LAKE PILLSBURY — A three-day search and rescue (SAR) operation coordinated by the Lake County Sheriff”s Office (LCSO) in the Mendocino National Forest successfully concluded Saturday afternoon when two young men and a teenager from Sonoma County were rescued from the Snow Mountain Wilderness area, northeast of Lake Pillsbury.
A Santa Rosa man called LCSO dispatch Thursday afternoon, reporting concern for his two sons and a friend, who had left Santa Rosa on March 21 for a weeklong camping trip in the forest.
The three were identified as 16-year-old Joel Barnett and 18-year-old Jesse Barnett, both of Santa Rosa, and 20-year-old Christian Magnell of Occidental. The three had traveled to the Lake Pillsbury area and planned to park their Toyota truck at the “Bloody Rock” trailhead near Snow Mountain”s base, hike several miles into the Snow Mountain Wilderness area and camp for the week.
When they reached the Lake Pillsbury area on March 21, they left their itinerary and their parents” phone numbers at the Soda Creek Store. Storeowners Nick and Eddie Uram contacted the Barnetts” father on Thursday, concerned that the boys may not have been sufficiently prepared for the snow that fell in the area last week.
On Thursday evening, a team of LCSO deputies attempted to enter the forest via Potter Valley in a four-wheel drive SUV but encountered a mudslide and fallen trees blocking the roadway, forcing the group to turn around. The deputies then tried to enter the area on Elk Mountain Road in Upper Lake but met heavy snowfall near Horse Mountain, which again forced them to turn around.
By early Friday morning, LCSO”s Search and Rescue began coordinating multiple resources for the SAR operation. By noon Friday, road crews from Mendocino and Lake counties cleared the Potter Valley route to Lake Pillsbury.
Lake County SAR volunteers and U.S. Forest Service personnel activated a command center at the Soda Creek Ranger Station later that afternoon.
While SAR personnel were coordinating resources for an extended search, an unidentified Pillsbury resident located the Toyota truck unoccupied on the main forest roadway, buried under several feet of snow and several miles short of the Bloody Rock Trailhead where the campers had intended to set out on foot
Searchers began looking for signs of the three hikers around the area of the truck, using a CAL FIRE “snow cat” to get access to the site.
SAR personnel requested a Sonoma County Sheriff”s Department helicopter to assist with the search, but it was unable to respond because of weather conditions.
A National Guard Blackhawk helicopter was requested but was also hampered by the weather and had to stage in Red Bluff until Saturday morning. Search efforts continued as additional resources started responding from other counties throughout the night.
By Saturday morning, SAR volunteers and “Type 1” Mountain Rescue teams from Contra Costa, Marin, San Mateo and Monterey counties arrived to join the search. Teams from the Tahoe Back Country Ski Patrol and the Southern California Nordic Ski Patrol also responded.
The National Guard helicopter remained on the ground in Red Bluff, still hampered by the weather. The U.S. Forest Service relieved the “snow cat” crew, using a 6-wheel drive “UTV” to transport teams to and from the search area.
Consultants with “Team Adam” of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) arrived midday Saturday from Wyoming to assist. Additional SAR teams from Placer, Ventura and Los Angeles counties were due to respond by Sunday for an extended search.
However, a search team located the three campers at 12:45 p.m. Saturday making their way out of the wilderness area, approximately one mile north of Bloody Rock. All three were unharmed and transported back to the Soda Creek Ranger Station by LCSO personnel.
By late afternoon Saturday, the three had been transported down to Potter Valley where they were reunited with their families.
The LCSO commended the Urams for alerting the family members about area weather conditions Thursday. The heavy snowfall and prevailing rain could have easily have left the hikers vulnerable to hypothermia.?
LCSO”s SAR personnel recognized the importance of the three hikers leaving their itinerary with the Soda Creek Store before continuing further. This precautionary strategy is an absolute must for any kind of excursion into the wilderness, and in this case, it greatly aided SAR personnel in focusing their efforts on the right areas, the LCSO said.
The LCSO highly recommends leaving specific plans with family members and using GPS, personal locator beacons (PLB) and other satellite messenger devices for all wilderness activities.
The LCSO was very pleased with the coordination and outcome of the three-day SAR operation, which resulted in a total of 42 volunteers and public safety workers responding to the incident.
Sheriff-Coroner Frank Rivero expressed his deepest gratitude to the SAR Deputy Coordinator, Detective-Sergeant John Gregore, and to the Lake County SAR volunteers for their efforts. Gregore also added that he particularly appreciated Michael St. John of Marin County SAR for his assistance in managing the search operation.?
Rivero also commended and thanked the allied agencies that supported the rescue and contributed to the safe return of the three hikers, including the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE, Tahoe Back Country Ski Patrol, Southern California Nordic Ski Patrol, NCMEC members from Wyoming, the Public Works Departments of Lake and Mendocino counties and SAR teams from Contra Costa, Marin, Monterey and San Mateo counties.
Other agencies that either offered assistance or were poised to respond for an extended operation included the California Emergency Management Agency (CAL EMA), the Law Enforcement Branch of California OES, the California National Guard and SAR teams from Ventura, Placer and Los Angeles counties.
