A woman is safe-and-sound after getting lost in Golden Ears Park on Tuesday evening.
Eighteen Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue team members were called to help the stranded hiker after she lost her way while trying to view one of the park’s waterfalls from a different vantage point.
Search manager Rick Laing said the call came in around 4:30 p.m.
“We heard somebody was stranded at the rocks at Lower Falls,” he said.
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A passer-by on Lower Falls Trail spotted the woman waving at them from across the water.
SAR sent two teams to investigate. One walked along the West Canyon Trail, and a swift water rescue team drove a 4×4 vehicle up the Lower Falls trail.
Swift water rescue teams wear dry suits and personal flotation devices, in case an aquatic rescue involving water travelling faster than two kilometres-per-hour is called for.
Laing said the hiker had made her way up West Canyon Trail to the Lower Falls cut-off trail.
“After looking at the falls she could not find the trail to take her back up to West Canyon,” he said, adding that area of the park can be quite tricky to navigate.
“It’s a bit of a rats nest of trails down there,” Laing noted.
“Lots of people camp and trek around, so if you’re not familiar with the area, it’s easy to lose your way back.”
Once the teams located the hiker, it was decided the safest way to get her to safety was to hike with her out via the West Canyon Trail.
Laing said despite losing her way, the hiker was well prepared for the situation.
“She left a trip plan with her husband, had food, water, extra clothing and a headlamp, he said. “She also stayed put when she knew she was in trouble, and waited patiently for us to arrive.
“This was one of the easy ones.”
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