Two Hikers Lost Overnight Tramway

Written by Pete Carlson

At 9:30 am we received a call that two hikers had called 911 on their cell phone after having just spent the night out lost. They had left the Tramway at 2:30pm to hike to San Jacinto Peak and got to the top around 5:30 as it was getting dark. As the left the Peak and came down to the Saddle just below the Peak they went right down the Little Round Valley Trail. They lost the trail in the dark and made a shelter to spend the night in shorts and T-shirts with sweat shirts. They could not get any cell reception where they spent the night. The next morning, they started heading down and finally got a call in to 911. We got their location from there phone and it turned out they were very close to the Seven Pines Trail all the way down by Azalea Trails Girl Scout Camp.

We arrived at the Camp to find a Sheriff Deputy who was on his cell phone with the two hikers and was sounding his siren ever five minutes and the hikers said they could hear it and were very close now. In 10 minutes they walked into the Camp and we met up with them. They were fine, just a little tired and hungry, both were in their early twenties and in good physical shape. After talking for a few minutes the Sheriff was going to give them a ride back to the Tramway to pick up their car.

RMRU Members Involved: Pete Carlson, Cameron Dickinson, Glenn Henderson, Tony Hughes, and Wayne Smith.