[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

[pct-l] Re: Fw: SEARCH FOR MISSING HIKER TO START THURSDAY AM



Has anyone searched the Marion Mountain campground?  It is on this stretch, 
below the PCT and might have been a logical bailout site for him.

Greg

In a message dated 5/25/2005 11:44:29 PM Pacific Daylight Time, 
dsaufley@sprynet.com writes:
John Donovan's friends have managed to convince the sheriff's department that 
a search should be mounted immediately, and it is going to begin tomorrow 
(Thursday) morning.  Members of the S&R team are going to be dropped in by 
helicopter to look for John.  

John's friends back home called here and consulted with the hikers who last 
saw John and those who went over Fuller Ridge today (they were cleaning up a 
section they'd skipped earlier).  The message below summarizes what they 
concluded about where to look for John.

L-Rod

-----Forwarded Message-----
From: dsaufley@sprynet.com
Sent: May 25, 2005 11:29 PM
To: tmeadows@riversidesheriff.org, vatoolpro@netzero.com, 
atinca@mindspring.com
Subject: URGENT UPDATE ON MISSING HIKER

Sergeant Meadows,

I understand that a search party is being launched tomorrow morning.  First 
of all, thank you on behalf of all the hikers and those who care about them, 
and especially for John's friends who care about him so much. Hikers who just 
came back from the area John went missing have given their insights on where the 
search should begin and be focused, and it is this:

On the WEST side of the Pacific Crest Trail, from roughly one mile NORTH of 
SADDLE JUNCTION toward Fuller Ridge.  It is believed that he will be found down 
lower, in the area far below the PCT on the west side of the ridge.  

With the updated information provided today, we know that John was last seen 
at approximately 2:00 p.m. on May 3, in an area just south of Saddle Junction, 
and east of the Pacific Crest Trail (between the PCT and Tahquitz Valley).  
The people he was following (Connie & Alex Davis) went up to Saddle Junction, 
stepped over the trail to the western side, and exited to Idyllwild through the 
area known as Devil's Slide.  John did not go into Idyllywild behind them, 
and in all likelihood would have continued north on the trail.  

In the area north of Saddle Junction on the PCT, approximately one mile up 
past a series of switchbacks, steep snowy walls lead the way toward Fuller 
Ridge.  The hikers who came back from there tonight said it is still a treacherous 
stretch, even weeks later.  If one were to lose their footing and slip there, 
without an ice axe to self-arrest, there is nothing to stop them for a great 
distance to the bottom.  John did not have an ice axe.  The concensus among 
those who last saw John, and who just came from that area, is that this is where 
the search should begin.  

Respectfully, 

Donna Saufley
661.268.1235