11-year-old separated from hiking partner
By Hal Fulkman
After
receiving a somewhat confusing pager call, I
contacted Walt Walker for clarification and
location of the team's rendezvous point. The
information Walt had was sketchy and puzzling.
All he had was that an 18 year old boy had called
the sheriff from the Long Valley ranger station
and said that his 11 year old companion was lost
somewhere near Round Valley.
Walt and I
decided to ride together to the rendezvous, which
was the lower station of the Palm Springs Aerial
Tram. Upon arriving at the tram's lower parking
lot, we were met by Capt. Ray Canova. Jim
Fairchild had also arrived and was at that time
in the helicopter, with Don Landells, taking
advantage of what little daylight was left. As
darkness closed in the bird returned with no sign
of the 11 year old boy.
Several more
RMRU members arrived, as well as Hemet Search
& Rescue Team members and members of the
March Air Force Base 303rd Rescue Unit. With
teams and assignments designated, we moved the
operation to the top of the tram.
Steve Zappe and I were assigned to
search Willow Creek Crossing by way of Hidden
Lake divide. We decided to check Long Valley
ranger station as we passed it, in case the boy
had found his way back. On the door of the
station (no rangers were on duty) was a note that
said, "We have a lost 11 year old boy and
are camped in the vicinity." After radioing
the message back, the teams in the area, spread
out into Long Valley and within a short time we
had located the camp and the 11 year old boy.
The boy was
accompanied by a man and woman who had found the
boy as he had wandered into their camp at Willow
Creek Crossing. They had then moved their camp to
Long Valley and put the note up.
After
reuniting the separated hikers, we returned to
the lower tram station and concluded another
successful mission.
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