Two boys camping alone
By Rob Gardner
The RMRU was
in the California State Park for training from
Friday evening to Sunday afternoon. When the
first group of team members entered the
wilderness area they were put on alert by the
State Park Ranger to watch for two fourteen year
old boys that had entered the area, destined for
Round Valley. Rangers were concerned because
these boys, Ken Rivera and John Conrad of Palm
Springs, were inexperienced hikers and poorly
equipped for winter camping.
Ken and John
had a parent consent letter to obtain a permit
and enter the wilderness area. Unable to disallow
the young hikers to proceed on, Ranger Robert
Mendoza had cautioned the boys and advised them
to stay in one spot if they were to get lost or
into difficulties.
The first RMRU
team hiked to Round Valley, via the high trail,
in the dark on Friday night. They did not see any
sign of Ken or John. The second team hiked to
Round Valley via the lower trail in the early
daylight hours of Saturday morning. It was the
second team that found Ken and John.
A voice was
heard calling out. Initially, the direction the
voice came from could not be established.
However, as the team of eight quickly switched
from the alert mode to the search mode the
direction was pinpointed and voice contact was
established. Direct contact quickly followed.
Ken had
slipped on the icy ground and gashed his head on
Friday night. Ken and John had holed up under a
large boulder, not too far from the lower
cross-country ski trail to Round Valley. They
were less than a mile out of Long Valley,
however, they did not know their way back to Long
Valley.
Cameron
Robbins of RMRU checked john's head injury which
appeared to be superficial. Ron Pierson and
Cameron escorted Ken and John to the Long Valley
State Park Ranger Station and released them to
Ranger Robert Mendoza.
Proper
experience and equipment may have prevented
john's slip on the ice and the boys' feeling of
being lost. However, having followed Ranger
Mendoza's advice to stay in one place after they
decided they were lost, and John had become
injured, may have prevented more serious injury
to these young men.
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