SAR News: Rescued hiker praises volunteers

After being stranded two days in the icy Mount Baldy area and coming out unscathed, a hiker from Camarillo said he's more grateful for his rescuers than his high-tech devices that helped them find him.

Ten to 12 search-and-rescue volunteers from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department searched the Cucamonga Wilderness area until they found 27-year-old Nathan Freund on Tuesday afternoon.

"They risked their own lives to save mine," Freund said Wednesday.

The experienced hiker became disoriented in dense fog Monday afternoon after he reached the top of 8,700-foot Ontario Peak, about 45 miles east of Los Angeles.

Freund said he had been in the area 15 to 20 times before.

As the weather closed in, he tried to keep track of his location by following heavily used trails. But the trail grew faint.

"Slowly, the footsteps kind of disappeared," said Freund, who lives in La Verne while attending Keck Graduate Institute in Claremont. "I was trying to tell my mind, OK, this is it, this is the way down.' I was so close, yet I didn't know exactly how to get back."

The fog caused Freund to lose his sense of direction. He said he made mistakes, such as traveling in the wrong direction and not marking his place at an important location.

But he had a sleeping bag and a tent, and he made good decisions that helped rescue crews locate him. He took a cell phone, a Global Positioning System unit and an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon.

Freund's parents gave him the beacon for Christmas in 2006 to use if he ever got lost hiking.

Using his cell phone, Freund sent a text message to his sister, Rachel, and to his college roommate, telling them about his predicament Monday afternoon. Both notified authorities.

He also activated his beacon, sending a signal to the U.S. Air Force.

By Tuesday afternoon, the searchers found him.

"Nate did everything right," said Jodi Miller, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, adding that Freund correctly registered personal and vital information on his locator beacon.

But on Wednesday, Miller and others lauded the volunteers who handled the rescue.

"Truly, they are volunteers," Miller said. "They are taking leave off of their personal jobs. It means a lot to them. It was a very, very warm moment when he (Freund) got out of that search-and-rescue vehicle."

In Camarillo, Freund's father expressed similar sentiments.

The electronic devices are "cool," Erwin Freund said, "but this is not the real story."

Nathan Freund said the situation changed him. He said he is seriously considering joining a search-and-rescue team to help others who need the aid he sought.

"They took care of me very well," Nathan Freund added. "I have to give much thanks to them."

Source: Ventura County Star