High Sierra Topix

I was involved in a missing hiker event this weekend (9/28/24) that highlighted my lack of SAR knowledge. Camped at Lake Lois in Desolation a young woman approached me at 6pm and said her female backpacking partner had not returned to their camp from a day hike loop to Lake Schmidell. She wanted to have a plan in place in case her partner did not return that evening. I offered to help and said we should not go looking that night. We agreed that she would come to my camp at 8 am next morning (Sunday) and update me. I have a Garmin mini and iPhone with power bank she did not have emergency digital tools. The hiker had water filter, some lunch food and some warm clothing. Low temp was 55 degrees so I assumed overnight exposure risk was low. .

If no hiker return, I planned to be fully packed and loaded early and join with the woman in a reverse hike search on the planned loop. We would leave a note (I had notebook and pencil) at their camp for the missing gal to stay in camp and await our return if she arrived back at camp before us. We would head out with food and her sleeping bag. If she was injured and not mobile, I assumed she might need to be warm and prepared to wait overnight for SAR extraction. I also assumed we should conduct one level of search before pressing the SOS button.

The next morning I learned the hiker had returned at 7 pm after having some trail finding challenges.

Question 1, Was my planned process correct? Question 2, Where do I get better education to prepare for a the future?

https://defa3fahnvm82.cloudfront.net/wp ... R-2020.pdf

https://inyosar.com/how-to-get-help/

Thanks so much for the links. I am actually glad for this experience as I was forced to think carefully and prepare for the future. Cheers.

I did a weekend watching a SAR group practice for high angle rescues. This was eye-opening. That caused me to learn more following it. There are search methods for summer, and different methods for winter. Then I started carrying my own emergency bivouac kit.

I am glad she returned that evening. It would have been a completely different situation if not. You got a good story and an opportunity to prepare better. Glad everyone was ok. I agree with Bobby about the bivy kit

Thanks to you all for those thoughts.

A few times in the past, I packed my sleeping bag in my day-pack on long day-hikes. I was amazed at how much that reduced my stress level! The occasion where I am least prepared is fishing. I usually just take my fishing gear, and at most a jacket. Carrying a day-pack is not that easy when fishing. Prevention of the need for rescue is the best policy. Although I solo a lot, it still is better to have a companion. And keep the group together! This summer I ran into stragglers who were simply left behind. There really is limited first aid you can do on yourself.