Death Valley Rangers Rescue Four Lost Hikers

Death Valley National Park (CA)
Rangers Rescue Four Lost Hikers

On the evening of January 6th, rangers received a report of two missing hikers reported to be hiking a route through Sheep Canyon that had recently been featured in Backpacker magazine. Subsequent interviews with family and friends of the missing hikers revealed that there were actually four members of the party, all two days overdue. Three search teams deployed on the morning of January 7th and found numerous sets of footprints matching those associated with the vehicle parked at the mouth of the canyon. Around noon, an observer on an airplane from Lake Mead spotted a large white “X”, a signal fire, and a person waving at the plane on a ridge south of nearby Willow Canyon. One of the search teams located the other three individuals trapped in Willow Canyon shortly thereafter. A Navy Seahawk helicopter from China Lake Naval Weapons Center successfully hoisted all four of the hikers out of the canyon and delivered them to Ridgecrest Regional Medical Center. Initial reports were that one member of the party injured an ankle, and that the others were suffering from minor exposure and dehydration. Ranger Micah Alley served as IC during this incident.