Search and Rescue teams help two groups of stranded hikers at waterfalls

With the warmer weather and melting snow, more hikers are headed to the back country, and with that migration the El Dorado County Search and Rescue teams are getting busy.

On Saturday, April 16, 2016, a group of five hikers from the San Francisco Bay Area wandered off the trail at Horsetail falls. They believed they could navigate down the steep terrain to the parking lot, but due to the steepness and rugged vegetated terrain they could not get down on their own. Due to the time of night, hiking back up was not to their advantage and they called for help at 5:49 p.m. as it was too steep to continue. The hikers left the parking lot at the falls at noon when temperatures were at their warmest so they were all clothed lightly and only prepared for a short day hike. El Dorado County Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteers responded, and found the hikers who were all cold, but in good health. They were helicoptered in and guided the five people off the mountain and the hikers were back to their vehicles by about 10:00 p.m.

In a second incident later the same day, SAR volunteers responded to Cascade Falls at 7:20 p.m. where a group of three people became lost. Just prior to the search volunteers arriving, the trio found other hikers on the trail and were able to hike out with them to the trailhead. The hikers were not dressed for the cooler temperatures the late afternoon brings.

Both of these scenarios are very familiar to Greg Almos of the El Dorado County Sheriff's office who heads up Search and Rescue for the area. He said they have to handle these two scenarios often for the same two locations.

"It is often the same set of circumstances at the same areas of the trail," said Almos. "One advantage to the Horsetail Falls call was it was still somewhat light out and we used a helicopter to hoist SAR Volunteers onto these subjects. Normally we have to hike up and then across to them taking several hours of time, often times overnight."

Calls are up 20 percent for the SAR teams, both in the Lake Tahoe Basin and on the West Slope. Saturday was the 26th day in 2016 they've had to deploy volunteers to aid people in the back country.

"It is that time of year when we see significant changes or variations in the weather and climate," said Olmos. "It would seem it is going to be certainly a busy year again. It is believed this is contributed to the increasing and steady tourism to Lake Tahoe area."

Olmos said that since it is normally warm in the daytime followed by very cold temperatures coming at nightfall, many hikers have no plan if they might become lost or suffer an injury. As was the case this weekend, nobody had the ability to properly navigate at night and they were not mentally or physically prepared to stay out there for any period of time it would take help to arrive.

The El Dorado County's Search and Rescue team said they encourage all hikers, recreational enthusiast, or adventurers to always have a plan. Here are Olmos's suggestions for a good, safe hike into the Lake Tahoe back country and waterfalls:

1) Tell someone else other than other hiking partners what this plan is and what will happen if they do not return as planned. This plan should include the possibility of becoming lost or injured and have the appropriate resources to survive. This would include educating themselves on the forecasted weather and temperatures.

2) All should anticipate possibly having to remain in the wilderness overnight. Do not intentionally deviate from the plan and certainly not leave a designated trail unless they are prepared with a map and navigational aids with the training or experience to use them.

3) Never assume rescue is a short distance away. Everyone should know that rescue or help will always come their aid but it may take several hours. Several of the persons I talk to express concern or disappointment when we tell them it may take several hours to get to them. Part of their survival or comfort is to have the mental and physical attitude that they will survive, at the cost of being somewhat uncomfortable.

- Paula Peterson