Hiker Lost in Canyon Saved After Four Days

Rescuers crawled about 200 feet on their stomachs through thick vegetation and brush almost 15-feet high to reach a hiker who had been trapped on a ledge in a San Gabriel Mountains canyon for almost four days without food or water.

Jeffrey Mauch, 23, was “in good shape” Sunday after a sheriff’s helicopter airlifted him from a ledge atop Santa Anita Canyon about 7:30 a.m., said Deputy Ron Dupuis of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

Mauch, a machine operator from Newport Beach, was taken to Arcadia Methodist Hospital where he was treated for dehydration and exposure and was listed in stable condition.

Officials at Chantry Flats Ranger Station were notified of Mauch’s plight about 6:30 p.m. Saturday by two women hikers who heard him calling for help.

Well-Traveled Area

“Lucky for him this is an area where many hikers pass by,” Dupuis said.

Rescuers from the Sheriff’s Department and the Sierra Madre Search and Rescue Team searched until they found the stranded hiker, about one mile southeast of the station.

A group of six rescuers, mostly sheriff’s emergency service deputies, reached Mauch about 10 p.m. by threading their way on their stomachs through the brush, Deputy Richard Dinsmoor said.

The group gave the hiker food, water and blankets, but decided to wait until morning to airlift him off the ledge because of the rugged terrain and 40-m.p.h. winds, Dinsmoor said. The rescuers stayed with him throughout the night.

Authorities said if the winds had not died down, rescuers would have asked the county Fire Department to bulldoze a trail to the victim through the dense brush.

Mauch had meant to take only a short excursion into the hills, but “ran into some problems,” Dupuis said.

The hiker apparently left the Chantry Flats Ranger Station early Thursday with only a change of light clothing for a brief trip up the canyon. But that night, after realizing the steep terrain was slick because of recent rainfall, he might not have felt confident to come down the slope, Dupuis said. Authorities speculated that Mauch crawled into the hard-to-reach area to avoid the winds and cold. Saturday night’s temperatures fell into the low 30s.

Randy Mauch, 24, of Tustin, arrived at the Arcadia hospital early Sunday to see his younger brother but would not comment on his sibling’s condition. Earlier, the elder Mauch said he thought that his brother’s hike was a “spur of the moment type deal.”

Search and Rescue authorities go to the aid of a “cliffhanger (stranded hiker) or two every couple of months, but most are pulled out the same day” they get stranded, said Jack Holtz, an Angeles National Forest ranger at the Chantry Flats station.

The canyon, an unincorporated area above Monrovia, attracts many hikers and sightseers to its numerous trails, he said.