Hiker lost on San Jacinto

[halhiker]

A 42 year old man from Reno got lost hiking on San Jacinto on Thursday and hasn't been seen since. He is said to be an experienced hiker but he was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and had a water bottle with him. Search will continue until he's found due to the fact that it's getting cold up on the mountain.




http://www.mydesert.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071109/NEWS08/71109012

[guest]

Hal,
There was 2 choppers all over the mt as I went up 1/2 way on Skyline today, (I don't recommend Merrell chameleon stretch gortex, they rubbed my heels raw, hence, the abort).

Many of us have made errors, but this guy is suppose to be experienced,

"He's young, smart and sharp and he's been in the army," said his friend, Glenn Dedman of Arizona.

Yet he went up with the bare minimum & apparently didn't tell anyone exactly where he was going. I wonder if he filled out a permit.

I saw 2 or 3 people heading up the trail today who, if they attempt to reach the tram, are in for a hell of a hike by the way they looked.

Is it just me, or does it seem that there's more arrogance ( or maybe just lack of proper respect) for wilderness these days?

I do hope he's ok & they find him today.

ss

[Perry]

"...8,400 foot mountain..."

It shrank!

Maybe he followed the Long Valley Creek or Tahquitz Creek downhill. That seems to happen a lot.

[cynthia23]

I agree with you Guesty, there is a strange attitude among some people nowadays when they approach the wilderness--I call it "the Amusement Park attitude" in that it's like they think that the wilderness is just a large Disneyland with rocks, and has been designed by hidden safety engineers who would not possibly put anything harmful in it, so, no worries, right? IMHO they have been overprotected from the grim realities of life and are inappropriately blithe/confident. It's not to say that we should be negative, paranoid or fearful (when approaching wilderness, or anything else) but it's good to be conservative and respectful of the power of the elements, as well as honestly evaluating your own abilities. Humility is an important value.

I hope they find the lost guy, is he lost on the Skyline portion or above the tram? It's getting cold at night ...

[Hikin_Jim]

I think the issue is that they're just extremely happy people...
(ignorance is bliss)

Seriously, a lot of us live in a world where the ambulance is 10 minutes away, cell phone coverage is continuous, and convenience stores are 24 x 7. I think it doesn't occur to a lot of people, especially when riding the giant amusement park ride (the tram), that they really are in a wilderness and that nature of things is suddenly fundamentally different.

I can't tell you how many times I see people in shorts at the lower station on days where I know it'l be cold and windy on top. People just don't have that think ahead mentality. If I need something, I'll just stop and pick it up.

BTW, RMRU has started an entry on their site: http://www.rmru.org/missions/2007/2007-022.html. Not much on it yet.

[guest]

Jim,
Thxs for posting the CBS2 story on finding this guy, good thing he was safe.

RMRU said there's a good possibility that they will send the bill to the hikers local agency (Reno or Texas?), then they may turn around and bill this guy.

Maybe this will get some folks to think twice before venturing out.

The story said he was found in the Snow Creek area. This is the 2nd time in a year that someone apparently wondered off the peak in that direction.
I have a hard time understanding how people do this, even if they see lights, as this way is quite steep (it's not the north face) but steep & rugged, (I've been up this way, not down).
It can be disorienting when leaving the peak for the 1st 15 mins (at altitude) to find the trail again.

ss

[Hikin_Jim]

Update: http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_314152620.html

It seems odd to me too that heading toward Snow Creek happened again, although the top of the mountain is pretty much just rock; it's not like there's a clear trail leading you back down. Still, heading anywhere to the west or north is steeper than going back south or east. You'd think he'd notice.

I wonder if time played a role. He didn't start until around 1:00 PM. It gets dark around 5:00 PM. In the dark, it's a heck of a lot easier to get turned around.

It would be a chilly night out at altitude in just a T shirt. He had a backpack, so maybe he was OK at night, depending on what he brought. It would be interesting to hear his account of how he made it through the night -- 2 nights actually I think.

[Perry]

CBS:
"Richard Harper, 44, had last been seen Thursday afternoon after he rode the tram up 10,804-foot Mount San Jacinto and attempted to walk back down."

Uhhh...how many professional journalists think that the tram goes to the summit?

RMRU:
"More details will be posted when we have them, and when the webmaster has had more sleep."

Looks like they recruited the webmaster for a late-night adventure!

[Hikin_Jim]

From the Press-Enterprise:
UPDATE: Rescued hiker treated for dehydration, bug bites
The missing hiker whose signal fire led a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department helicopter to find him was dehydrated and suffered from minor abrasions and insect bites when transported this morning from the Snow Creek drainage on Mount San Jacinto to the base of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, according to a Riverside County Sheriff’s Department news release.

The helicopter plucked Richard Harper, a 44-year-old man from Texas, from the mountain about 20 minutes after spotting his signal fire about 10 a.m., the release said. The hiker, who set out on a hike Thursday afternoon, was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Harper obtained a permit from rangers near the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway mountain station for a day hike to San Jacinto Peak.

Harper was described as an avid hiker, but dressed only in a T-shirt, camouflage pants and carrying a light backpack with water for a hike, according to an earlier sheriff’s news release.
Temperatures at the tram’s mountain station at the 8,516-foot elevation have been below freezing overnight, according to the tram’s Web site. The peak is at the 10,834-foot elevation.

The peak and surrounding wilderness are in Mount San Jacinto State Park and Wilderness Area and are a popular destination for hikers. The Snow Creek side is a steep rock face descending down to Snow Creek Village, a hamlet off Highway 111 west of Palm Springs.

The search for Harper began Friday. By this morning, it involved Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit, a volunteer-search group called out by the sheriff’s department, as well as search teams from San Bernardino and San Diego counties, and helicopter assistance from the California Highway Patrol, sheriff’s spokesman Jerry Franchville said.

—Gail Wesson
gwesson@PE.com

Posted by PE.com at 2:37 PM, November 10

[phydeux]

The story said he was found in the Snow Creek area. This is the 2nd time in a year that someone apparently wondered off the peak in that direction.
I have a hard time understanding how people do this, even if they see lights, as this way is quite steep (it's not the north face) but steep & rugged, (I've been up this way, not down).
It can be disorienting when leaving the peak for the 1st 15 mins (at altitude) to find the trail again.

ss

Since he might have been on the summit around dusk, he could have been decending northeast from the summit to intersect the trail near Miller Peak. That's a popular way to go in the winter, but would be tricky when there's no snow and you have to do a lot of rockhopping. He probably went too far north and started going down the Snow Creek drainage.