Cell phone rescue in Napa

[Paul Wagner]

It really works! (at least when you have reception…)

From the Napa Valley Register:

Two 19-year-old teenagers were rescued Wednesday evening from the Oat Hill Mine Trail near Calistoga with the help of the Napa County Search and Rescue team and a California Highway Patrol plane, Napa County Sheriff’s Capt. Leroy Anderson said.

A CHP plane was dispatched shortly after the hikers used a cell phone to call for help at 5:47 p.m. after getting lost off the trail, Anderson said.

The plane spotted the hikers at 6:50 p.m. and a Napa County Search and Rescue team, knowing the hikers’ GPS coordinates, hiked into the area, he said.

Search and Rescue volunteers found the man and the woman at about 9:30 p.m. and led them out of the area, he said. The teenagers, whose hometown is unknown, were not injured.

(I like the fact that they were 19 year old teenagers. Whatever happened to editors?)

[Steven Paris]

And this (although I don't think they gave GPS coordinates of their location):

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2012/11/rescuers_find_stranded_snowboa.html

[Alex Eriksson]

I just like the story because in my head the guys from CHiPs showed up to rescue them:

[Dena Kelley]

I used to love watching CHiPs.

It's nice to see a happy ending to one of these stories- there haven't been a lot of them lately.

[Jim Colten]

Not being from California, my (mis-)perceptions of Napa might be skewed by reports from friends who have vacationed there …. but somehow I was under the impression that "trails" in Napa led from one vineyard to the next. I maybe could be "lost" there for months without feeling the urge to call SAR. he-he

[Paul Wagner]

Less than ten percent of Napa COunty is vineyards. Most of it is what we call "goat land," steep costal mountains with lots of scrub. IN the western part you'll find redwoods, but in this area it's mainly oak, manzanita, and poison oak. Plenty of mountain lions, probably a few bears. The next county north is Lake County, and that's where Mendocino National Forest and the Tuliyome Recreation area are located…

[Justin Baker]

Calistoga is near Mount Saint Helena and the palisades, lots of mountains and forests around there.

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