Rescuers get robbed at gunpoint.....

Discussion in 'General Survival and Preparedness' started by Yard Dart, Jul 13, 2017.


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  1. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    LOS ANGELES (AP) — Add armed robbery to the threats facing hikers this year on the Pacific Crest Trail.

    A section of the popular trail running from Mexico to Canada remained closed Monday as Kern County SWAT team members joined deputies to search for two armed men who robbed rescuers trying to aid a distressed hiker.

    The incident Saturday in the remote Piute Mountains about 85 miles north of Los Angeles occurred after hiker Charles Brandenburg became dehydrated in scorching heat and activated a rescue device that allowed him to send text messages to authorities.

    Hikers trying to complete the 2,650-mile trail have encountered several challenges from an exceptionally wet winter that left a persistent snowpack and has made for arduous plodding and presented several hazards. Several hikers have been injured, and others have reported close calls scaling icy passes and fording raging rivers.

    Brandenburg had left the trail for three weeks in June so the snowpack would melt more before he arrived in the rugged high Sierra Nevada. However, the delay meant he was hiking through extreme desert heat in the past week and with diminishing options for water along the way.

    “I needed water really bad,” Brandenburg said. “I undercut it. It was a mistake on my part.”

    After hiking through heat as high as 110 degrees, he became extremely dehydrated Friday and began dry heaving and cramping.

    He awoke at 4 a.m. Saturday to beat the heat, but only had about a cup of water left and was nine miles short of his next water stop. He only got a few miles before he called for help.

    Four volunteers with the Kern County Search and Rescue team set out on foot to bring Brandenburg water and became separated, Sgt. Zack Bittle said. One pair turned down the wrong trail, where they encountered the robbers who stole their radios.

    The rescuers were unharmed, but they were followed by the gunmen as they hiked back toward the Pacific Crest Trail, Bittle said. Eventually, the two men ran off.

    It’s extremely rare for rescuers to be assaulted, but it’s not unheard of. Last year, a volunteer rescuer searching for a missing hiker was shot and wounded near the South Yuba River in Northern California.

    While Brandenburg waited for help to arrive, other hikers showed up and gave him some water and waited with him.

    What he expected would take a couple hours turned into about a 12-hour ordeal as he learned by text message about the robbery and was told to stay put until a helicopter could airlift him and the others to safety.

    Brandenburg, 55, of Mendocino, said one man hid in the sparse forest while they waited for help. But he and two others weren’t sure how seriously to take the warning until the helicopter arrived and lowered a SWAT officer in camouflage to the ground.

    “Then we knew it was real,” he said. “It was really a trip. It was like a movie.”

    In addition to searching for the armed men, deputies were trying to determine Monday if the trail could be reopened.

    Brandenburg decided to move to higher ground, hoping to hitch a ride to Kennedy Meadows in the Southern Sierra to resume his trek.

    Rescuers trying to aid distressed hiker get robbed at gunpoint

    So the lesson is... you will not be safe when SHTF... whatever trail you are following...plan accordingly and ensure you are prepared for what may come. ;)
     
  2. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    Must have been near a grow operation. Kern Co - dope capital of Cali.....
     
    Legion489, Bandit99 and Yard Dart like this.
  3. Yard Dart

    Yard Dart Vigilant Monkey Moderator

    Northern CA has been swamped with grow operations in the mountains since the 80's.....
    The point is, folks think that they are going to move to the woods when the SHTF.... the boogie man lives in the woods...just as much as he lives down on 1st and 73nd ave. ;)
     
  4. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    [​IMG][​IMG]Trash accumulated by growers at a marijuana grow site raided by the U.S. Forest Service and other agency law-enforcement officers. Remediation and clean-up of sites such as these can cost thousands of dollars an acre, officials say.
    Credit: U.S. Forest Service
    Marijuana smokers might praise their drug of choice as "natural," but pot growers in national forests all over the country have caused "severe" damage to these natural treasures, according to testimony by the U.S. Forest Service's director of law enforcement.

    "The illegal cultivation of marijuana on our National Forest System is a clear and present danger to the public and the environment," said David Ferrell, when he testified before the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control Wednesday (Dec. 7).

    The U.S. Forest Service is calling for increased cooperation between government agencies to prevent further forest damage, while some experts believe changing drug laws — including the legalization of marijuana — might reduce the need to grow marijuana in parks.

    A 'growing' problem

    "The attributes that make the lands of the National Forest System excellent producers of wildlife habitat and clean water are also prized by illegal marijuana growers," Ferrell said in his testimony. "The lands are remote with few people, the forest vegetation is dense, there is an extensive system of roads and trails (both open and closed), soils are fertile, and water for irrigation is available for the diverting."

    [​IMG]
    California National Guardsmen and volunteers prepare some of the 300 miles of irrigation line removed from marijuana-growing gardens to be airlifted out.
    Credit: U.S. Forest Service
    The forestry service has seen serious pot-growing operations sprout in 67 national forests in 20 states, a steadily rising number due to increased acceptance of marijuana use, Ferrell said. People probably first started growing marijuana in parks sometime in the mid-1960s, forestry officials believe, but large plots weren't detected on national lands until 1995, in California.

    BTW - the photo caption did say 300 MILES of pipe....
     
  5. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    Anyone who goes into the Forest, unarmed, is a Fool.... Especial in a State that makes Open Carry, ILLEGAL... In such a Place, ALL Hikers are nothing more than walking Victims....
     
    sec_monkey, oldawg, Yard Dart and 2 others like this.
  6. BTPost

    BTPost Stumpy Old Fart,Deadman Walking, Snow Monkey Moderator

    I would like to see how Well that works, in the face of a Coastal Brown Bear, that is hungry and looking for lunch.... " Speak up Son.... What was that you were saying?"
     
    sec_monkey and Bandit99 like this.
  7. Tully Mars

    Tully Mars Metal weldin' monkey

    Wonder if the NFS would make a guy a deal on that used polly line..
     
    Gator 45/70, Meat and Yard Dart like this.
  8. DKR

    DKR Raconteur of the first stripe

    Just my kind of fellow.

    Some see a problem.

    Others see opportunity.
     
    Tully Mars likes this.
  9. Meat

    Meat Monkey+++

    Jackpot! :D
     
    Tully Mars likes this.
  10. natshare

    natshare Monkey+++

    But....but....but.....Obama, and the other gun grabbers, said we'd be safe, if we gave up OUR guns!!! :rolleyes::(:mad:

    Just glad the rescuers got out, without being hurt or killed. Much easier to keep a dead person silent about what they saw.
     
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