ST. GEORGE — The Washington County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team was kept on its toes Friday with three separate incidents that rescued four people.
Injured mountain biker, Prospector Trail in Red Cliffs
Jason Curtis, the east-side captain for the county’s search and rescue team, said they received a call Friday afternoon regarding a mountain biker that had crashed on the Prospector Trail in the Red Cliffs National Conservation Area in Washington County.
Upon arrival, the team found the bike rider had injured his shoulder and dislocated his hip. The rider could not walk, so the team carried him out.
Lost hikers in Warner Valley
Later that evening, the search and rescue team was called out again to the dinosaur tracks area of Warner Valley.
A husband and wife from Los Angeles were out looking at the tracks and climbed up on the mesa.
“They hiked up there,” Curtis said, “they were looking at the rock formation and lost their orientation.”
There were only a few ways down and they couldn’t find one, he said.
“They realized they were lost, and that’s when they called,” Curtis said. “They called 911, we were dispatched out and it was starting to rain. We had their GPS coordinates, went right to them, and brought them out.”
Lost mountain biker, Guacamole Trail, Virgin
Immediately following the Warner Valley rescue, the team was dispatched again to Guacamole Trail outside of Virgin to assist a mountain biker who went out farther than he thought.
“It got dark on him,” Curtis said, “and he realized he didn’t have any lights or warm clothes; then that big rainstorm came on through so he just hunkered down and called for help.”
The team located the lost biker and got him down off the mountain.
Washington County Search and Rescue year-to-date responses
Mike Thomas, commander of the county’s search and rescue team, said that this has been an extremely busy year for the search and rescue team.
“Last year our team was called out 44 times all year,” Thomas said. “This year, so far, we’ve been called out 43 times.”
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