Two hunters overdue
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October 15, 1982 |
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By Kevin Walker
Mondays are hectic enough without having a mission, but nevertheless ... we were contacted just before noon. Meeting point would be the end of the road at the mouth of Jensen Canyon in the community of Cabazon.
Because of servicing, both vans were in Hemet over the weekend, and that allowed Walt and I to respond quickly. As we arrived at the roadhead where the sheriff's personnel were waiting, so was Don Landells with 40MC (four-zero-mike-charlie). We quickly loaded call-out packs into the bird and were off. It seems we were looking for two local hunters that were overdue in completing a hiking hunting trip from Black Mountain to Cabazon via Jensen Canyon. Locals said that they thought voices could be heard from the end of the dirt road where the canyon opens up.
With that we concentrated our search
in the lower canyon. It did not take long. As we
were working our way back down the main canyon, I
spotted both of the men sitting in the bottom of
the canyon by the stream. There was a helispot
near their location that allowed Don to put both
skids down. Once out, Don pulled up and away so
that Walt and I could scamper off the boulder.
Five minutes later, we had the tired but
uninjured men back on the helispot. A quick call
for Don, and he was back to the large boulder. We
sent the two hunters out first and then Don
returned for us. This particular mission went so
fast that only Craig Britton, Jim Fairchild, and
Bernie McIlvoy had arrived.