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Injured man strayed from planned route
This brief story is about a
tri-athlete that beat the odds. David Charles
Adams, age 33, had gone on a solo hike to
Tahquitz Peak and a search was initiated when his
wife reported him over-due. The search built up
to include all RMRU people in search teams on the
desert divide and Tahquitz Peak area, a regional
call-out of the California Mountain Rescue
Association, and aerial search by helicopter.
Ultimately, David was helped out of the mountains
by a passing hiker. He reported the following: He
had entered the mountain on a Tuesday, via the
South Ridge Trail, hiked to Tahquitz Peak, and
camped there as planned. On day two he hiked
towards Laws Meadow, where he camped that night.
At this point, he had strayed from his planned
route into the adjacent area. Therefore, the
first day of the search had not expanded to where
David actually had gone. On day three the
;adventure; began, when David fell and injured
his left ankle. He was near Tahquitz Creek, when
he leaned on a branch that broke away, resulting
in the fall, and the injury, that immobilized
him. His exact location, by his report, was near
the ;impassible falls; at Tahquitz narrows. He
bravely crawled out to the south side ridge,
where he could over-look the city of Palm Springs
in the distance.
On day four he tried to get
to an open spot and near a source of water. On
the fifth day he scrambled to a higher ridge,
built smoke fires all morning, running out of
wood in the afternoon. At dark he could hear the
search helicopter, but he had run out of wood to
signal with.
At
this point David was weak from lack of food and
his spirits were down. He was beginning, for the
first time, to feel fear.
On
day six, he gathered himself up and began to
crawl back toward Humber Park, staying to the
south side of the valleys. He got to the Willow
Creek Long Valley sign post in the evening and
camped there.
Day
seven (of the planned two-day hike) David made
his way to Humber Park where a good citizen and
fellow hiker detoured from his own plans to
assist him from Saddle Junction, down the
mountain, and then drove him to the Idyllwild
U.S. Forest Service office. An ordeal with a good
outcome.
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