Cell Phones Key in Two Deschutes SAR Rescues
Another warm summer weekend has kept Deschutes County Sheriff?s Search and Rescue crews busy assisting lost or injured hikers in the woods west of Bend. Cell phones played a key role in two incidents, as the hikers used them to contact 911, and searchers used their GPS coordinates to help focus the successful search efforts.
On Friday around 4:30 p.m., 911 dispatchers got a cell phone call from Brandon Mailea, 19, of Bend, who reported that he and Emily Carpenter, also 19 and of Bend, believed they were lost in the area of Junco Lake, between the Miller Lake Trailhead and Mirror Lake, said Deputy Mike Biondi, assistant SAR coordinator.
Biondi said Mailea reported that Carpenter had suffered an injury and was unable to walk out.
He told dispatchers they had left the trailhead around 10:30 a.m. on a hike to Mirror Lake. On their return, they lost the trail, due to snow cover, and it was during that hike that Carpenter was injured.
Mailea was asked to call 911 again on both he and his companion?s cell phones, so dispatchers could better obtain GPS coordinators to help locate them, Biondi said. One cell phone ?ping? provided GPS coordinates near Junco Lake and the second about a mile to the north.
A sheriff?s deputy and 14 SAR members responded and began searching the area around Junco Lake, Biondi said.
Not initially finding the pair, SAR teams focused their search in the area of the second set of coordinates, and found the hikers around 8 p.m. Friday.
Biondi said Carpenter was treated at the scene, and she and Mailea were able to walk out to the trailhead, with the aid of SAR medics.
On Saturday, around 2:45 p.m., 911 got a call from Ricky Rodriguez, 43, of Atlanta, who reported that he and his wife, Carina Hernandez, 34, also of Atlanta, were lost in the Three Sisters Wilderness, south of the South Sister, Biondi said.
Hernandez reported they had left the Devil?s Lake Trailhead around 9 a.m. Saturday and proceeded up the hikers trail toward the South Sister for about three hours.
Upon descent, however, they said they lost sight of the trail. After wandering in the area for about 2 1/2 hours, Rodriguez called 911, advising they had food and water but were not dressed to be out overnight, Biondi said.
Based on the GPS coordinates from the 911 call and his description of the surroundings, it was determined they are about one-third of a mile south of Rock Mesa, Biondi said.
A sheriff?s office deputy, a U.S. Forest Service employee and 10 SAR members responded to start looking for the hikers, who were located by SAR teams in good condition around 6:30 p.m. Biondi said they were escorted back to the trailhead by SAR team members.
