Prince George Search and Rescue (PGSAR) have safely located a man in his late 70s who became lost while hiking the Great Divide Trail.
PGSAR says the man was hiking the trail over a two-week period, which involved significant route finding and bushwacking, when he became separated from his partner.
After a day of searching, his hiking partner called the RCMP to report him overdue and missing.
“We were using drones to search the area. We had people hiking through the area looking for this individual,” said Dave Merritt, a manager with PGSAR.
“We were dropping searchers on mountaintops, having them hike down to valley bottoms on routes that the Great Divide hikers take in the area to try and find where this individual was.”
He says the search was initiated by the Robson Valley Search and Rescue, with support from both Prince George and Fort St. John search and rescue groups, as well as volunteers from Crescent Spur Heliskiing.
The Great Divide Trail is a multi-section trail system that traverses the divide between Alberta and British Columbia, stretching through the Canadian Rocky Mountains for more than 1,100 kilometres.
Merritt says the man went missing in a remote section of the trail between Tumbler Ridge and McBride.
“It’s very remote where this individual got separated from his hiking partner. There’s no roads; there’s no access outside of a helicopter for our searchers, so we couldn’t put vehicles on the ground to get close,” he said.
Despite the difficult search, they located the man on Tuesday within 48 hours of the start of the search. Merritt says they found him to be in good condition before he was flown to safety.
“The gentleman was well prepared, and by the information we got, he may have gone down the wrong valley and realized he’s in the wrong spot and was working his way back to a different location when he found him,” said Merritt.
He said the man still had a number of days of food left and was carrying a self-contained pack with a tent and other supplies.
“He and his partner had been separated for at least three to four days at that point. But, overall, he was in good spirits, and he was in good shape.”
Merritt said the man was an experienced hiker, but the incident is an important reminder to be prepared with extra supplies and a communication plan when heading out into the back country.
“We were able to reunite a family with somebody who’s missing, and that for us, makes us feel all the effort and the sleepless nights that we put into this, and the hours of training are worthwhile.”
