ALERT! THERE MAY BE A MISSING/INJURED HIKER ON SKYLINE

[cynthia23]

Hi guys, there MAY be an injured/missing hiker on Skyline/C2C. Yesterday (Wednesday, April 4th) a hiker who was somewhere between 2200 and 2700 said he heard someone yelling "Help! My leg! Help!" somewhere below him. He went down the trail but could see nothing.

The helicopters searched yesterday afternoon, late at night, and early this morning, but saw nothing. They have not found any abandoned vehicles at either the Desert Museum or Ramon trailheads. Basically they have given up.

There are a couple of possibilities: 1. the hiker was not as high up as he imagined, and he actually heard someone down in the Las Palmas area. Sounds echo quite a way up Dry Canyon. 2. A hoax, although at 2700 feet that seems unlikely. 3. the hiker imagined the whole thing or for some reason made it up. 4. there actually is an injured hiker on Skyline, who was dropped off at the trailhead, and/or left his car at the lower tram station. 5. a homeless-type person, such as Crazydude (yes, him again!) who does not have a car.

Only possibilities 4 and 5 concern us, of course. So: does anyone know of anyone who was planning on hiking Skyline/C2C on Wednesday, April 4th (or, if the person has been lost/injured overnight, Monday or Tuesday.) If so, and you can't track the person down within an hour, you should call the P.S. Police Department ASAP. Ask to speak to Sgt. Andersen, as he seems to be in charge (I spoke to him yesterday at the trailhead, as I was hiking Ramon, and this morning by phone, before I posted this.) It seems to me they are no longer actively searching for the person, so if there is indeed anyone lost or injured up there, your friend will need you to speak up for them.

I also mentioned to Sgt. Andersen the Crazydude situation and the possibility the injured person might be him. It is probably just a coincidence but it does seem slightly odd that the point where the cries for help were heard is just about where Crazydude was camping ...

Well, if anyone has any light to shed on this, please post something ASAP. It would be a grim fate indeed to be lying semi-conscious with a broken leg somewhere on Skyline ...not a fate I would wish even on Crazydude. Let's hope for the best ...

[Cy Kaicener]

Nothing on http://rmru.org/ yet. Has anyone at the tram station heard anything yet, or any of the rangers?

[cynthia23]

Hi Cy; I don't know if the rangers have been notified. Perhaps the P.S. police didn't feel they needed to notify the rangers, as the (perhaps imaginary) injured hiker is definitely far away from the San Jac park and still on BLM or Indian land. I did call Sgt. Anderson to remind him that often Skyline hikers don't park their car at the museum but at the lower Tram station and to suggest that he might want to check with the people at the Tram to see if any cars were left overnight. Hopefully he did ...

[magikwalt]

I hiked C2C on Wed morning. I left the parking lot at 4:45am and there wasn't another car in the area. I stopped about 2100ft for water and scanned behind me but saw no headlights. After all the postings about the gear left behind at 2500ft I took a couple seconds to scan the positioning of the material and found it to be the same as it was on Tuesday. Since I hit 3200ft after 2:06 of hiking it seems unlikely the tent and bag were rebundled before I got there. Or I guess its possible that this guy is an early riser that neatly rolls and positions his gear before hiking down or up to work. No telling when a prospective employer might happen by and realize this guy has potential. Look at the way he made up his area!

The buzz at the tram station was about a hiker on C2C that was a 1/3rd of the way up. Not yet on State property so no concern of the rangers yet. But that was just the staff around entrance to to the departing cars area.

Probably either it was a prank call or a prank on the caller.

[cynthia23]

Yes, MW, you are probably right--Grandmaster P.'s theory is that the hiker, a guy named Snyder from Washington State, overheard some kids playing down in Dry Falls. Let's hope so. Having fallen a number of times myself on Skyline, luckily never with serious injury, it really gives me the creeps to think of somebody lying up there with a broken leg.

Many people will be heading up there tomorrow. Everybody keep your eyes and ears open, just in case ....

[cynthia23]

MagikWalt--you say the guys stuff was neatly bundled? This is different from what we found today, Saturday (more on that later ...)

[Perry]

Well, me and Cynthia went with the search and rescue group (PS Police) and it was interesting to say the least. She is posting a story tomorrow. Short version: crazydude is probably alive somewhere, but we don't know where. He is definitely a character! Cynthia can tell the rest....