At 11:49pm on Wednesday October 4th, LAAFB was called out for a lost day hiker in Carson National Forest near the Continental Divide Trail (CDT). This was our second such mission that. Four members of LAAFB were able to respond, including one who would serve as Incident Commander (IC) and another who would help operate Incident Base (IB). Teams from Atalaya SAR, Santa Fe SAR, and Pajarito Canines also responded.
By 3:05am Thursday morning, all teams had gathered their gear, made the multi-hour drive to IB, were briefed on their assignments, and were heading out into the field on foot. The two-person field team from LAAFB was assigned to back-track from the hiker’s last known position up to a small cabin which the hiker had reportedly been at earlier in the day, before becoming lost. All teams were instructed to perform frequent sound sweeps, calling the lost hiker’s name and blowing whistles, with sufficient silence after each to listen for a response. Most sweeps elicited no response, except for the occasional distant coyote or cow.
Shortly after 4am, as LAAFB’s team approached the cabin, a human response was finally heard, calling them to the cabin. They hastily covered the remaining few-hundred yards to the cabin and found the lost hiker uninjured, but cold, taking shelter inside. After providing a warm beverage and some additional warm layers, the hiker was able to walk out with the team. The Atalaya SAR team, who had been searching a nearby area, was re-assigned to meet up with LAAFB and the hiker on their way back to IB to provide additional resources as needed.
Before sunrise, everyone made it back to IB, debriefed, and began their drives home. A well-earned stop for some breakfast burritos was made to break-up the drive, before everyone made it home safely by 9am.