Desert Sheriff Search and Rescue warns hikers

“This is completely new terrain to me. I’ve never been in anything slot canyon like or anything like this heat. Especially out here near Palm Springs,” avid hiker Garrett Mallory told KESQ News Channel 3’s and CBS Local 2’s Katie Widner.

Mallory had just finished the ladder hike inside the Mecca Hills trail network.

“I always start with water because that’s important,” Mallory’s hiking partner, Wyatt Clarke, said Wednesday afternoon. “You’re going to hate your life if you’re on a hike and you don’t have water and you’re not always going to have someone to help you.”

If someone were to need help, they should call the volunteer Desert Sheriff Search and Rescue team. President Sharon Ollenburger said the squad has seen a spike in rescues in recent months.

“It would be in the past years, maybe three or four times a year and, in the last months, we have had three or four rescues,” she said.

Ollenburger said that through the winter, rescue operations had become as frequent as once a week, usually the result of hikers who are ill-prepared with not enough water, wearing the wrong types of shoes, or who are not familiar with a trail. She said trail markers, such as a carin or an arrow made out of a pile of rocks, can easily go unnoticed by an untrained eye.

“We like to say, ‘plan your hike and hike your plan,'” Ollenburger added.

She said hikers should research their route in the time leading up to their excursion and should be prepared. Her list of five essentials includes at least four liters of water and some food, a flashlight, a first aid kit, a GPS unit and a map with a compass that you know how to use.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said that while they do not generally charge people for being rescued, it is a possibility.