Lost Hiker Rescued on Cranbrook Hill
Prince George, B.C. – The Prince George RCMP successfully rescued a lost hiker over the weekend.
Corporal Craig Douglass says police received a 9-1-1 call at 7pm Saturday night from an adult female that had gotten lost while walking through ‘Forests for the World’ on Cranbrook Hill.
He says officers attended the area, deployed a utility terrain vehicle (UTV), and located the 31 year old woman at 11:30pm.
Douglass says she was found “cold, wet, and scared” but after being assessed by the BC Ambulance Service, was released.
He says an investigation revealed she had gone for a walk at around 4:00pm with the intention of returning to her vehicle at 5:00pm but got lost.
In light of this incident, Douglass reminds people to take the proper precautions when heading out on a hike – including bringing along extra clothes, matches, a flashlight, a first aid kit and water.
He also says to make sure someone knows of your plans before you leave.
Comments
Glad to hear she made it out safe!
When out hiking, I would also suggest that people consider taking along a handheld GPS device. They are relatively inexpensive now and very easy to use. If you get disoriented, they can be extremely helpful in retracing your route and helping you get back to the trail and/or where you started.
I used one a couple of years back after I got a bit turned around (amazing how everything can look the same when the trees are bare, the forest floor is covered in leaves and you can’t find the trail) and it didn’t take long before I had found my bearings again.
Glad she’s alright, but seems foolish and unprepared. Not to mention that she apparently went walking alone near dusk and went off the beaten trail. It’s unfortunate that this isn’t a safe activity anymore for a lone female, but it just isn’t.
If you read the papers from the Lower Mainland, I thing you would agree with me that males are twice as likely to get lost hiking. And I think you’ll find, there are a lot of females out there that don’t like your response.
PG’s trails need people to be prepared before they go for a hike. Most of them are clearly marked as to where hikers should go, but it is easy for a person to get confused. I am happy to hear that she was ok. Thanks to the search and rescue team for the work that they did to produce a positive story as someone who has previously been lost it is good to hear that they did their work for a positive outcome.
We don’t hear about incidents like this around here too often, but there sure has been a lot of them near Vancouver lately.
It’s rather puzzling to me why there are apparently so many people who go out unprepared.
In this the age of Google etc. where instant information is available to anyone with a “smart” phone (dare I say most people now?) there is absolutely no excuse to go out to the bush unprepared. It seems that the only preparation a lot of these lost people invest in is to have a cell phone with them.
No offense to the female in this news story, glad she’s okay, but is it not time that people who are rescued be required to contribute financially in order to help maintain the resources needed to effect rescues?
metalman.
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