By Shannon Kovich, SARTech II San G/VTF SAR
Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from. We all in the SAR community understand mistakes, it is our business. We try to teach the public those minimal survival tips in a hope that someday, when they get themselves in a survival position, it will be useful to them. I have no ideal of how many people in the national forest, self rescue, because we don’t get those calls. The husband of Melissa Foo took the right steps. He contacted Law Enforcement right after a quick search of the area for his wife. It was a very tough situation to understand. Melissa Foo and her husband Marcus Peterson, are new residents of San Diego, and after a tour on the web, found the San Bernardino Peak trail. They started out on Saturday July 29th , hiking to Limber Pines Camp on the SB Peak Trail around the 9400 foot level. They spent Saturday night enjoying each others company and watching the sun go down. Their plan for Sunday morning was to go to the Washington Monument, which was around ¾ mile from their camp. Marcus went up ahead to set up the breakfast, and Melissa followed close behind. Marcus returned to the campsite when Melissa did not show at the monument. The campsite was untouched, so he started to the parking lot at the trailhead to see if she had made it to the vehicle, no luck. He then did what we teach the public to do, call for help. Time is of the essence. Members of the San Bernardino County Search and Rescue Teams arrived at the location and started their search of the steep, heavily vegetated trails. After a twenty-six hour search, utilizing aviation, dogs, horses, and ground personnel, the subject walked out of a steep drainage near mile marker 23.5 on State Highway 38 near the community of Angelus Oaks. Melissa was in good condition, with some cuts and scratches on her legs. She was treated on scene and released. During the debrief, Melissa said that she was following close behind her husband on the trail, she soon lost sight of him due to the limited sunlight. She though she had gotten off the trail, and decided to backtrack to the camp. Things went down hill from there, she continued hiking, thinking that camp, or her husband was just around the next ridge. That first night, she spent wedged between a large rock and tree to stay warm, but it didn’t work out. She slept very little, trying to control the shivering. The next morning, Melissa continued her trek through the San Gorgonio Wilderness, trying to stay above the cloud cover which lingered below. She would occasionally see a Sheriff’s Helicopter, and tried several times to get their attention by waving her red fleece jacket. She continued her struggling through the rough overgrown terrain, and then started down a steep drainage in a hope to get back to civilization. Melissa stayed in the drainage until she excitedly reached a road, then flagged down the first vehicle to come by, which happened to be a San Bernardino County Fire Training Unit. After a quick check out by medical aid, she was given some fruit and water and released at scene to her waiting husband. We always place our best foot forward when it comes to search and rescue in San Bernardino County. We are well known all over the Nation, and this is from the great support we get from our Sheriff. I thank you all for your assistance in this SAR mission, and we are grateful that Melissa Foo is in good condition.
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