Missing 13-Year-Old Hiker Found By Searchers

On the evening of July 28th, the parks' trail crew found a missing 13-year-old boy who had been separated from his hiking party while in the Arrow Peak (elevation 12,959 feet) area of Kings Canyon National Park on Sunday, July 27th. The boy stayed overnight at the trail crew camp until he was airlifted out of the Bench Lake area of the park yesterday morning. Prior to the flight, a park medic evaluated him and found him to be uninjured and in good condition. Dispatch received a call about the missing hiker from the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office around 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon. The hiking party had departed from Taboose Pass in the Inyo National Forest and was headed for Bench Lake and Arrow Peak in Kings Canyon National Park. A search began later that day. Among those participating in the operation were 25 National Park Service staff from Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks who searched by ground and helicopter, conducted interviews, and planned for the next day’s operation.

Incident operations concluded yesterday with 28 NPS employees involved, primarily in getting the boy to the helicopter landing zone and returning searchers to their normal work locations.

Thank god he is safe. Can't imagine how hard it must have been for his folks. Thanks for posting the update.

Semi-relatedly, what are the SAR policies in the area? In the east coast, where I live, government picks up the fees for evacuation and SAR unless the party involved was negligent. My understanding is in CO the rescued party pays most if not all the cost. What about in the Sierras? Apologies if this is too much of a thread drift.

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PamW
Semi-relatedly, what are the SAR policies in the area? In the east coast, where I live, government picks up the fees for evacuation and SAR unless the party involved was negligent.

It's the same here.

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What about in the Sierras?

Do you mean the Sierra?

Thanks Eeek! And yeah, forgive my ignorance.