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Man and three boys missing
At 11:00 PM
only 17 hours after having an all night technical
mission (see No. 1980-050), we received a call
from the Banning office of the Riverside County
Sheriffs Department for a Search and Rescue
mission in the San Jacinto Mountains.
The team met
and set up base camp at the base of the Palm
Springs Aerial Tramway. Once there, we were
informed by the deputy that a 41 year old man,
his two sons, and a friend of the boys were
overdue in returning from a day hike from the
upper station of the tram to Mt. San Jacinto and
back. The group was not equipped to stay out for
a night, and with temperatures dipping down into
the low 30's it could be tough for the group.
With Jim Fairchild and Rick Pohlers not feeling
well, it was decided that Jim would stay at the
lower station with the rescue van, and Rick and
Mary Bowman would run base and radio relay from
the upper station. A team of four, consisting of
Don Chambers, Tony Loro, Craig Beasley and Joe
Erickson would hike for the peak and check the
summit shelter and the surrounding area. Bernie
McIlvoy and Kevin Walker were assigned to search
to the Hidden Lake junction, and then around to
Round Valley. Both teams started hiking a little
after 1:00 AM and continued through the night.
just before dawn the Chambers team reached the
summit with no major clues being found. While
Don's team grabbed some snack food and rested,
Joe Erickson now joined up with Bernie and Kevin,
started for the Wellman divide to try and cut
tracks at the junction. After resting, Don's
group started up again carefully searching around
the summit and the Mt. San Jacinto trail
junction. Slightly after 8:00 AM they spotted
what looked like the right type of tracks heading
down the trail that leads west to Little Round
Valley. it wasn't long after that, when Don, Tony
and Craig found the group hiking back towards the
summit.
Don's group
immediately broke out the stoves and started
heating water for hot chocolate and hot oatmeal.
While the group stoked up on the food, they told
of how they had reached the summit in the
previous afternoon and when they started back,
instead of going east to the tram, they went
towards Little Round Valley. Well after dark they
had reached Deer Springs. Since they did not have
flash lights and there was no moon, they could
not read the trail signs. They finally stopped
and spent the night huddled up near a sign. When
there was enough light to see in the morning they
realized that they were going towards Idyllwild
instead of the tram. With that they started back
towards Mt. San Jacinto. It was just below the
San Jacinto saddle when the two groups converged.
So, after resting, Don's group started back for
the tram. At about noon a very tired but happy
group arrived at the upper station to be met by
relatives. With all secured, a fairly tired group
of rescuers headed for home.
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