Around 10:30 pm on August 12, LAAFB received a mission starting at first light the next day searching for missing backpackers in the Pecos Wilderness. Under LAAFB’s own Griffyndor as IC, Da Mule and Accelerated Trekking headed out with three new brigade members hitting their very first mission!!! The morning briefing at incident base explained that a group of seven backpackers had splintered in the back country a few days before. Four of the party members had recombined but had not been able to relocate the last three members of their party, after searching for 1 1/2 days, those four had left the wilderness and called Forest Service Rangers for help searching which activated NM SAR.
Brigade members formed one ground team, searchers from Atalaya and Santa Fe SAR formed another, and a horse team from NM Mounted SAR formed a third. All three teams were to clear a variety of trails in the backcountry but before going two miles down the trail, Atalaya and Santa Fe SAR’s team encountered one of the missing three backpackers on his way out. He was healthy and safe and informed us that the other two backpackers were perhaps a mile behind him on the trail also making their way out. Our Brigade team met up with this hiker and the other two teams where we then sent two of our members back to the trailhead with the backpacker and the remaining searchers continued down the indicated trail where we soon met up with the last two backpackers. We escorted them back to the trailhead where they met the rest of their group.
We debriefed on a fortunately simple and straightforward mission with Griffyndor, grabbed lunch in Santa Fe, and got home by early afternoon. Good work everyone!!!