|
  |
Woman missing for four days
By Mark Rhoads
A pager call
went out looking for people to participate in a
search out of Bishop. A woman had been missing
since the previous Saturday and was last seen
near the Hutchinson Meadow area on that day.
Craig Beasley,
John Muratet and I responded to the call and
drove all Tuesday night to Bishop. About 30
minutes after reaching the sheriff's station in
Bishop we drove up to the road head above North
Lake and were the third team assigned and in the
air. Our assignment was to search the trail up
French Canyon from Hutchinson Meadow until we met
up with the Mammoth Lake team.
Not long after
starting, we ran into the Mammoth Lake Team - so
much for our assignment. After some confusion and
time, we were re-assigned to search up from our
current position to a lake whose name escapes my
memory now. Even though it was July, after
climbing for a while, it became necessary to use
snowshoes to avoid breaking through the crust of
the four foot deep snow! By early afternoon we
reached the lake with no sign of the subject.
Despite calling in by radio that we had finished
our assignment, we were not re-assigned and
towards late afternoon we were flown out to the
roadhead. Just a few minutes after getting back,
the subject was found hungry and cold, but in
good condition by another field team. The Inyo
Sheriff treated us to a chicken dinner and we
spent Wednesday night driving back home.
|
  |