Missing Person Debriefing

Debriefer: James Cooke

Date Filed: 7 February 2005

Date Revised: 9 February 2005

Search Date: 1 February – 2 February 2005

Search Location: Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, Napa County

Search Type: 1. Missing Hiker 2. Mutual Aid

Terrain Type: Mostly Type II with areas of Type I

Missing Person Name: **** MATHEW, Male, Age 27

Narrative: MATHEW was visiting Napa with a male and female business associate. They represented Precision Press of Minnesota, a maker of labels for Calistoga Water. After meeting with Calistoga Water employees on the morning of 1 February 2005, they decided to take short hike in the hills above Calistoga. An employee of Calistoga Water advised them of the Table Rock trail in Robert Louis Stevenson State Park. The group of three purchased sandwiches, chips, and water at the Palisades Market in Calistoga and drove to the Table Rock trailhead, arriving about 1130 hours. MATHEW was wearing Jeans, a t-shirt, and light pullover brown sweater. His footwear was a street type leather shoe.

The group proceeded to hike to Table Rock, taking about two hours to reach their destination. The trail was much more difficult, faint, and rocky than they had led to believe. The group was schedule to fly out of Sacramento to Los Angeles at 1830 hours so there was some anxiety about making it to Sacramento in time for their flight. After a quick lunch, the group began their hike back to the trailhead parking area.

MATHEW believed he saw a shortcut past a large rock, noted on the debriefing map. MATHEW had no previous outdoor experience and had never been in this area. His two associates decided to stay on the trail since they had no map and also have very little outdoor experience. They discouraged MATHEW from taking the shortcut but he persisted. They split up at the point marked as the PLS on the debriefing map. The split occurred between 1330 and 1400, both associates being unsure of the exact time.

MATHEW made his way cross-country to the big rock and discovered that, due to heavy brush, there was no way to make it around the rock and back above to the main trail. MATHEW then doubled back around the rock and headed approximately west for about 300 yards until he intersected a trail. Unfortunately, he managed to intersect the trail at the junction of the main trail and a volunteer trail that headed off to his right (South). Both trails look about the same to MATHEW and he remembered turning right to get to Table Rock. He believed, incorrectly, that he should also turn right to get back to the trailhead parking area and so started off on the volunteer trail. MATHEW continued to hike this trail until about 1600 until the trail petered out into underbrush, MATHEW believed he could hear the sound of vehicles on Highway 29 and was still headed in the right direction. MATHEW literally crawled on his hand and knees beneath the manzanita as he continued to try and find a trail back to the parking area. When asked why he simply didn’t return by the route he came, MATHEW stated he thought he could hear vehicles on Highway 29 ahead of him and though he would find the main trail shortly.

MATHEW stated he saw Henry-One at about 1800. The wind was still blowing at about 40 mph and MATHEW reported the Night Sun light appeared to not steady and was bouncing around. The light came with in 100 feet of MATHEW but he was in heavy canopy cover and was not able to get to a clearing before Henry-One had to leave the search area. The Henry-One crew confirmed the extreme turbulence was interfering with the Night Sun stabilization. In addition, the high temperature on 1 February was about 78 degrees. The temperature differential between ground objects was too small for the FLIR to work efficiently. Henry-One discontinued search efforts about 1815 due to the extreme turbulence.

MATHEW states he was beginning to get cold by 1900 and it was clear to him he was hopelessly lost. MATHEW looked for a place to spend the night and found a small place between large rocks that would shelter him from the wind. This was probably in the Van Ness Creek drainage since he was able to refill his water bottle with untreated water for the creek. He spent the next several hours gathering brush and tree branches to make in improvised shelter. He had a digital camera in his small back pack. He set off the digital flash about one every half-hour from dark until about 2300 to use as a signal. He never thought about doing the same when the helicopter was overhead. MATHEW had a cell phone with him but he was only able to get a signal once for a short period of time. He called an associate’s cell phone but only got two rings before the call disconnected because the weak signal. He did use the light from the cell phone screen as a improvised flashlight to help him build his shelter.

MATHEW entered his shelter about 2200, when it seemed likely to him no one would be looking for him in the dark. MATHEW reported he fell asleep about 2300 and slept soundly until about 0600. Even though the low on the morning of February 2 was about 37 with a wind chill of about 28, MATHEW reported he was somewhat cold but still reasonably comfortable in his shelter. By MATHEW’S own report and reports from his associates, MATHEW is a very sound sleeper and difficult to arouse once he is asleep. MATHEW never heard any name calls or whistles during the night hasty search period. Given his sound sleeping pattern, the general uncertainty of exactly where MATHEW spent the night, and the continuing high winds, it’s is impossible to determine if any team was close enough to have aroused MATHEW with either voice calls or whistles.

MATHEW awoke about 0500. He saw a continuing portion of the volunteer trail that went about west and another trail that went about east. If he had followed the east trail, he would have reached the gauging station close to Highway 29 in about 1.6 miles. Instead, MATHEW continued his right turn and followed the trail that eventually took him to the Twin Peaks Mine faintly marked fire road for about 2 hours. MATHEW got to a ridge top about 0700 and recognized a rock formation that he saw on the trail the previous day. He reversed direction to the south and began to head for this landmark. The rock landmark was about 2.7 air miles from his position at that time. He would have to cross two large drainages to get back to the main trail. I estimate it would have taken MATHEW at least four hours to reach the main trail from his approximate position at 0700. It took him over one hour to travel slightly less than .5 miles due the heavy understory growth and steep terrain.

Henry-One returned to the search area about 0745. Additional Search teams were deployed to the general search area about 0615. The wind and turbulence were as bad or worse than the previous day. Henry-One searched the area south and west of Table Rock for about 45 minutes. The turbulence remained extreme and the helicopter got a hydraulic warning system light about 0825 and the pilot reported he was going to abort the mission.

MATHEW was able to hear the helicopter and quickly made his was from the Bateman Creek drainage at about 1800 feet to one of the few clearings in the area, located about 2075 feet. He removed his sweater and waved it back and forth to signal the helicopter of his location. By sheer coincidence, the route back to Santa Rosa Airport led directly over this clearing and the helicopter crew reported spotting MATHEW at 0830. The observer was unsure if MATHEW was signaling he was hurt so the pilot made a toe-on landing in the clearing and was the crew was able to extract MATHEW and get him aboard the helicopter. Although a quick assessment did not reveal any injuries to MATHEW, the decision was made to return to Santa Rosa Airport with MATHEW due to the possible mechanical problem with the hydraulic system rather than try to offload him closer to the search site.

I retrieved his two business associates and had them follow me to Santa Rosa Airport, arriving about 1000 hours. My debriefing of MATHEW took about 30 minutes. He appeared to be in good physical and mental condition. After the debriefing, and with thanks to the helicopter crew and searchers, MATHEW and his associates departed for Oakland to catch a flight to Los Angeles.

Conclusion: MATHEW made most of the classic mistakes of a lost person.

• He was not prepared even for a day hike. He had no map, no compass. And inadequate footwear. In fact, MATHEW told me this was the first time he had been off concrete in his life.
• He took what he thought was shortcut without knowing the conditions ahead, against the advice of his more experienced associates.
• Since he made several right turns on the trail going to Table Rock so he though he had to turn right when leaving to get to the trailhead. This was exactly the opposite of what he should have done and took him further away from the trailhead.
• He misidentified the volunteer trail as the main trail
• He continued on the volunteer trail even when it was clear this was not the main trail rather than turning back
• Given MATHEW’S lack of outdoor experience, he made several correct survival decisions including not traveling at night, getting water from available creek sources, building a shelter to stay warm, and getting to a clearing and signaling the helicopter in the morning.

Search Efforts: The search efforts seemed appropriate for the urgency and conditions of the search. Air resources were used when available and safe to do so. Search dogs were used in sufficient number to cover the hasty and first operational periods. About 50 ground searchers were available and in the field when the find was made. The general high priority search areas were correctly identified and ground searchers would probably have located MATHEW by noon if the helicopter didn’t find him earlier. The high winds, steep terrain, and heavy understory growth made it unlikely that any resource would have located MATHEW during the hours of darkness. Even in ideal conditions, MATHEW’S concealment in his improvised shelter and extremely sound sleeping pattern would have made locating him in the dark very unlikely.

Areas that needed improvement were the relatively small number of experienced overhead team members available, the lack of consistent ongoing investigation that later yielded significant clues, and poorly organized initial staging areas. Even with these issues, the search was generally well run according to accepted methods of search management and deployment and a live find of the missing person within 24 hours of his going missing was highly probable.

Disclaimer: MATHEW had no map and very little situational awareness so all the locations noted on the debriefing map (1.0 mb image) are approximate based on MATHEW’S description of the terrain and general direction he followed. Except for the area he was found by the helicopter, it is possible there are large errors in his actual route of travel. I believe the general routes of travel noted on the debriefing map are generally correct but they should not be relied on as being absolutely true.