Content by Bego Gerhart (1T836) --- HTML by Frank Mendonca (1T805) using Microsoft FrontPage

October 15 - 19: INLAND SAR COORDINATION, Salt Lake City, UT. Closes on August 13th. Comprehensive, graduate-level look at inland SAR theory and its application to planning land and air searches for missing persons and aircraft. Taught by USAF National SAR School. Contact: Learning Place BB or Peggy_Sandretzky@nps.gov. [Joyce Howe, STMA]

2001-  J-0  F-2  M-  5   A-11   M-   8  J- 6 [32]   J- 6   A-3  [41]
2000-  J-2  F-4  M-  9   A-13   M- 14  J- 7 [49]   J-  3  A-2  [54]  S-9   O-  7  N-0  D-0 [70]
1999-  J-1  F-1  M-15   A-  4   M- 11  J- 8 [40]   J-  6  A-9  [55]  S-9   O-13  N- 7 D-2 [86]
1998-  J-0  F-1  M-  5   A-18   M- 15  J- 3 [42]   J-10  A-2  [54]  S-4   O-  9  N-3  D-1 [71] 
1997-  J-4  F-6  M-10   A-  8   M- 16  J- 9 [53]   J-  4  A-6  [63]  S-5   O-  9  N-8  D-0 [85]                                            

  00- 33       7- 2- 01        Mystery at Island in the Sky
     It's all a bit fuzzy, starting out with a long stream of weird radio exchanges between an ever increasing number of folks.  After a while, Brian went down the Shafer Trail looking for 1 or 2 vehicles and 1 or 2 people trapped.  Wow. 
     The mystery was compounded when dispatch handed this incident over to San Juan County. Then back to us.
     Ambulance responded, GCSAR responded.  Brian still going toward the White Rim and Karen was trying to find, in her vehicle and on cell phone, someone on the Island and the car and the victim.
     The Ambulance found the RP just west of the Visitor's Center.  The RP's friend went to fetch the mystery guest and soon the mystery is solved, to wit:
     A lone hiker had descended the Goosebarry Trail the day before, become lost and spent the night out.  This day he'd spent all day dealing with dehydration, the sun and a thousand foot hike up to the rim.  Two gals on the rim heard him yelling up from below, summoned help.........  For what?  Where?   Hence, the hour of weird information.
Comments:  All adrenalined up and nowhere to go.
Responders:  Frank, Sam, Nancy, Bego, Dave, Chris, Dick, Aug, A220, A222, C524.

00- 34     7- 3- 01     Overdue biker on Poison Spider
     Talio came in about noon to say his friend Brent was overdue.  Pretty hot day.
     We mobilized ATVs for the jeep route and hikers for the Portal Trail route.  Arches Helicopters was put on stand-by.
     Brent was found just a half mile up from the parking lot, hot and dry but OK.
Comments:  I was bummed cuz that was the first time in a long time we could search on Poison Spider in the daytime.  A rare opportunity.  I was hoping Brent was way out there, hugging a tree, well and waiting.
Responders:  Frank, Sam, Nancy, Bego, Dave, Chris, Kevin

GCSAR  Training-  Mock turns into Muck
     The training started out to be an exercise in the LAST acronym: Locate (on the back side of the practice loop), Access (ATVs and technical rock stuff), Stabilizing (victim had many injuries) and Transport (litter to ATV to road). During the frill, SAR members were to find out that the victim's girlfriend had wandered off.
     The victims were placed by Frank and Bego and dispatch had made the page out.  In the hot evening sun, SAR had determined where to go and was just about to do it when...........
     The one hour storm from hell sat right over the Slickrock Bike Trail with full lightning and way hard rain.  SAR members made it back to the parking lot just after lightning narrowly missed two members.
     The two SAR members and the two victims were suddenly alone in the hydroelectric landscape.  How awesome things were.  Water running off the slickrock and quickly forming boatable rivers made of mud and smedge.  We hiked along the vegetation line between fins toward the Sand Flats Road.  The storm abated as we did so.
     Shortly later, Rex sent us here and there about town to help the Moab City Police direct traffic around big flood areas as city machinery plowed the mud out of the way.  Several businesses and homes suffered the flood. 
     Shortly later, Rex had dispatch page GCSAR and ...................

01- 35     7- 10- 01     Silt Happened
     So we filled sand bags at the City Yard.
Comments:
Responders:
     After all this, there was pizza at the GCSAR Shed.  Penny Tanner and Lauren Davis, stars of the 4th of July, joined the festivities.  All in all, an excellent training agenda.        Silt 01- 4, p 2
The sequel was nearly as good.................

01- 36     7- 14- 01     Silt Happened again
     So we filled more sand bags.  Different part of town.
Comments:
Responders:  Sam, Matt, Steve, Chris, Lee, Dick, Cory

00- 37     7- 22- 01     Colorado River Drownings     Fish Ford     River mile 106
     Reported as two people swept into the current of the Colorado River, no lifejackets. 
     Frank set up his command post where the Fish Ford and Cisco boat landing roads separate.  Louis went down to Fish Ford.
     From the report:  "Daniel, son, 6, was swimming when he got out in the current.  Pam, mother, 32, and Samantha, daughter, 14, went after him.  Mom reached him but got swept into the current also, unable to reach shore.  Frank, boyfriend, ran down the bank but could not reach them. He helped Daniel get out of the river and last saw the mom floating face down.  The other 3 children were still in the river in "calm water" near their swimming location.  Dillon was last seen standing "waist deep in the river with his hands over his head holding his shoes," according to Samantha.  She saw him as she was swimming backwards towards the shore.  When she turned around to look again, Dillon had disappeared."
     The National Park Service put their boat on the river at Hittle Bottom with some SAR members aboard while GCSAR put our boat on at Cisco. People went to Fish Ford to search on foot and 4WD.  Observers were sent to every place a road got anywhere near the river.
     At 6:30 pm the NPS boat found one subject and then at 8 pm the other.  Drowned.

From the NPS report:  Grand County Search and Rescue (GRCO SAR) requested NPS assistance to
search for two swimmers who were last seen in distress near Cow Canyon (in the Dewey Bridge area and outside Canyonlands National Park) on the Colorado River on the afternoon of Sunday, July 22.  Canyonlands Rangers Steve Young and Steve Swanke, assisted by an interagency crew, responded in
one of the park's specialized rescue boats and recovered the bodies of the mother and son at separate locations within 2 miles of the point last seen. The search effort was managed utilizing the Incident Command System with Frank Mendonca, of GRCO SAR serving as Incident Commander.
SS

Comments:  The Colorado River is very low this year compared to the long term average.  Hardly enuff water to operate boats at all.  Everywhere it looks calm and shallow- except the few places where it's deeper and moving.  How does one tell?  Throw a stick into the water.  If it moves more than a foot in an hour, put on a life jacket.  A family picnic turned tragic.
Responders: Frank, Brad, Sam, Nancy, Bego, Matt, Steve (pilot of the NPS boat), Spawn, Bob, Dave, Dick, Jim, Dean, Monday, Lopez.  From other agencies were Dave Damson, AYE Fire Warden, Steve and Denise Swanke.

00- 38     7- 27- 01     Overdue Biker     Kane Springs
     Arrived at shed.  10- 22. 
Comments:
Responders:  Rex, Sam, Nancy, Steve, Dave, 13B Good.

"Never underestimate the power of play."  The American Toy Institute

01- 39     8- 14- 01     Dry Biker     SRBT
     Reported as a female biker with heat exhaustion.  10-22d as we got rolling.  She showed up at the troweled.
Comments:
Responders:  Brad, Frank, Sam, Kent, Nancy, Bego, Jeff, Steve, Lee Jennie, Dean, Aug.

01- 40     8- 16- 01     Broken Ankle up Mill Creek
       This German visitor broke his ankle doing something.  His friends made a splint and helped him along.  Just up the Left Hand fork, he quite that and we were paged.  Stokes Litter and wheel went up and he was wheeled, thru the poison ivy thickets, back to the ambulance.
Comments:
Responders:  Frank, Sam, Nancy, Bego, Dave, Lee, Dick, Jennie
Gary Haynes and Nathan Plant came over from Arches NP.

01- 41     8- 25- 01     Boater in big trouble at White's Rapid     Colorado River
     Bernie and his wife were paddling a two person inflatable kyak when they flipped in White's Rapid.  Raft guides who were having lunch just downstream heard his pleas for help and rowed out to him.  As they were lifting him into their boat, he lost consciousness and stopped breathing.
     The guides started CPR and brought him to the north side of the Colorado River.  They continued CPR as the boat was rowed to the road side of the river to await the ambulance.
     When we got the call, CPR was in progress on the north side of the Colorado River.  We quickly dispatched our boat but got 10-22d when it was reported that the victim had been moved to the south side of the river.  He died. 

From Frank:  "We got a river call...or what appeared to be one...came in as CPR being done on a fellow on the north side of the river near MP 13 on 128.  He was apparently in a duckie on a Western trip...flipped in White's. 
    I threw the telescope out of the truck (gently) and was racing to put my boat into the truck...when dispatch said they had gotten him to the highway side of the river.  I'm still uncertain how it would be to put our boat in at the BLM takeout since the floods...but I know it would have been no problem to get it up to where this guy was.  Big dude...about 240 pounds. 
     When I got there, they were doing 2-person CPR at 15 and 2...told them to switch to 5 and 1 and I took over ventilation.  Backs of my arms are still sore from pressing so hard on the pocket mask to get a seal. 
     Ambulance got there about 7-10 minutes later.  They continued CPR all the way to town...but he didn't make it. 
     It was MUCH easier to get breaths into this guy than into the one a few weeks ago in Castle Valley...but it was still kinda like blowing bubbles with a straw...was getting good chest rise and fall though."

Comments:
Responders:  Rex, Frank, Sam, Nancy, Jeff, Matt, Chris, Jim

From the NPS:    One of our Maze visitors had a very close call this week.

     Nate Newell set out on a roundtrip hike from the Maze Overlook to Spanish Bottom at 10:00 AM on Monday, 7/2, with two quarts of water and several containers of an 'energy drink'. By the time he reached Chimney Rock he had finished the water. Temperatures were probably over 100 degrees.
     At the Doll House he took a wrong turn and started out on the Ernie's Country route, thinking he was still on the trail to Spanish Bottom. He finished his last energy drink shortly after leaving the Doll House. By late afternoon he was desperately thirsty and confused, but still believed he was on the way to Spanish Bottom.
     He decided he had to find the river and so turned south, following a wash, and hiked until he reached the rim of Cataract Canyon.  He was shocked to find the sheer drop of over 1000 feet.  At this point he aid he believed that he was going to die.  This was about 1600 hours and the temperature was probably near or over 100 degrees.  He decided to take shelter under a north facing overhang and buried himself in the cool sand.
     After the sun had gone down, he got up and traveled by moonlight to another point on the rim of Cataract Canyon where he believed he could descend to the river.  Over the course of many hours he managed to jump and scramble down the canyon wall, somehow managing to avoid getting rimrocked.  He said there were many times he jumped down a ledge knowing that he could never climb back up, but he was getting serverly dehydrated and knew that he must reach water soon.
     He reached a point within a couple hundred yards of the river, where he suddenly collapsed, utterly exhausted, dehydrated and unable to move.  His thinking had gotten very confused, but he remembered looking towards the river and knowing it was his only hope, but he was incapable of moving his limbs.
     He lost consciousness, or slept, at this point and when he woke up it was dawn and he had regained enough strength to slide and crawl the remaining distance to the river, where he could finally get a drink and start rehydrating.
     At this point he believed he was going to have to climb back out of the canyon and hike back to the Maze Overlook.  He was not aware that people floated the river through Cataract Canyon.  Fortunately, before he could start on the return trip (he was in very bad shape at this point, and it is questionable whether he could have made it), a river trip floated by.  In his confused state, he let the first three boat float by, but he finally hailed the fourth and last boat.
     The floaters took him to Hite and then to Green River.  He spent the night there.  We picked him up in Green River and took him back to his vehicle at Maze Overlook.
     In my discussions with Nate it was clear that he overestimated his experience.  He told me he had 'plenty of water', yet only carried two quarts on a hike where he should have had a gallon at the very  minimum.  He left at 1000 hrs, and planned to hike through the very hottest part of the day at a time when temperatures were over 100 degrees.  He had a map, yet was completely confused about his  location.
     The Maze rangers are all very good about discussing the hazards of summer travel in the desert with visitors.  Cynthia issued this hiker's permit and she is very thorough in this regard.  Despite all this, and the near-death experience, Nate still tried to tell me he had started his hike with 'plenty of water'.
     If Nate hadn't been able to climb down the Cataract Canyon wall (not a sure thing by any means!), then this would have been a fatality.               ---------Glenn S.

From the NPS:  Boating  Mishaps

Late on the afternoon of Wednesday, July 25, World Wide Expeditions, a park concessioner, was involved in two separate boating accidents in the Big Drops.  An 18' row raft was wrapped on the "Marker Rock" at the top of Big Drop Two.  Another raft was wrapped on the "Mossy Rock" at the top of Big Drop Three.  All passengers and guides from the wrapped boats were rescued by World Wide without injury.  The incident was reported by satellite telephone.  Ranger Steve Young, who is on routine patrol, is expected to be on scene shortly after first light today. 
An evacuation of the stranded boaters has been initiated.  Attempts will be made to recover the boats. Cataract Canyon is flowing at approximately 3,700 cfs.  The long term mean flow for this date is 11,200 cfs.  Big Drop Three is a Class IV+ rapid at these flows.  A wrapped boat on the "Marker Rock" in Big Drop Two should not be a hazard for downstream navigation.  A wrapped boat on the "Mossy Rock" in Big Drop Three could be a hazard for downstream navigation.   -----------S. Swanke

Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Condor Pool Party

Due to extreme fire conditions in the park, fire crews have set out supplemental water "pumpkins" (portable water tanks) in order to respond to wildfires. On the morning of June 29th, park resource staff received reports of California condors utilizing these pumpkins as dipping ponds. Unfortunately, they preferred the pumpkin located near the North Rim helibase. Upon arrival, park staff found 14 condors at the pumpkins - some perched precariously on the edges, some completely submerging themselves, others simply there for the social gathering. Fire crews immediately responded by covering all pumpkins in the park in order to prevent attractants to park wildlife. [Elaine Leslie, Wildlife Biologist, GRCA]

01-383 - Yukon-Charley Rivers NP (AK) - Follow-up: Aircraft Crash

Additional details have been received on the fatal July 25th crash of the RAF Jaguar jet fighter in the park. The pilot has been identified as 28-year-old flight lieutenant Jason Hayes of the Royal Air Force.
Hayes was participating in Cooperative Cope Thunder, an Alaska-wide multi-national military air exercise. He was reported overdue at 12:30 p.m. on the 25th and the wreckage was located at 5 p.m. in a tributary of the Charley River. A British investigation team was dispatched to the site to determine the cause of the accident. Access to the area has been difficult due to poor weather and precipitous terrain. NPS personnel provided assistance to the RAF. The aircraft was totally destroyed in the impact and the explosion that likely followed. Only a few small pieces of the Jaguar were visible from the air. Cleanup operations are being conducted by USAF and RAF and will likely continue for several weeks. [Kevin Fox, Chief of Operations/Pilot, YUCH, 8/1]

01-420 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Rescue

On the afternoon of August 2nd, Yosemite Valley rangers received a report of a stranded hiker in the vicinity of Four-Mile Trail. The hiker, David Gilmore of Orlando, Florida, was uninjured and stuck in a secure spot. A team was sent up the trail from the Valley to do a ground assessment while the park contract helicopter did an aerial size-up. The observer in the helicopter spotted Gilmore almost
immediately. He was perched securely on a ledge approximately 400 feet up a steep and loose cliff band approximately 500 feet above the trail. The ground team arrived on scene and determined that it would be a very lengthy proposition to reach him from below. Two rangers then heli-rappelled to a ledge approximately 80 feet above and 100 feet to the east of Gilmore. The rangers then lowered him several rope-lengths to the trail. Gilmore said that he left the trail to take a photo and then attempted to short-cut back to the trail by working his way down the cliff band until he realized he could no longer move up or down safely. [Steve Yu, PR, YOSE, 8/7]                   Silt 01- 4, p 6
01-421 - Hawaii Volcanoes NP (HI) - Rescue

Navy lieutenant Scott Larson fell about 100 feet off a cliff into the caldera of Kilauea Volcano on August 5th. Larson was on shore leave and visiting the park with shipmates from the frigate USS Crommelin. They were taking pictures from the Steam Bluffs overlook when Larson's hat blew off and over the railing.  Larson went over the railing to get it, lost his footing, and disappeared from sight. He landed in a tree, stopping what could have been a 600-foot fall to the caldera floor. Rangers formed a technical rescue team with the assistance of Hawaii County FD rescue personnel and Kilauea Military Camp firefighters. Larson was extracted from the caldera and flown by helicopter to Hilo Hospital, where he was treated for abrasions, contusions and a broken toe. [Paul Ducasse, HAVO, 8/7]

01-389 - Lake Mead NRA (NV/AZ) - Fatality

On July 28th, Michael Giuliano, 48, was killed when he was run over by a boat trailer at Government Wash. Giuliano had been riding on the trailer hitch between the trailer and the truck; when the truck stopped, Giuliano fell off, then was run over. [Dispatch, LAME, 7/28]

01-366 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Search

A 13-year-old boy from Tusayan was reported missing on June 29th. He had been in the company of several area adults; all of them reportedly had been smoking crystal methedrine for a period of two days. The boy's disappearance was not reported to the Coconino County Sheriff's Department for another two days. Park staff were asked to help with active searching outside the park on July 9th. Plans were then made to escalate the scale of the search on July 14th with a statewide callout
for resources. On that day, 140 people from six Arizona counties, including search dog teams, and mounted units, were deployed in a search area that encompassed 64 square miles. Thirty park personnel and AMFAC employees and the park helicopter participated in the search. The incident was managed jointly by the NPS and sheriff's department; about 20% of the search area was within the park. On July 15th, search efforts were scaled back to a limited but continuous operation. Since the missing person was a local resident and a student at Grand Canyon High School, the search has generated a great deal of local interest. [Ken Phillips, SAR Coordinator, GRCA, 7/16]

01-367 - Yosemite NP (CA) - Rescue

On July 10th, a 15-year-old boy fell approximately 70 to 80 feet while descending from Cathedral Peak (10,911 feet). The boy sustained a serious head injury and multiple abrasions and lacerations after falling down a series of steep, wet slabs. The leader of the boy's group yelled down for help to other group members near the base of the peak who had not made the climb. Those group members then quickly hiked out and reported the accident to park staff at Tuolumne Meadows.
They advised that a fall had occurred and that help was needed, but did not have any further details. Two YOSAR team members immediately started hiking in to size-up the situation. Within an hour, they had reached the injured boy, who was within 300 feet of the summit. Based on the serious condition of the victim, park medic Greg Lawler heli-rappelled to the accident scene and prepared the patient for transport. The boy was evacuated to Tuolumne Meadows by short-haul under the park contract helicopter. He was then loaded inside and flown to the park helibase, where he was transferred to an Air-Med helicopter and taken to a trauma center in Modesto. He was still in intensive care several days after the accident. [Rich Baerwald, IC, YOSE, 7/16]

00-413 - Grand Canyon NP (AZ) - Falling Fatality

On the evening of Wednesday, August 1st, park dispatch received a report of an elderly woman missing from an international tour group. The woman, who had last been seen at Mohave Point, failed to return to the tour bus at the designated time. Responding rangers began an investigation, set up confinement points, and launched a hasty search, beginning at the point last seen and extending to major roads and trails in the area.  No sign of her was found. The search resumed on Thursday and expanded to include all high probability areas, but still without results. A search of the area below Mohave Point was conducted by helicopter in mid-morning. A body was spotted about 350 feet below the point. A recovery and investigation team flew by helicopter to a nearby point and recovered the body. An investigation is underway to determine the victim's identity and the cause of the fall. [Hunter Bailey, IC, GRCA, 8/3]

01-432 - Big Bend NP (TX) - SAR; Apparent Falling Fatality

An extensive eight day search for a missing hiker ended late Tuesday with the discovery of the body of 18-year-old Duryk Kicherer, a concessions employee of Forever Resorts, Inc. and a resident of Alpine, Texas. Kicherer was last seen on Sunday, July 29th, but was not reported as missing until two days later when he failed to report for work at the Chisos Mountains Lodge. Park rangers immediately investigated and began an intensive ground search, with air support provided by a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) helicopter and a Civil Air Patrol airplane. Searchers were hampered by extremely rugged terrain and an almost complete lack of information on where to look, or if Kicherer was indeed even within Big Bend. The search intensified through the week of August 1st. NPS personnel were assisted by volunteers from the Terlingua area, seven search dogs from U.S. Tactical K-9 out of Abilene, and an AeroWest contract helicopter from Albuquerque. On August 4th and 5th, search dogs alerted to a remote
area of rocky cliffs and talus slopes within the Chisos Basin. The unstable and steep nature of this location made it impossible for the dogs to continue, however, and ground teams and helicopter observers combed the area for two more days. At 3 p.m., August 7th, during the last flight of the day, helicopter observers spotted Kircherer's body in an almost inaccessible location at the base of a series of rocky ledges. Ground searchers reached the body at 5:20 p.m. The body was recovered on the morning of August 8th. Kircherer appears to have died from injuries sustained in a fall. The body is being transferred to the Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office in San Antonio for positive identification and further investigation.  Ranger Matt Stoffolano was IC. [Mark Spier, Acting CR, BIBE, 8/8]



 

#00-5 (Sept.-Oct. 2000) Brad finds a son; a relatively quiet couple of months.
#00-4 (July-August2000) -- Airplane crash, a note from Colin, the search for Jeff Firak
#00-3  (Apr-June2000) -- Stuck on the Tombstone, the usual lost and dried bikers, Chris's Mill Creek adventure, Clinton stabilizes Frank's porch
#00-1,2,&2.5 (Jan-Apr2000) -- Nathan jumps, Matt splats, waiting for high water, confluence disappears, Mill Creek wall strike

#99-5 (Sept-Dec99) -- The "Mari" incident, Westwater drowning, Jeeping off Gemini, Stuck on Fine Jade
#99-4 (July - August 99) -- NPS Whitewater Rescues; Prepare Fair; Tracking by Sgt.Green; Credit for responding, finishing the job; Air Life's preferred radio freq; The Puke Frog returns; Lightning
#99-3 (May-June 99) -- Cataract High; Web rescue; Disaster Brothers; Search Training; Short Haul at altitude; Leadership; Rescue: Who pays
#99-2 (Mar-Apr 99) -- River Peak Flow Forecast; Arches Rock Rescue; Lift Evacuation Team; Huge Fund Raiser; Thanks Brad; Knotcraft
#99-1 (Jan-Feb 99) -- Adventure; "Too Short"; Gary Haynes; Evac Team Paid Now

#98-6 (Nov-Dec 98) -- Thanks Yous; Tramway and rescue plans; Cellular Phonefinder; Practice Safe Response; Pipeline Go BOOM
#98-5 (Sept-Oct 98) -- Credit for Responding; Colin Smith @ NPS SAR; Response Statistics; Old Men Do Cliff ResQ; Documentation; SLTrib: $ for SAR
#98-4 (July-Aug 98)
#98-3 (May-June 98)
#98-2 (Mar-Apr 98)
#98-1 (Jan-Feb 98)

#97-6 (Nov-Dec 97)
#97-5 (Sept-Oct 97)
#97-4 (July-Aug 97)
#97-3 (May-June 97)
#97-2 (Mar-Apr 97)
#97-1 (Jan-Feb 97)