Search for Two 17 Year Old Males

January 8th, 2005
Boo Hoff Trail, La Quinta
2005-001

by Glenn Henderson

Twas a dark and stormy night at the upper Palm Springs Tram (really, it was) when our dinner was interrupted by a call from the Sheriff's department reporting two overdue hikers on the Boo Hoff Trail in La Quinta. It was a snow and ice training weekend when we got the call so all of the team had hiked back to the Tram for dinner. It has been the third wettest winter in recorded history in Southern California so it was really windy with a lot of snow coming down. Gwenda Yates and I had just arrived after attending the California Region meeting in China Lake so we still had our gear packed up. We left immediately while the others started back out into the storm to pack up. We met Jim Fairchild at the trailhead where we found out that the two were not lost but out of water and struggling to get back to the trailhead. They had been met by two other hikers who gave them their water but now all were out of water. We quickly got a team together that hiked in with extra water. Our overdue hikers were tired and thirsty but with water were able to hike out without any other problems.