Woman missing for 4 months
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January 8, 1983 |
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By Rick 'Major Disaster' Pohlers
January training is normally our
annual winter shakedown, however this year it was
different. The sheriff had a problem that he
needed help on, so being nice guys we accepted
his offer to go hiking in Tahquitz Canyon instead
of playing in the snow.
The problem was a missing woman. Seems that she went hiking with some friends in the canyon but became tuckered out and was left at about the third falls to meet another party coming down. The other party never saw her and neither has anybody else since September. Boy talk about a cold trail! It was going to be tough to track her.
It was delightful in Palm Springs that Saturday, could see why all the eastern folks fill up the town. We had a tremendous turn out with 25 guys and one den mother there to participate in the arduous task of looking under every rock and bush for any tell tale sign. There was even media coverage there, and a lot of attention was paid to the very cute media personnel by the troops.
The group was divided into teams,
the 'A' team, commanded by 'Mr. W' Walt Walker,
was made up of our veteran world class
mountaineers such as Pete Carlson, Bernie
McIlvoy, Larry Roland, Ed Hill and Jim Garvey.
The 'B' team, commanded by 'Major Disaster' Rick
Pohlers was made up of probationary members,
green weenie recipients, goof ups, mal contents
and klutzes such as Joe Erickson, Kevin Walker,
Mel Krug, Hal Fulkman, and others too numerous to
mention.
Our trusty pilot was on hand to fly the teams into various spots in the canyon and give the HQ an over view of the operation. He also graciously flew in the lovely media persons to get some action shots of the troops in action. It's always fun to see yourself on TV.
The day went well. We have taken on a lot of new people not familiar with the canyon, so it was extremely good training for both A and B team members. Field progress was monitored from the air by 'Mr. W' and his 'aid de camp', 'Major Disaster.' The only thing to report was contact with a canyon resident living in a 'Condo' near the third falls. The guy was dressed in a lovely white bed sheet with long black greasy hair and beard, a real canyon space cookie. Obviously he was absolutely no help at all since his head was not on this planet.
On a serious note, after a very thorough search of the area with no clues at all the team commander decided to terminate the search since the possibility existed that she may have walked out and kept on going. So Don gave Everyone an 'E' ticket ride out, and we all retired to the local Pizzeria for refueling. So ended another exiting day for your faithful heroes.
Editor's Note
On behalf of
the 'B' team I wish to submit a formal complaint
to Major Disaster. In his article he speaks of
the 
'A' team as veteran world class
climbers. Interesting thing about this is that
malcontent, yours truly aided by Glenn Henderson
and Mel Krug, also fellow goof ups, got two world
classers, namely Bernie McIlvoy and J. R. Muratet
out of a hole (narrow section of waterfalls) that
they rappelled into. So in the future the 'A'
team better watch out, because the 'B' team is
ready and waiting to go!