Bicyclists spend a cold night out
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January 23, 2000 |
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By Glenn Henderson
RMRU was
contacted by the Sheriff Department regarding
five mountain bikers that were overdue on a ride
to Thomas Mountain. They were dressed in bike
shorts and t-shirts and were carrying a minimal
amount of food and water. Larry Ross and I were
teamed up and went to cut for sign on Thomas
Mountain. We found new sign right away but could
only find the tracks of four bikes. We later
found out that only four went on the ride. They
turned left from Thomas Mountain instead of going
all the way up the mountain. Larry and I tracked
them in the team's Isuzu Trooper until they cut
off and went down the south ridge trail. We left
the Isuzu and started hiking down the trail. 
When we got to the bottom we lost
their tracks for awhile but we finally found it
upstream, which was headed toward the Lake Hemet
Dam where their truck was parked. We radioed back
to base to get someone to the dam and shout to
see if they could spot them. Jim Fairchild and
Debbiy Riegle found them there. They were 24
hours overdue when we found them. They had spent
the night huddled together for warmth. They were
cold, hungry and thirsty but otherwise OK. The
Bicyclist were identified as Timothy Ficken, 21,
Douglas Wells, 45, Tommy Francis, 45, and his 17
year old son from Rosemead, and Charles Green,
19, of La Jolla.