New Year’s Eve didn’t go quite the way a Los Angeles couple had planned. On Saturday, an unidentified man and woman in their late 20s decided to hike the Boy Scout Trail in Joshua Tree National Park, starting at the trailhead in the central part of the park. The couple took a side trail to Willow Hole, with the intent of eventually making their way to Rattlesnake Canyon. However, the man and woman became lost in the Wonderland of Rocks area. They were able to climb high enough on the rocks to get a cell phone signal, and at 5:22 p.m. Saturday, they called 9-1-1 to report they were lost. After determining that the couple was not injured and had enough clothing and supplies to get them through the night, search and rescue personnel decided to put off the rescue until the next day, when it would be light. About 7:30 the next morning, Sunday, January 1, 15 Search and rescue volunteers, along with a helicopter from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, began their search for the lost couple. The couple was spotted by searchers in the helicopter on the west side of Indian Cove at 9:45 a.m. and were brought back to their car at the Boy Scout Trailhead inside the park. By 10:30 a.m., the search and rescue was over.
