On July 17, the Santa Barbara County Search and Rescue (SBCSAR) team assisted two male hikers in their 20s, who were stranded on Cathedral Peak, which is just north of Santa Barbara and several miles east of Highway 154.
According to Kelly Hoover, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office public information officer, the hikers—one of whom is from Santa Barbara and the other from Los Angeles—missed a turn as they were descending down a mountain trail and found themselves stranded along a cliff.
Around 5 p.m., the hikers used their cell phones to call 911. The SBCSAR team was dispatched to the area where the hikers were and found them by calling out their names.
The SBCSAR team roped the hikers in and rappelled them down the cliff and back to the rescue vehicles on Tunnel Trail.
Neither hiker was injured, Hoover said.
Nelson Trichler, the incident commander with the SBCSAR team, stressed the importance of calling for help when absolutely needed.
“While no one likes to be rescued, these hikers did the right thing and waited for the right help to come along,” he said in a press release.
This article appears in Jul 21-28, 2016.
