On the evening of Monday, November 25, the Team was called to assist a hiker stranded above cliffs in the Cottonwood Creek drainage. The Team elected to postpone response until the following morning as it was already dark by the time the call came in.
The Team responded to Bolthouse Farms in Hammil Valley. Six team members were transported to the end of the access road via 4-wheel drive pickup and Polaris Ranger 6-wheeler. One field team (Team 2) of two began ascending the ridge dividing Willow Creek and Cottonwood Creek. The other field team (Team 1), with four members, began ascending Cottonwood Canyon.
Cottonwood Canyon soon became impassable due to narrow constrictions with vertical side walls with the creek running along the bottom, partly frozen. The field team left the bottom of the canyon to attempt to attempt to avoid the impassable sections of the canyon. One member of field team 1 was injured by rockfall, and exited the area with assistance from another team member.
In the depths of Cottonwood Canyon.
Field team 2 and the remainder of field team 1 met on the ridge above the canyon, and then new location information was provided by the hiker’s Inreach unit. The uninjured hiker was located soon thereafter near the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon, and he was driven back to Rescue Base.
A member of field team 1 high on the ridge above Cottonwood Canyon (team member just left of center in a white helmet).
IC: Pelichowski Ops Leader: Beck/Kaufman Responders: Thompson, Senior, Patterson, Hodges
On the ridge above Cottonwood Canyon with Hammil Valley and the Sierra in the background.