By Jim Steele
The phone rang after sleep had begun and it could only mean one thing, a call out for search and rescue.
Someone was lost, this time on Elk Mountain while looking for a Geocaching site (a GPS game).
Wake up quickly, get dressed for cold, throw your gear in the truck and hope you didn”t forget something. It”s going to be a long night because a car was found with no note left behind.
Initial call out included the citizens volunteer group from the Lake County Search and Rescue Association (LCSAR), K-CORPS (a group of Kelseyville High School students that study SAR techniques), and a Sheriff”s representative. An incident command format is followed, which helps keep things in order.
The first to arrive began an immediate search for the missing person”s tracks in the midst of tracks left by early searchers and recreational motorcycles who heavily use the area in the day time.
First one trail and then another was carefully scanned for clues. The ground was frozen and clues were scarce. Motorcycles may have spoiled the prints.
After following a set of very faint tracks on the second trail and thinking that this might be the clue that narrows the search, hope was dashed after a check of footwear on waiting friends. Keep looking until enough SAR people were on the scene to begin organized searches. Keep moving to stay warm.
Several hours of searching yielded nothing but your own appreciation for 28 degree night temperatures and cold feet from bringing the wrong boots. I ducked into the warm, but crowed command trailer operated by a long time LCSAR volunteer who expertly managed the searchers by radio, plotted likely locations for the next effort, worked around the lack of proper equipment, kept the family informed and coordinated the assets available to the team.
A helicopter made a night goggle vision run over the area, off-road vehicles searched far and wide, ground teams covered the close area. No stone would go unturned. No one will quit and go home.
After hours of searching, tracks were finally located at one of the Geocaching sites, leading in what was perhaps a mistaken direction.
A voice finally responded to the evenly spaced calls coming up from a very steep and brush covered ravine. It seems that flat-soled tennis shoes can ratchet a person downslope more efficiently than up.
It took more than an hour of steep descent to get to that very cold and thankful lost person. A helicopter was called to bring our subject to the road and a waiting ambulance for evaluation and release to a thankful and tearful family and friends. Two hours more were needed to recover all the teams back to base.
Feeling fully rewarded by the successful outcome, an 11 a.m. breakfast is next with a mental note to upgrade my cold weather gear. Having been on SAR for only a few months, I have a very high regard for the high school students who give up their night to bring their expertise to someone in need and the county citizens that meet every month and train for such an event.
It was all the more amazing since cold weather gear is needed for the K-CORPS equipment should be upgraded in the command trailer and training dollars are non-existent.
What is very abundant though is satisfaction from helping to find that hopeful and vulnerable lost person on a cold Elk Mountain night.
If you think this is for you, consider joining LCSAR. The age spread is from high school grad to 70-something and the requirements are a background check, buy your own gear and a willingness to learn and fit in.
If your organization wants to help buy needed supplies, donations will work too. Just contact Lisa Pendleton at 349-5135 or write LCSAR PO Box 812 Lakeport, CA 95453.
Jim Steele is a retired Cal Fish and Game scientist, registered professional forester, part-time consultant and full-time Lake County resident-volunteer.
