SAR finds lost hiker
Custer County Search and Rescue (SAR) started the new year with a report of a lost hiker at around 6 p.m. Jan. 1 in an area southeast of Crazy Horse Memorial between the memorial and Sylvan Lake Road.
According to the SAR Facebook page, a hiker called 911 for help after it had gotten dark and he realized he was lost.
Calls from 911 usually generate location coordinates which are available to responders including Custer County Sheriff’s Office deputies and SAR.
“They are, of course, extremely useful in planning our route to a call,” the post said.
The post continued that, thanks to helpful landowners who guided SAR through their ranch off Sylvan Lake Road, SAR was able to drive its UTV and pickup trucks on a trail toward the coordinates until SAR members saw the lost hiker’s light in the woods. Deputies gave him a ride back to Crazy Horse where his family was waiting for him. While awaiting SAR’s arrival he’d been able to let them know by phone that he was lost, but OK.
The hiker told SAR he had been flying his new drone near Crazy Horse after a bus tour at the mountain earlier in the afternoon when wind took the drone out of range and he began hiking after it in hopes of recovering it. Visiting from out of state, he said he didn’t realize the Hills were so large and it soon it got dark.
“Although the coordinates received with a 911 cell phone call are not always 100 percent accurate, in this case they helped us get to the lost hiker as soon as possible,” the post said. “Cell coverage is spotty in the mountains and the hiker was fortunate he could get a call out.”