Five teenage girls missing

December 11, 1985
Pleasant Valley, Joshua Tree
1985-056

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By Steve Bryant

An early evening call out sent RMRU on its way to Joshua Tree National Monument for a search. Upon arriving and signing in, we were briefed that a group of five teenage girls from the CEDA School in Running Springs was missing. Although the girls were well equipped, snow was falling and it was thought best to bring the girls back to Headquarters. At about 11:00 PM we went into the field, with Mary Bowman taking one RMRU van to serve as radio relay to Headquarters. The rest of us went to the girls' destination, near Fried Liver Wash, and hiked around for about two hours looking for tracks - no luck. We did have a nice hike in the desert, with a couple inches of fresh snow and a reasonably warm night.

We later went back to Headquarters, and got about an hour's sleep, before going to a local restaurant for breakfast, courtesy of the National Park Service (thanks!) Most RMRU members had to report to work, this being Monday, but Ray Hussey and Steve Bryant were sent out again down a wash to search for tracks. Again, no luck, but while we were enjoying the beautiful clear cold sunny weather, we heard a lot of helicopter activity, and soon heard over the radio that the girls had been found. Ray and Steve were soon picked up and returned to HQ. The girls had been found, safe and sound, so we returned home a lot happier than on the Laura Bradbury mission.