Pretend for a moment that you’re a “fake psychic.” Not a real psychic, who can find lost persons after receiving visions from deities, angels, or bad cases of indigestion, but a “fake psychic” – you’re just making stuff up. To advertise your special powers, you’re...
This Summer we have seen a huge number of searches in Washington State as hikers are getting tired of staying isolated and flock to the mountains in huge numbers, many unprepared for our rugged mountains. Guy has kept very busy with the Washington State SAR Planning...
Many of our national parks in the U.S. contain large wilderness areas. Fifty of our national parks have designated wilderness areas, totaling over 40 million acres. Many of these wilderness areas are visited by many people every year. And every year, due to...
It’s a K9 team’s worst nightmare. The mission is over; the subject not found. Then, a day, a month, or a year later, you hear that remains were found in the area you were assigned to. Oh my God. What did we do wrong? Probably nothing. Many of us in SAR are familiar...
In my lifetime, I’ve only once called for search and rescue help, and it happens to have been for my “missing” husband Scott some ten years ago. Scott had been invited by our daughter’s boyfriend, Chris, to climb a technical route on Vesper Peak, and had gladly...
On a cold morning in February 1980, a father and son are working their way along Fly Creek, about 20 miles north of the Oregon border. Seeking promising-looking gravel, they stop here and there, digging small holes along the riverbank. The son kneels; the shovel bites...
In Search and rescue, decision points are places where a hiker might miss a turn or take a wrong one. Panhandle Gap trail section has many such decision points.
March 2020: The height of the Coronavirus Pandemic. In a small town in eastern Washington an “at risk” youth has been missing for two days. Search efforts have been fruitless and the weather is deteriorating. Local SAR authorities call the State Emergency Management...
“There have been signs in the heavens to warn us from this place”Larry Niven, Neutron Star It’s just after 5PM on a warm Labor Day along the south fork of the Stillaguamish River. On this late afternoon, a father and son are picking their way along the abandoned...
We’ve done this before; we’ve been here before. The SAR call out was for a hiker with an injured leg near the 5,340 summit of Mount Pilchuck in the western Washington Cascades. Mountain Rescue and SAR volunteers hop in their cars and make the 2-hour drive up to the...