Eric Tucker Left on a 5 day backpacking trip through the Stanislaus National Forest. On his first day out, he slid and fell 40 feet, breaking one ankle and spraining the other. After he failed to return a fulol day after his scheduled date, his parents called XXX Sheriff's dept and asked for help. I was part of the mutual aid that responded.

I was placed on a yosar (Yosemite Search and Rescue) dog team.

(Note this picture was actually taken at the end of the weekend)
and flown out in a huey to the first search area.
getting ready to load onto the Huey


Am I having too much fun here - this is supposed to be serious


Back step a minute here - this is Kenyan our search manager for Marin, "Yes", he says, "We are serious"

Back in the Helicopter - a view out the front

As we land in our first search area,

take a few minutes to enjoy the incredible scenery before we get to work. Note - pictures cannot convey the full experience here - especially the incredible overwhelming smells of mint and other plants.

Anyway, we complete the first search assignment uneventfully, assuming we are home free, we begin the hike back to the command post, only to be picked up again in another helicopter and dropped off at the beginning of out second assignment. Much too late on the day at this point we camp out and awaken in the morning to

Mike braving the mosquitoes to fill water bottles.

The second day is about the same as the first.

incredible beauty with just a little drizzle to keep us cool

We were told at the start that flying helicopters in the forest was restricted to emergencies only. The official policy was that dropping us off was o.k. because of the emergency, but since we were hikers capable of hiking out on our own, picking us up was not an emergency.
Thus we were all very grateful when Giovanni cut her paw on the sharp granite, making it a medical emergency to come and pick her (and the rest of us) up.