3 Men Rescued in Santa Monica Mountains

Three San Fernando Valley men were rescued unharmed Monday morning from a rugged site in the Santa Monica Mountains after they lost their way hiking and spent the night there, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.

Beau Ricketts, 20, and Michael Campbell, 18, both of Chatsworth, and James Takeuchi, 19, of Canoga Park were lifted out of the Goat Buttes section of Malibu Creek State Park about 6:30 a.m., as soon as it became light enough for a helicopter to land, sheriff’s Sgt. Linda Spradlin said.

As it was, the clearing near Las Virgenes Road and Mulholland Highway was large enough only for the copter to touch down a wheel, hovering while the hikers and their rescuers climbed aboard, Spradlin said.

“This is a very precarious area,” she added, noting that the recent rains had made steep mountainsides slippery.

The three friends set out about 2:30 p.m. Sunday, lost their bearings and decided against hiking back in the dark, Spradlin said, praising their decision to settle in a clearing until morning. They were located by a mountain rescue team about midnight, after the parents of one hiker phoned the local sheriff’s station. The rescuers stayed with them until dawn, when the helicopter could fly in.