Now that the first day of spring has officially come and gone, many hikers are taking advantage of the warm weather and hitting the trails around Santa Clarita. After a group of three hikers recently became lost in the Placerita Canyon area– resulting in a nine hour search before they could be located –officials from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station are giving safety tips to hikers in the community.
The first tip Sheriff’s Station officials offered to hikers on the most recent “Santa Clarita Sheriff Talk” on KHTS AM-1220 is to tell somebody where they’re going before they leave, and to pack the necessary items in case they do become lost.
“You should always have some kind of overnight pack,” said Deputy Kevin Duxbury. “It doesn’t have to be a huge thing, but you have the metallic emergency blanket, some chemlights, some kind of emergency rations, extra water, that type of thing.”
Hikers should also always carry a GPS device that can provide them with their exact location, according to Duxbury.
Related: Hiker Rescued From Trail Near Placerita Nature Center
“That makes it a lot easier for (emergency personnel) to find you,” he said. “There’s other GPS devices too (that) can spot you when you have this device. There’s buttons on there you can push that will send out basically a 9-1-1 text, and it gives an exact grid of where you are, and that goes to emergency services.”
Carrying a jacket even when it’s warm during the day can also be helpful for lost hikers if they are forced to stay out on the trail after the sun goes down, added Shirley Miller, public information officer for the SCV Sheriff’s Station.
“These hikers, they didn’t have any jackets,” Miller said, referring to the group that had to be rescued in Placerita Canyon. “They were cold. You’re going for a hike in the late afternoon and you’re thinking, ‘I’ll be back, I won’t get cold,’ but you never know.”
It is also very important to stay on the main trail when hiking, not only because it can help prevent hikers from getting lost, but it also makes it easier for search and rescue teams.
“Stay on the trails, because they had to engage the L.A. County Fire Department with this (Placerita Canyon) rescue to use a saw to cut through the brush and make paths to try to get to the hikers,” Miller said.
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Another helpful tip is to find an easily distinguishable landmark near the road or parking area before starting a hike, according to Duxbury.
“Look behind you and pick a large landmark, whether it be like the Castaic dam or some radio tower or the peak of a mountain,” he said. “If you get lost, if you can turn around and see that, then you know just make a straight line for that and you’ll hit the highway again.”
“Santa Clarita Sheriff Talk,” formerly known as “Neighborhood Watch” and sponsored by All American Bail Bonds in Santa Clarita, airs on KHTS AM-1220 the first and third Thursday of every month from 10 to 11 a.m.
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