A 56-year old woman died Saturday while hiking in the Cottonwood area of Joshua Tree National Park. About 10 a.m., a family group began hiking to the Mastodon Peak Trail. They missed the sign for Mastodon and continued toward Lost Palms Oasis. They realized they had missed their trail and turned around. While on the return hike, the woman began suffering from heat-related symptoms, and lost consciousness. Temperatures Saturday in that area of the park were about 100 degrees. Her husband continued ahead to get assistance. The rest of the group stayed behind. A park ranger responded at 2:25 p.m. and found the woman without pulse or respiration. He called for a helicopter and began CPR. Additional park staff arrived and helped transport her to an ambulance where she was declared deceased.
The Sheriff’s Department sent out a search and rescue team to rescue three hikers who ran out of water on a hot Saturday afternoon hike in Twentynine Palms. According to a Sheriff’s report, the hikers—J.W. Lebo, 33, Jordan Diesel, 19, and a 10-year-old boy, all of Twentynine Palms—started their hike about 1 p.m. with just one gallon of water and no food. Temperatures reached about 110 degrees in Twentynine Palms Saturday afternoon. They hiked up a trail south of Highway 62 until they got to the end. When they turned around, they saw what appeared to be another trail that would take them to the Stater Brothers grocery store in Twentynine Palms and headed toward that. However, they ran out of water and Lebo became weak and dehydrated and called for help about 5 p.m. on his cell phone. He said they were on a ridgeline and could see the Stater Brothers store below them. The Sheriff’s Department sent out a helicopter, and about an hour after the initial call, the helicopter spotted them and directed deputies to their location. Lebo was too weak to walk down and so was airlifted to safety. Firefighters checked out the hikers, and then deputies drove them to an address off El Paseo in Twentynine Palms.
And finally, another hiker who became lost in Joshua Tree National Park called for help about 10:30 Saturday night. David Cavanauge, 29, said he started hiking from Indian Cove and was trying to get to Willow Hole Trail when he became lost in Rattlesnake Canyon. Sheriff’s aviation used the coordinates from his cell phone to locate him. Cavanauge was not injured and was in good health when he was found; he was flown to the entrance of Joshua Tree National Park.
On Monday, Twentynine Palms firefighters were called about 7 p.m. to help a woman who injured her ankle while hiking in the Skull Rock area of Joshua Tree National Park. Firefighters and park rangers had to help the woman—who was with a group of friends—by putting her on a wheeled litter carrier.
Park rangers remind visitors to take adequate water and food on hikes, and to avoid hiking in the middle of the day when it is hottest.
ONE DEAD, FOUR OTHERS RESCUED IN SEPARATE INCIDENTS WHILE HIKING IN JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK SATURDAY
