Grim's Hall: Search & Rescue in Panthertown

At least they picked a pretty place to get lost.

This morning was spent rescuing some hikers from the Panthertown wilderness. There is not and never was a town in "Panthertown." It is named for the panthers, which are still regularly attested by backpackers in this area. Panthertown also includes a bear sanctuary region.

A map of today's SAR area.

Aside from taking a while, this rescue went as well as you could want. The hikers had a chilly night. One of them had fallen into a creek during the previous day, so her clothes were wet. They were from Colorado, so they weren't used to land navigation in heavily forested country where even clear landmarks can be obscured by trees and ridges. Making a fire in an alpine rainforest like this is not like making a fire out West, either: it takes a special skillset to know how to obtain sufficiently dry wood and get it going in this environment.

Still and all, everyone is fine and now back on their way to food and rest somewhere warm and dry.

6 comments:

J Melcher2:02 PM
I love hearing your stories.

on their way to food and rest somewhere warm and dry.

That's a better story ending than "they lived happily ever after" for several reasons. Sort of like it's better to start off a story with "So, no [fooling], there we were..." than "Once upon a time..."

You know one definition of adventure? "Somebody else somewhere else trying to deal with a hell of a hard time."

ANYhow, by craft or native talent you have a gift for telling us memorable tales.

Mike Guenther4:15 PM
Built a fancy log cabin overlooking Panthertown Wilderness many years ago. Late 90's. Think it was late March when Jackson County got hit with a blizzard. Sylva had over 30" of snow and Laurel Knob where the cabin was, had a little over 48" of snow. Mt Pisgah broke a record with over 60".
raven11:51 PM
How did you know they were lost?
raven8:03 PM
Was this the sort of thing where you started at a trailhead (AKA last reported known position) and worked your way along toward the suspected or known destination? How did you make final contact? By voice, or other means?

That is wrinkly country. Lot's of that out here in the PNW also. Sometimes people go way, way off the trail and are never seen again.

There have been times I thought having a few 12 ga flares to go along with slugs would be a good idea. In the wild places a shotgun is carried as a normal thing.