Sally, Allison (her daughter) and I left a little before 6 AM from the South Fork trailhead on Sunday July 3. Sally will write the TR -- I'm posting regarding the sequence of events on Monday July 4th
I thought that my family knew that I was backpacking and spending the night on San Gorgonio on Saturday night. I sent a SPOT OK message when we reached the summit in the early afternoon of Saturday July 3. Tried to text them from Dollar Saddle and the summit without success.
As we descended Monday morning, we took a cross country country route to avoid the huge snow field that always seems to linger on the trail by the Tarn. We were successful and continued to make our way down the trail.
When we came around to the north side of the trail, we heard a helicopter. Sally jokingly said "Ellen, they're looking for you." We all laughed and continued to descend. The helicopter appeared to be doing a grid search and we became concerned about a missing hiker. At about 10.5 K, I distinctly heard "We are looking for Ellen Coleman, a missing 57 year old female hiker. If you are Ellen Coleman, please wave at us."
My heart sank and I felt sick to my stomach. I hoped I had misheard. My friends initially thought I was joking. Nope. The helicopter continued to circle and repeated the message. We stopped repeatedly and I waved and also flashed the "OK" sign -- apparently they didn't see me. I did this several more times as we continued to descend. I thought that either I had a communcation SNAFU with my family or my SPOT had misfired. I sent a SPOT OK message.
About 15 minutes later, I tried my ATT cell phone as suggested by two hikers (one was Orange County SAR). Miraculously, it worked (both texting and voicemail), though the coverage was very positional and spotty. I called my family first and left a detailed voice message. Then I called 911 to have the helicopter stand down. Fortunately, this worked. However, I felt dreadful about causing my family and friends to worry as well as the unecessary allocation of SAR resources.
I did not have cell coverage again until I reached the South Fork trail head. When Sally and Allison talked about having barbecued burgers with family, I noted that I would be "eating crow" for the July 4th dinner. I took a deep breath and called my family, prepared for a complete A$$ ripping. Their concern was aboslutely understandable given the 2008 "event."
It turned out that they did not understand that I was backpacking on San Gorgonio -- they thought I was day hiking on both July 3 and 4. I am the only person in my family that hikes/backpacks -- they didn't comprehend even though I talked about spending the night on San G and showed off my backpack, bear cannister, tent, etc. They also did not realize that if I needed help, I would have sent a SPOT message.
Lessons learned -- I won't assume that my family knows anything (including how to follow the SPOT) and will leave a detailed note with my itinerary, hiking partners and contact numbers. I did this consistently after the 2008 "event" but slacked off as time progressed.
Thanks so much to everyone for your concern and to the friends who talked with my family and tracked down family members of my hiking partners. I sincerely apologize -- this will not happen again. My family has warned me not to come home if there is a repeat
Miles of smiles,
Ellen
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