Whilst hiking Mt. Baldy this morning (Saturday, August 30), I learned that a search was ongoing for a missing hiker. The hiker was last heard from at 6PM last night when he called to say he was in "treacherous" terrain. It's my understanding that SAR believed that he summited Baldy by Devil's Backbone and was planning to descend the Ski Hut Trail. There were one or two helicopters flying around the mountain all morning and I saw a dozen SAR personnel on the mountain, some making their way up San Antonio Canyon and Goode Canyon.
Please post if you learn anything or know where to find updates.
Missing hiker on Mt. Baldy (starting Friday 8/29/2014)
We started up Baldy at 4:30AM well before first light. There were already Search and Rescue SUVs positioned at several likely exit points (Goode Canyon, San Antonio Falls, Baldy Village) and teams had been on the mountain since the middle of the night.
We speculated that the teams had helicoptered to the summit, but I found out they hiked up with heavy packs in the dark, took a short nap and started searching. I don't know where they found Mr Kim, seems like he was not easy to locate, as always the SAR teams did an excellent job.
We speculated that the teams had helicoptered to the summit, but I found out they hiked up with heavy packs in the dark, took a short nap and started searching. I don't know where they found Mr Kim, seems like he was not easy to locate, as always the SAR teams did an excellent job.
Several times while hiking up the Baldy Flat trail I have met hikers who thought they were headed down the ski hut trail. I wonder if this missing hiker made the same mistake and got into the washout area above Baldy Flat? Why these wrong turns are common I don't know.
Yesterday on San Jacinto (Devils Slide to Wellman Divide route) I met two hikers headed down towards Idylwild who thought they were on the way to the Palm Springs Tram. They had a brochure from the tramway as their wilderness hiking guide. After sending them on their way to the tram I encountered a Park Ranger engaged in a search for an elderly man who had wandered away from his party. Then at 5 p.m. on the Devil's Slide I met a woman with no hat, no water, no food and no idea where she was going headed up the mountain. She asked me the route to the summit. My reply, no chance turn around and go back to your car. She headed up anyway. After all these years my surprise is only that there are not more of these that turn into tragedies.
Yesterday on San Jacinto (Devils Slide to Wellman Divide route) I met two hikers headed down towards Idylwild who thought they were on the way to the Palm Springs Tram. They had a brochure from the tramway as their wilderness hiking guide. After sending them on their way to the tram I encountered a Park Ranger engaged in a search for an elderly man who had wandered away from his party. Then at 5 p.m. on the Devil's Slide I met a woman with no hat, no water, no food and no idea where she was going headed up the mountain. She asked me the route to the summit. My reply, no chance turn around and go back to your car. She headed up anyway. After all these years my surprise is only that there are not more of these that turn into tragedies.