ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST – Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Andy Cronin updated Littlerock residents on the two hikers who went missing off the Vincent Gap Trail in the Angeles National Forest last weekend.
“It doesn’t help when you smoke weed before you go hiking,” Deputy Cronin said at Thursday’s Littlerock Town Council meeting. “Not too smart to do that, but I wasn’t too concerned about the marijuana; I was more concerned about finding these two cats and the hikers’ safety.”
“They were dropped off by a friend,” according to the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station alert. “When the friend returned to pick them up, they had not returned to the meeting point, and he could not find them.”
According to Deputy Cronin, the missing hikers were separated from their two friends who knew the trail and ended up losing their flashlights when it got dark.
“They ended up straying off the trail, and they kind of went in circles,” Cronin said. “They finally did a smart thing. They stopped for the night and built themselves a little fire to keep themselves warm.”
By chance, the two lost hikers made their way back to Angeles Crest Highway before the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team could locate them.
“Some guy just drives up and says, hey, there’s some dude on the side of the road – and that was one of our guys,” Cronin said. “His buddy was still down off the side (of the road) about 55 feet down. He was just too exhausted to climb up. So they threw a rope over, and it turned into a technical rescue. So, it all ended well.”
When Deputy Cronin interviewed the hikers, he noticed a telltale smell emitting their vehicle.
“I said, did you guys smoke out before you left for hiking?” Cronin imitated a dazed-and-confused response from one of the hikers: “Uh … no.”
Noting that the mild temperature of the mountains that morning helped the stranded hikers, Deputy Cronin said, “These guys got really, really lucky. Their situation was very survivable because it wasn’t freezing cold.”
And yes, the moral of the story is a matter of common sense:
“Don’t smoke weed before you go hiking,” Cronin said. “Don’t lose your flashlight, and, if you all are going to go hiking, make sure you take a trail that you can handle.”
Deputy Cronin told members of the public that the Vincent Gap Trail is a challenge for inexperienced hikers.
“It’s easy to go down, but it’s harder to come up because it’s so steep,” he said. “A lot of people fall out, get tired and get sick, because they can’t make the trek back up.”
To increase your chances of survival when hiking in the Angeles National Forest, Deputy Cronin suggested the following tips: 1) know the trail and terrain you are hiking before setting out, 2) tell your family and friends when and where you are going to hike, and 3) keep your cell phone on so that law enforcement officials can ping it to find your location; the light from your cell phone also can be used as a signal beacon at night.
Lastly – the natural high from a vigorous hike should be all that is required for a weekend respite in the Angeles National Forest.
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The Palmdale Sheriff’s Station is located at 750 East Avenue Q in Palmdale. Call them at 661-272-2400 or visit them online at Palmdale.lasd.org. To receive LASD texts & emails, register at Nixle.com. More information is available on the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station Facebook page at facebook.com/PalmdaleSheriffsStation.
Littlerock Town Council Meetings are held at 7 p.m. every 2nd Thursday of the month at the Littlerock High School Community Center. Visit facebook.com/littlerockca for more information.
