There one minute (sort of) and gone the next. It happens a lot. And the guidebook they were using has only hand-drawn, cartoony maps that sure don't lend themselves to good navigation. It's a popular guide book by a well-known local figure, but all it's really useful for is deciding WHERE to hike. From there, a topo map along with a Flagstaff or Sedona trails map is what you need. And apparently the Harding Trail, our subjects' hike for the day that turned into a long night, is very difficult to follow on the rim, with sporadic and confusing cairns and what I'm told is barely visible, if not altogether invisible trail, in some places.
But the two lost ladies were better prepared than some. They had water and snacks. They had a light source (although I think they had just one between the two of them). They had the means to start a campfire and the ability to make and receive phone calls with their charged up cell phone. They also stayed put until we found them. Then we put out their campfire with our extra water, set the then-chilly hikers up with some extra layers of clothing from our "warm-up bag," and walked them back to the SAR vehicles. From there, they were given a ride back around to the campground below in Oak Creek Canyon, where their vehicle was parked.
And what a great turnout we had for the team! I didn't actually count, but I believe we had at least sixteen people show up for this Monday night search. We had two teams of two on ATV's, driving forest service roads and rough two-tracks. We had teams in SUV's, also searching roads (the lost hikers had reported they were on a road, though it turned out to be a no longer used, barely discernible road), and four of us were designated as a hiking team.
After we four hikers also searched by vehicle for a while, we parked the truck and headed cross-country towards the trail along the rim of Oak Creek Canyon, calling and blowing whistles as we went along. Just as we thought we heard a distant shout, Ranger (the DPS helicopter) showed up, spotted the subjects' campfire and briefly hovered over them.
We searchers headed in the general direction the helicopter had hovered, less than a half-mile from our location. As we continued to hike, I entered into my GPS the coordinates Ranger had given to Incident Command and confirmed our distance and direction to the subjects, whose responses to our calls were growing louder. Within minutes, we arrived to find two relieved ladies in good shape, standing close to their warming fire.
I was home at 1:30 A.M.
Now it's off for a few days to the Escalante area in Utah to do some hiking. Hopefully, my SAR friend and I will get one of the daily permits to hike The Wave. I've heard it's awesome.
