PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Members of the Missoula County Search and Rescue Team had their hands full Sunday as a half-dozen hikers reported route-finding issues in the Mormon Peak area.

Dispatchers received the first call of distress around 1:50 p.m., when two women who had spent the night camping became worried that they'd gotten off course while returning to the trailhead, which is located on Mormon Peak Road, off U.S. Highway 12 west of Lolo.

The women were not injured and had cell phone service, so they decided to follow a creek bed and try to re-orient themselves, according to Lt. Rich Maricelli of the Missoula County Sheriff's Department. The hikers told dispatchers they would call back if they still could not find the way.

They did call back, and in the meantime came across a third hiker who was disoriented, and then a fourth hiker, a man who also had lost his bearings.

"It was a little hard to keep track of it all," said Chris Froines, volunteer chief of the search and rescue team.

Things grew more complicated when the lone male hiker decided to venture off on his own, and the three women encountered a separate set of lost hikers, two men. The lone hiker managed to find his way back to the trailhead, while the other five hikers spoke with county officials by telephone.

Officials sounded sirens and tried to direct the group to safety, and eventually a LifeFlight helicopter was dispatched. After the pilot was unable to locate the hikers in the thick timber, the helicopter hovered above the trailhead as a beacon.

"They were all pretty close to the trailhead, so with the help of the helicopter they were able to get their bearings," Froines said. "They also had cell phones, so we were able to triangulate their positions and get a pretty good fix on at least one of them. Without that technology the outcome could have been a lot different."

Froines said the area had generous amounts of snow cover that caused the hikers to lose the trail and follow various sets of tracks branching out in different directions.

"Then you end up in the tall timber and you can't tell which way you're going," he said. "The lesson is to have a map and a compass with you, and a GPS (Global Positioning System device) if possible."