Joshua Tree Two Missing Hikers

Written by Alex Rilloraza

On Sunday RMRU was requested to assist the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department with a search of 2 missing hikers in Joshua Tree on Monday morning at 0800 when the search for the two missing hikers would resume.

San Bernardino County Sheriff's personnel had been searching for the two missing hikers near the Maze Loop Trail in Joshua Tree since their vehicle was found by this trail and the last cell phone ping was in this general location.

During the Monday morning briefing, there were search and rescue team members from several different agencies to include San Bernardino County, San Diego County, and Orange County as well as members from Riverside. At the briefing, all search and rescue members were informed that due to the high heat and humidity on Sunday, a few search and rescue personnel had to be airlifted out that day due to dehydration. The high heat and humidity would continue today, and we were all advised to stay hydrated during our search.

Since the Maze Trail had been searched by several teams the day before, it was decided to expand the search area for today. Cory, Mike and I were assigned to search teams and left with our teams to our designated areas. Corey and Mike were airlifted by helicopter to their search area and my team was assigned to a wash/canyon north of the Maze Trail and were driven to our starting location.

After completing the search of our assigned search area, we did not locate any signs of the missing hikers. My team was driven back to the command post and was reassigned to drive to the Boy Scout trail and look for any signs of the missing hikers at that location. Again, we did not locate any signs of the missing hikers at this location therefore we drove back to the command post where I met up with Mike and Cory whose teams also did not locate any signs of the missing hikers.

It was approximately 1600 hrs. and the command post supervisor advised they would end the search for the day and San Bernardino County personnel would resume the search in the morning.

RMRU Members Involved: Corey Ellison, Michael George, and Alex Rilloraza.