LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – The Preventative Search and Rescue team is on a mission to ensure hikers in Southern Nevada are prepared before embarking on a possibly dangerous trek.
In April an incident with students prompted a search and rescue mission. It was a field trip gone wrong. A group of 28 hikers including students with special needs from Kingman, Arizona had to be rescued in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area due to extreme heat last month.
The school received citations for not having a permit and creating hazardous conditions, according to the National Park Service.
This weekend FOX5 met with a group of volunteers looking to prevent these types of rescues.
Volunteers from all over Southern Nevada spend their time sitting at trailheads on hot weekends or holidays, places they know to be dangerous to warn hikers and make sure they are adequately prepared including within Lake Mead National Recreation Area where the school group from Arizona needed to be rescued.
“So primarily, we’re out here today at the Goldstrike Canyon Trail head because of how hot it is. We’re primarily out here to inform folks of the dangers of the trail,” shared Ian Billings, Vice Commander of Operations and Logistics with Red Rock Search and Rescue Saturday afternoon.
Saturday, Vegas flirted with triple digit temperatures for the first time this year. Volunteers with Red Rock Search and Rescue who answer the call when hikers are in trouble stopped hikers before they entered the challenging Goldstrike Canyon.
“It’s another 10 or 15° warmer in the canyon… It’s all downhill and then all uphill,” the volunteers shared with hikers.
“I recommend 3-4 liters of water per person,” shared one volunteer.
“I am not trying to be judgmental but I guarantee you absolutely do not have enough water,” another volunteer told two hikers.
“When visitors come to our city and they do a Google search to go where to go hiking, this is the first trailhead that comes up and it is not for the faint of heart,” shared Billings and Scott Black, another volunteer Red Rock Search and Rescue. It is a highly technical trail requiring canyoneering. It closed most of the summer due to the danger from the heat.
One pair of hikers got five extra water bottles on top of those they brought before setting out. The volunteer group often donates dozens a day. Other hikers got them after returning surprised and exhausted by the difficulty of the hike.
“There’s people down there that aren’t going to make it back,” one exhausted hiker relayed.
Last month, a hiker died of heat related illness in the area, others had to be rescued. The volunteers say one of their biggest challenges is social media which often just shows beautiful parts of hikes like the hot springs at the end of Goldstrike. It often doesn’t show how difficult and even deadly it can be to get there and get out.
The preventative search and rescue volunteers are made of all ages, (eighteen to retiree), from all walks of life, (law enforcement to naturalists to people just looking to give back). There are currently about 150 to 200 of them.
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