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Overdue 56-year-old man
By Kevin
Walker
Sometimes it
is truly difficult to write a newsletter article,
and this is one of those times. I will not dwell
or spend a lot of time talking about all the
particulars, I will just tell the story. I would
like to mention though, that it was a difficult
mission, and also a costly mission.
The team was
called out at 0730 Sunday morning. We met at the
Palm Springs Tram. There we learned that we would
be looking for Herbert Hone, 56, of Hemet.
Saturday morning he had set out from Palm Springs
to hike the Skyline trail to the upper Station of
the tram. When he did not return home, his wife
notified the rangers who in turn called the
Sheriff. Jim Fairchild, Bill Blaschko, Joe
Erickson and Cameron Robbins rode the tram and
started down the trail from Long Valley. Joel
Rothschild, Dave Ezell, Rob Gardner, and I
started from the bottom. Mary Bowman manned the
radioes at base.
After about an
hour of hiking, and getting above the majority of
short distance foot prints, we came across a set
of Nike Approach prints that were the exact size
in question. Not long after that the teams above
cut the same print leaving the badly grown over
trail, and starting down a small stream bed. And
of course the stream bed was heading towards
Tahquitz Canyon. At base, Ops. Leader Walt Walker
and Asst. Ops. Rick Pohlers decided to ask for
air support. The OK was quickly given and Brian
from Landells Aviation responded. Walt and Rick
were picked up and let out on a ridge near the
main search area. As they were being flown in,
Joe and Cam came across gear that had been left
behind that belonged to Mr. Hone. As the search
intensified, Brian was asked to come down to our
low elevation and move us into the search area
several thousand feet above in elevation. On the
first load Dave and Rob were picked up from our
one runner boulder. Joel and I waited for the
helicopter to return. But that did not happen.
Because we were so low, we could not hear what
was happening higher on the mountain. Apparently
as the two were being let out the tail rotor
struck a large bush, damaging the tail enough
that Brian quickly flew to the Grapevine helispot
where he could land and inspect the damage.
Luckily it was minor in the respect that the
chopper could be flown back to Landells Aviation
in Desert Hot Springs. But it was serious enough
that the tail rotor which had to be replaced,
which amounted to a lot of money. After some time
Don Landells returned with helicopter 40MC and
picked Joel and I up from our rock. Before
putting us off we did some air search with no
results. But as we made one last pass up Tahquitz
Canyon I spotted two women hikers just below the
Grapevine in the canyon. Don landed (remember
this part, it plays an important part in my story
later), and then left as I hiked down to question
the pair. Neither had seen or heard anyone as
they hiked up the canyon. I thanked them and
asked that they keep their eyes open for anyone
fitting the description. Don returned and picked
me up and then let us out on a small ridge, where
we spent the remainder of the day searching. At
dusk, Don flew the teams back to base at the Palm
Springs Airport.
Over dinner
that night we discussed what had been done, and
what we could do the following morning. That
night a friend of Mary Bowman graciously invited
us into her home so we could get a good nights
sleep, and be able to start very early in the
morning.
Monday morning
we met at the lower tram station and also joining
us again was Don. Bill Blaschko and I were the
first two in. Jim Fairchild took over as Ops.
because Walt was unable to return until the
afternoon. Don let Bill and I out on the Skyline
Ridge after some air search so that I could have
an overview of the search area during the day.
Second in was Dave and Cam. They were dropped
down below the ridge where the prints had last
been seen. As each team had come in, we had Don
fly a different search pattern to take advantage
of air time. On the third flight in with Rob and
Mel, Don stated on the radio that all of the
normal areas had been looked at so all he could
do was widen the search area again and look over
some of the same spots one more time. Not long
after that Don came back on the air and stated
that they had just spotted a smoldering campfire
above the Grapevine helispot, and there were the
two women I had seen the day before but along
with them, was a man. They landed, and after
hiking the short distance up it was confirmed
that it indeed was Herbert Hone.
Mr. Hone was quickly helped into the
helicopter, and flown out along with one of the
two women, who was not feeling well herself. Back
at base, as Don flew the remainder of us out, Mr.
Hone told the personnel in a rather outspoken
manner of how he had lost the trail, and being
separated from his equipment in a manner that did
not quite jive with the way we found it. He also
said that he saw the helicopter land and let a
person out the day before (that person being
myself), and that the person did not see him, got
back in and left. He did make it hard on us, in
that Mr. Hone was wearing almost all tan colored
clothing, and because he thought we had landed to
pick him up he did not make any attempt to be
seen or heard. Luckily for Mr. Hone, he did link
up with the two women who convinced him to stay
with him until we returned again. The two took
excellent care of Mr. Hone, and to them we say
thank you.
I truly do
enjoy being on this team. My closest friends are
also members. And I do receive great satisfaction
knowing that we do provide a special service to
those in need. But it is somewhat difficult to be
enthused when you have spent two days out, away
from family and work, find a person who indeed
needed our help, and then barely even receive a
thank you. Well, at least Mr. Herbert Hone will
be able to go out another day and enjoy the
wilderness.
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