Search in the Mojave Preserve (7/7/2010)

On July 7, 2010 at about 3:30am, the Barstow Desert Rescue Squad got a call for a 26 year old male who had gotten his Toyota Yaris stuck somewhere in the Mojave National Preserve. He has no idea where he is. He has abandoned his vehicle and is walking North with no water and no food.

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Three Search & Rescue members responded to the call for a quick hasty team, Steven Depue, James Hutchinson, and Ken Kolbly.

We left Barstow to go to the Kelso Depot, about 85 miles out, to meet with a Deputy and come up with a game plan. About three miles before we got to the Kelso Depot, we passed the Deputy going the other way. We pulled over and he began giving us the details of the call. He told us that he had talked to the subject on his cell phone. The subject said that he turned off of I-40, turned left, passed a gas station and the pavement ended and he was on a dirt road almost immediately. He went about 10 miles and got his Toyota Yaris stuck. He had no cell phone service at this location but he had a GPS and he went walking North to the top of a hill. On the top of the hill, he had cell service and he called 911, told them he was lost, without food or water, and the batteries in his GPS had just died. He thought he might be on Ivanpah Road. The Deputy wanted to send us to Ivanpah Road right away, but a previous inquiry had revealed the subject's cell phone had pinged off a cell tower 6 miles Northeast of Baker. As we were discussing the details, it did not make sense that he could be on Ivanpah Road. Being familiar with our area, we knew the only place you could turn off I-40, coming from Barstow, turn left, pass a gas station, and immediately hit a dirt road, was in Ludlow, about 60 miles from Ivanpah Road. If he was at Ivanpah Road, there was no way his cell phone would ping a cell tower 6 miles Northeast of Baker, not with the distance and the hill range between them.

Based on this information, we determined that he was walking towards Baker. We decided to take our ATV's and go to Zyzzyx Springs and head South to see if we could find his vehicle, tracks, or him. 40 King was on their way out and we asked them to go to Ludlow and try to locate the subject's vehicle and follow the dirt road North. The CHP helicopter heard the call, and being in the area, offered their assistance. They also headed to Ludlow to assist 40 King in locating the vehicle. As we were leaving Zyzzyx Springs on our ATVs, we received word that the CHP helicopter found the subject's vehicle and gave us a GPS reading on it. The vehicle was 12 miles straight South of us. We decided to continue with our plan and proceed South toward the subject's vehicle. We had only gone about a half mile when we found our subject alive and well.

It was really nice to have a good ending on this search. Also, it felt good to find him before the helicopters for a change!