Slickrock SAR

Hello SAR Folks, (10-25-09 night)

The following are coordinates (WGS84/UTM) from this morning's SAR.

Command Post: 10S 736152mE 4306520mN - 6630 ft.
PLK: 10S 734958mE 4306114mN - 6391 ft.
First Prints: 10S 735267mE 4306278mN - 6528 ft.
Subject Location: 10S 734959mE 4306550mN - 6368 ft.

If you have questions, feel free to contact me if you'd like more information.

Regards,

Ryan Wimmer
SAR342, KI6UDK

A brief description of what happened (from my perspective):

A relative at home of the lost father + son called us to initiate the
retrieval. Father and son had a GPS (I think) and cell phone coverage,
and so Bernie was able to talk to them. They provided their coordinates, at
the top of a small ridge, then moved down the ridge a little to wait. They
left that afternoon (carrying a $9000 video camera) to take pictures that
they hoped to include in the son's yearbook. Somewhere along the way,
they lost the trail. They expected to follow the creek back to the car,
but found it difficult to make their way through the underbrush and were
uncertain whether the water near them was in fact the right creek. It
appeared they did not have a map, but were trying to rely on map
descriptions relayed to them over their cell phone.

We located their car at the end of Pickett Pen road (at the command post
coordinates Ryan provided). The subjects were perhaps 0.75mi away according
to the GPS. The subjects were able to hear Bernie's siren, so four of
us (team 1, the only team) followed a heading toward the last reported
coordinates. We did not hear a response to our whistles and yelling as we
moved toward the father and son. When we reached the top of the ridge
where they last provided coordinates, we could see a small fire they had
built a short distance down the ridge. They saw our headlamps. We reached
them about 3 or 3.5ish hours after we had received the call.

They were slightly cold and mildly dehydrated. We put out the fire and
made our way back. The son's (who I was talking to) mental awareness
improved as we got moving and they warmed up. It took a little over
an hour to return to command post. We gave them some more water and a
blanket. Bernie got some information, and we all headed back home.

It was a nice evening walk, a quick "search" and a happy ending. Thanks
to everyone who responded.

Tait

Missing 60yr male; Mosquito

Callout late on Sat 10-10-09 for missing male. CHP H-20 found him on a rock in the American River canyon 830am following morning.