getting
alarmed but didn't know if she should act or where to begin.  She, too, knew
little about the trail or thru-hiking, and didn't know if her concerns were
valid or not.

John had/has an extensive network of loving friends, and was an active
member of a eastern-based hiking group, that he corresponded with
frequently.  When they stopped getting his post cards, it was John's friends
back east who started making calls to the points of contact he'd listed on
his itinerary, Bear & Ziggy at Camp Anza and my husband and I at Hiker
Heaven in Agua Dulce being two of them.  His friends back east were unsure
of the point of where he would have last been seen, only the last postmark
they had in hand, so calling 911 and telling them that their friend "was
missing on the PCT north of Warner Springs in Southern California" would
have gotten them very far.  Through their communications with Ziggy and me
it was confirmed that he hadn't picked up ANY of his boxes north of
Pines-to-Palms to Kennedy Meadows in the weeks that followed his last being
seen, and by questioning the incoming hikers, including those who had last
seen him who were arriving at Hiker Heaven, is when I took the initiative to
report him missing, and used the information provided by the hikers to
identify a geographic reference point.

Perhaps another contributing factor was that this year was highly unusual
with regards to the snow levels in the southern mountains -- hikers did not
all follow a continuous northbound path -- they skipped about a great deal,
and were traveling in very unusual patterns.  So I believe the fact that he
was missing emerged more slowly than it might have in an ordinary year.

I wonder to myself why I am sitting here, writing about this on a beautiful
Sunday afternoon when all of the outdoors beckon.  It is because losing this
one hiker -- this person with so much life and personality, so very loved by
his friends -- was one of the most traumatic and sad experiences, and I hope
that by writing about it someone will learn something, and I will find
solace for losing someone I never knew, but know I would have cherished.
It's just that way with the hikers -- you know you will be friends before
they arrive, before you meet them.

Donna Saufley
aka L-Rod



-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Witham <awitham@postnetburney.net>
Sent: Oct 22, 2005 4:21 PM
To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: RE: [pct-l] Reporting Lost Hiker?

L-Rod,

I can understand your frustration, however, in California, state law
mandates that Law Enforcement are responsible for talking a report for each
and every reported missing person and '601' runaway juvenile.

During my four years with a small city police department close to the PCT in
California I took literally hundreds of missing person and '601' reports.
Despite having a staff of only 100 or so people, the department had to have
one full time person whose sole function was to handle the administration
(not the investigation or search and rescue, just the paperwork) of reported
missing people.

I can guarantee that when working a shift on a Friday evening or Saturday
morning, most of my time would be taken up with the taking of 'runaway'
reports often the same ones each week when a kid doesn't come home from
school and stays out all night.

For many 'average' cops, another missing person report is simply a paperwork
chore in the absence of any evidence to support accident or foul play.  It
is for this reason that if you are concerned for the safety and well being
of another hiker, use the 911 system.  Be prepared to provide some
explanation for your concerns and if possible something tangible to support
your concerns.   Clearly if many calls result in a full scale search and
rescue activation while the subject of the search is sat in a nearby pizza
place warming wet feet reports will not be taken seriously.  The majorities
of missing persons are voluntary and not in any trouble at all.  Most do not
want to be reported missing, but in order that nothing falls though the
cracks, the taking of reports by law enforcement is mandated and not
discretionary.

It is beholden on thru-hikers who distribute an itinerary to make
appropriate notifications if they voluntarily substantially deviate from
that itinerary.

If at all possible, no-one should be missing for weeks before being
reported.  I don't know the circumstances of John's disappearance, and you
subsequently reporting him missing.  A lone thru-hiker, like any wilderness
adventurer should ideally be planning to report in periodically.  Three
weeks is too long to be unreported.  The area that could be covered by an
experienced hiker in three weeks would likely be covered by many of
jurisdictions.  Even a day-hiker should have a planned return time, so that
their absence can be noted, and necessary action taken.  Anyone who wants to
be 'missing' for three weeks in the wildness needs to be aware of the risks
and as such cannot expect conventional support during that time.  The longer
the period of time out of contact, the progressively harder it is for search
and rescue activities to coordinate.  It is possible that someone has been
lying on the first ten miles for three weeks, or three hundred miles away
for just a few hours - or somewhere in between.   It is made worse when the
hiker leaves the track, either accidentally or deliberately.  In three
weeks, someone could literally be anywhere in the world.

As I posted earlier - if you believe that someone is lost and potentially in
a life threatening situation - call 911.  Do not try to determine
jurisdiction yourself.  Jurisdiction (in California) is with the law
enforcement agency - County Sheriff's Department or City Police Department
where you are.  It is their job to determine how to proceed from there.

You cite that law enforcement didn't take the disappearance of an individual
seriously.  Remember that this is probably the third, fourth, or even the
ten such report that day!  Many, many people are reported missing every day.
Very few reports result in SAR activation.  That decision will largely be
based upon the information being provided by the reporting party.

I would be interested to know what exactly you reported and what response
you got. (perhaps you would be kind enough to share more detail with me
privately)  I would be interested to know what you expected to be done (for
this man, and the other being reported all over the USA every day).  Bear in
mind that there are probably more missing people reported each week than
there are SAR personnel.

In my own county, Shasta (through which the PCT passes), there are probably
around 100 activations of the Sheriff's SAR team each year.  The members are
largely volunteers who activate at the request of the SAR coordinator.  They
are responding in their own time, often taking time off paid employment.  As
an example of their determination, they responded when my neighbor's
juvenile son went missing.  He was reported missing in PCT country within a
few hours of being last seen, dozens of volunteers searched for days, on
foot, on horseback, using 4x4s, on ski's and snowmobiles (it snowed the
night he went missing), using dive teams and dog teams and from the air.
The search was called off after a week, at which time it was presumed that
the child had not survived.  Three weeks later another week long search was
made after the child's shoes were found.  A third search was made when the
snow receded in the spring using cadaver dogs.  No trace of the child has
ever been found.

Now imagine responding to a report that an adult may be somewhere in similar
wilderness, may have been missing for three weeks, and could actually be
anywhere in the world.  How many people do you ask to take off work to look
for him?  Now multiply that dozens of times?

The Shasta County section of the PCT probably covers some fifty miles of the
total trail, or about 2% of the trail, and while passing through Shasta
County, those fifty miles are covered by two differently staffed rural
Sherriff's stations.  The PCT is not widely promoted or signed in the area,
and I doubt that many offices posted to the Burney or Shingletown stations
have any knowledge of the PCT.  Perhaps the PCTA could produce a public
safety information brochure which could be distributed to those who
ultimately get called upon to assist thru-hikers and day users on the trail.
Ultimately, much of the responsibility lies with the PCT users themselves.

Perhaps one solution is to have a solution like many sailing and flying
clubs operate.  The member files an itinerary and is responsible for
periodically reporting in.  This requires and organized and reliable
administration (inherently with a cost involved). If they then fail to
report in, the search can be limited to their last know location.  Another
is to mandate (seeing as they are available to be carried voluntarily)
personal emergency location beacons.  (I can already hear cries telling me
how many ounces that will add to a pack).  Ideally, each individual should
have another (family member or friend) monitoring their progress and safety
from off the trail.

Like most things in life there are risks, there are costs and there are
consequences.  Part of planning a trip is the balancing of the risks, costs
and consequences.  Part of any wilderness adventure is the knowledge that
help is not two minutes away like it is when we are at home.

The recent events on the south coast indicate that no amount of emergency
planning can anticipate a catastrophe.  I watched a British rescue team (of
which I am a former member) wait ten days for permission to respond to
Louisiana (it never came), yet in under twenty four hours they were pulling
survivors from collapsed buildings in Pakistan the next month.

Over the past thirty years I have enjoyed periods of wilderness adventure in
a number of places around the world, finally being fortunate enough to
emigrate from the UK to now reside close to the PCT in Northern California.
During the same period I have held professional and voluntary positions, in
law enforcement, fire fighting and emergency pre-hospital care, and in
disaster management, search and rescue.  I can empathize with both sides,
and would encourage trail users to work with and educate professional
rescuers in their interests and particularly their safety needs.

Drew



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