[Thoreau]

Anyone happen to catch that article?
http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoe ... 20-ON.html

Firefighters rescue women off mountain at Echo Canyon
by Megan Gordon - Dec. 20, 2009 09:05 PM
The Arizona Republic

After losing track of time, two women got stuck on the top of Echo Canyon in Phoenix.

The women climbed the mountain Sunday afternoon, got lost on the south side of the mountain and called Phoenix Fire for help at 6:50 p.m., Phoenix Fire Department spokesperson Captain Dorian Jackson said.

Six firefighters hiked up the mountain guided by a helicopter spotlight. The firefighters were able to walk the women, both in their 20s, back down the mountain. Neither was injured.

"People need to realize it gets dark around five," Jackson said. "If you're stuck up there when it gets dark, you can't see the trail to get back down."

The women's families were waiting at the bottom "and were very grateful" to firefighters, Jackson said.

It took about an hour to rescue the women.

Seems to me like the reporter is about as clueless as the two hikers were. Since when is Echo Canyon on the South side of Camelback? It wasn't when I was there on Friday =)

[joe bartels]

Perhaps they got lost in the old use trails on the South side. That would be an easy mistake if you're coming back down in the dark and really don't know the trail. I doubt it was pitch dark out in the city. If they were on the South side with slim views it could be very disturbing thinking why isn't the obvious not in view.

Six firefighters and a helicopter seems overkill considering they called and were okay. Then again I guess the temps drop overnight so they wanted to get them out fast.

[big_load]

Simple things like paying attention to what time it gets dark, knowing how long it took you to get this far, and being able to subtract one from the other to estimate a turn-around time are easy to take for granted. I'm glad they're OK.