Missing man found
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December 10, 1985 |
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By Bill Blaschko, M.D.
Sometimes in life you don't feel
happy when you find what you have been looking
for. I felt a strange mixture of awe, fear and
satisfaction when I set eyes on the body of John
Kivlen curled up in a hollowed out tree just of f
the trail between Laws Camp and Caramba. Mr.
Kivlen had last been seen a month before when he
set out on a day hike from the Palm Springs
Aerial Tramway. He was lightly dressed and had
obtained a permit to go to Wellman's Divide on
Sunday, Nov. 10. That night a surprise snowstorm
dropped three to five feet of snow on the area.
When Mr. Kivlen's failure to return was reported (1985-050), RMRU was already in the process of searching for five other hikers caught in the same storm (1985-048 & 1985-049). We were being assisted by several Mountain Rescue Association teams as well as two US Marine Corps helicopters and Landells Aviation. During this period of time temperatures dipped to five degrees Fahrenheit and the snow level was down to 3000 feet. Mr. Kivlen was reported to be wearing only tennis shoes and a light jacket and he had no overnight sleeping gear. With the combination of adverse weather conditions and lack of equipment it seemed very unlikely that Mr. Kivlen could have survived more than 24 hours. The initial search for Mr. Kivlen stretched over four days including both air and ground searching. At the end of this time the hard decision was made to discontinue searching until some further information was available.
On Monday,
December 9, I set out on a day hike to Caramba
with a close friend, Bruce Morlan. Bruce had
never been to Caramba and I was hoping to find
some nice ice formations at the falls. We were
both aware that John Kivlen had not been found
and we agreed that we would keep our eyes open
for any clues. Two cloud-bursts had dropped a lot
of rain on the high country and washed away much
of the snow from the surprise storm of the month
before. 
The few inches of snow left was
quite icy and Bruce and I had to use crampons to
keep our footing. I happened to be in the lead
just after we crossed a creek east of Laws Camp
when I noticed a red paperback book barely
visible through the snow and ice. With a little
effort I was able to pry it loose. The pages were
frozen together, making it impossible to check
inside for a name. We then searched the general
area for anything else that looked unusual. Bruce
noted some branches stacked against a tree about
twenty yards off.
When we went
over to investigate we found John Kivlen's body
resting inside of a hollowed tree. 
The body was in the sitting
position, with the head slumped forward. His back
was resting against the inside of a three by four
foot space inside the tree. The skin had a
brownish black discoloration but otherwise he was
well preserved. The branches that had initially
attracted Bruce's attention apparently had been
placed to cover the opening in the tree and
provide more shelter. Bruce and I hiked out to
Idyllwild to report our find to the Sheriff.
The following morning Kevin Walker, Mel Krug, Rob Gardner, Gil Carr and I were flown into Caramba to retrieve the body. After hiking to the scene we loaded the body into a body bag and cargo net. Don Landells flew over and lowered a line from his helicopter which was attached to the cargo net. Don flew the body to the waiting coroner. We team members were flown out just as a new snow storm began to dump another foot of snow on the high country. This mission was concluded. It was a sad ending, but not so sad as no ending at all.