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Missing solo horseback rider
By Bob Attride
At a little
after 9:00 pm I received a call from my call
captain Jim Fairchild. It brought news of a
search. Details were sketchy, more information
would be available at the rendezvous point, which
was at the Anza turnoff on the Palms to Pines
highway.
Once at the
meeting point Operations Leader, Walt Walker
informed us that Sylvia Birrage, age 35, was
overdue in arriving at her residence in Piņon
Pines. Her planned route of travel on horseback
started at the Tom Parr Ranch in Garner Valley.
From there she would ride up a fire road that led
to a trail which would take her over the ridge
and down into Palm Canyon. Then she would ride up
the rocky wash to Piņon Pines and her home.
Sixteen hours had elapsed since she was last
seen, so this meant that she could be most any
where between starting and stopping points. Team
I consisted of Bernie McIlvoy and Kevin Walker.
Their assignment was to get to the Desert Divide
ridge as soon as possible to see if Sylvia had
got that far. Hal Fulkman and Mark Rhoads would
start searching near where she was last seen. In
the event that team I did not find anything,
Hal's team would be responsible for pointing the
rest of the group in the right direction. Team 3
consisted of Rick Pohlers, John Dew and myself.
This team would start at Piņon Pines and hike
down canyon and possibly find Sylvia in the
canyon. Two 4WD vehicles would be needed to get
teams 1 and 2 to their respective starting
places, so the Hemet team was contacted. After a
short wait Bob Elliot and Pete Boss arrived. Soon
after everyone was walking.
Knowing that the following day would
bring high temperatures all the teams hiked
straight through the night to take advantage of
the cool air. As planned, team 1 found the
unusually square hoof-print on the trail that
Sylvia said she would travel. With that, Hal's
team was pulled off their assignment. Base was
moved around to Piņon Pines. As the sun rose
over the desert ridges it found Bernie and Kevin
still following tracks, and my team still walking
down the rocky wash in Palm Canyon. The silence
of the morning was broken with a transmission
from Bernie, "We've found something."
Come to find out, Bernie and Kevin had walked
across Twila Wellman also on horseback. She was a
friend of Sylvia, and the country like the back
of her hand. She had also been searching for
Sylvia. Twila had also been following hoofprints,
and she felt that Sylvia would double back. So
Twila went on her way, and team I stayed with the
tracks. Our team was finding that Palm Canyon was
not a sandy wash, just the opposite. It was quite
rocky, which slowed our travel. Even with this
inconvenience, we had something very important,
water. At about 9:00 am Bernie radioed to base
that they had used the last of their water. And
to make matters worse, they could find no more
tracks. Base informed them to find shade and
wait.
At 9:30 the sheriff's fixed wing was
overhead and joining the search. At 10:30 the
plane had to return to the desert. Because Sylvia
had not been located yet, and team I needing
water before being able to continue, Don Landells
was requested and okayed.
At 11:15 Don
arrived at base camp. From base, Don flew Jim
Fairchild and Hal Fulkman into where Bernie and
Kevin were. Jim and Hal would try and find tracks
and Bernie and Kevin would fly air search with
Don for awhile and then return to base for a
brief rest. The initial air search brought no
results. Don flew back to base, Bernie and Kevin
climbed out and Walt Walker joined Don. Then
flying down to our location in the canyon, I was
picked up to help search by air. We had searched
for some time and were about to fly back to base
and get the rested troops back into the field,
when we thought we saw something. Don turned the
powerful machine in the direction of the object.
Sure enough at 1:46 we found Sylvia. Only thing
is we could not take the credit for the initial
find. Twila's theory of Sylvia doubling back was
correct, and Twila had located her resting under
an oak tree. Don found a helispot nearby and
landed. After giving Sylvia liquid refreshment,
she was flown out. A friend of the family
volunteered to ride Sylvia's horse back out. So,
after he was airlifted in, and the rest of our
members were brought out, the mission was
secured.
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