• Picket Penn Road SAR - 2009
On October 25, 2009, EDSO was notified at 7:00 p.m. that a 40-year-old man and his 14-year-old son were stranded in the dark, unable to get around vegetation. The man had a working cell phone and a automobile GPS. He was able to provide their GPS coordinates but could not provide the location of this car. Sgt Morton sent in a team to find the pair and walk them out.
The subjects had begun hiking from the end of Picket Pen Road, hoping to make it to the top of Slick Rock. After reaching the top, they were able to capture the pictures needed for the son's yearbook class, and they attempted to return to the vehicle. After losing the trail, the father contacted his spouse and informed her of the situation. The wife then reported the two missing to EDSO and Sgt. Morton responded to the vehicle.
The subjects were able to communicate with SAR teams via cell phone. We attempted to judge our distance from them by turning on Rescue 3's siren. We later found that we could actually see the red/blue lightbar from the end of the ridge that was above their location.
After leaving the Command Post, it took approximately 25-30 minutes to locate the lost pair. The two had started a small fire to keep warm and had a decent supply of gear. In addition to mild hypothermia, the two had not eaten in about eight hours or so.
Our return to the command post took quite a bit longer than expected. We were unable to follow the same trail we had used going in, and we followed close to Big Silver Creek, the watercourse that crossed Picket Pen Road.
Everybody returned to the Command Post safely and we wrapped up this great SAR. Kudos to all who were there—amazing job to all of you....
SAR 342 said:
The following are coordinates (WGS84/UTM) from this morning's SAR.
Command Post: 10S 736152mE 4306520mN - 6630 ft.
PLK: 10S 734958mE 4306114mN - 6391 ft.
First Prints: 10S 735267mE 4306278mN - 6528 ft.
Subject Location: 10S 734959mE 4306550mN - 6368 ft.
A brief description of what happened: A relative at home of the lost father and son called us to initiate the retrieval. Father and son had a GPS (I think) and cell phone coverage, and so Bernie was able to talk to them. They provided their coordinates at the top of a small ridge, then moved down the ridge a little to wait. They left that afternoon (carrying a $9000 video camera) to take pictures that they hoped to include in the son's yearbook. Somewhere along the way, they lost the trail. They expected to follow the creek back to the car but found it difficult to make their way through the underbrush and were uncertain whether the water near them was in fact the right creek. It appeared they did not have a map, but were trying to rely on map descriptions relayed to them over their cell phone.
We located their car at the end of Pickett Pen Road (at the Command Post coordinates Ryan provided). The subjects were perhaps 0.75 mi away according to the GPS. The subjects were able to hear Sgt. Morton's siren, so four of us (Team 1, the only team) followed a heading toward the last reported coordinates. We did not hear a response to our whistles and yelling as we moved toward the father and son. When we reached the top of the ridge where they last provided coordinates, we could see a small fire they had built a short distance down the ridge. They saw our headlamps. We reached them about 3 to 3.5 hours after we had received the call.
They were slightly cold and mildly dehydrated. We put out the fire and made our way back. The son's (who I was talking to) mental awareness improved as we got moving and they warmed up. It took a little over an hour to return to command post. We gave them some more water and a blanket. Bernie got some information, and we all headed back home.
It was a nice evening walk, a quick "search" and a happy ending. Thanks to everyone who responded.
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