Are They Really Missing?

That's the question I couldn't help but wonder about all day. I tried not to think about it, though, and focus instead on what we were doing--searching. But the information we had was sketchy, and the circumstances were such that the two people we were looking for could have been anywhere.

And that's what it's like with Search and Rescue sometimes. There's not always a call for help by a lost subject on a cell phone or an empty vehicle sitting at a trailhead.  Sometimes, a person is reported overdue and the exact destination is unknown. So our leaders go with the information they do have, and we volunteers get our assignments and search the most likely areas. Sometimes, those search areas can be quite large and change as more information becomes available.

In this case, we were looking for a couple in their 70s--one of whom uses oxygen--who'd apparently gone to cut firewood but hadn't returned home the night before, so said a concerned neighbor. And being a concerned neighbor is a good thing, I'd say. Many times, concern for someone else's well-being or their home saves the day, so it's better to be safe than sorry and report those concerns. Imagine not doing so and then regretting it when things turn out badly.

So it didn't bother me when, after hours of driving around in the Polaris Ranger, following vehicle tracks here, there and anywhere they went within our large search area, and my teammates doing the same on ATVs and the DPS helicopter searching from above, we found out that the couple was just fine and had never been "missing" at all. They'd simply been ... well, somewhere else.

Okay, so maybe I rolled my eyes and laughed a little at the situation, as I tried to dust myself and my backpack off and pick the dirt out of my teeth, but I was happy that things had ended well and that some of the other scenarios that had been passing through my mind all day hadn't come true.

Besides, I learned some new tracking skills while we were out there. My teammate who was with me on the Polaris had been with the Border Patrol for 27 years, so this experienced tracker could tell the type of vehicle at a glance, the direction of travel, and the age of the tracks by touching his finger to the dirt and by the color. And he took the time to show me what he was doing. So, thank you, Steve, for teaching me some new stuff!