Searchers Look for Teen Lost on Mountain Hike

As temperatures dropped and rain clouds gathered, about 65 rescuers from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were searching Saturday night for a missing 16-year-old hiker in the rugged mountains south of Pyramid Lake in Angeles National Forest.

The boy, identified as Peter Knickerbocker of Torrance, had been hiking with three friends from a campsite about three miles south of the lake to a nearby creek, said Lt. Larry Gump of the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station.

“From what one of the other kids said, [Knickerbocker] just started to lag behind and the other kids just kept going at their regular pace,” Gump said. “Technically, they shouldn’t separate in the mountains, but they were on a well-marked trail.”

The group began hiking about 1 p.m. Saturday and the boy was reported missing less than two hours later, Gump said, prompting an immediate search in the mountainous area. A Ventura County sheriff’s helicopter joined the search.

The boy was wearing tennis shoes, jeans, a sweatshirt and a light jacket when he disappeared.

“Whenever we have anybody lost overnight in the mountains, it’s fairly serious,” Gump said, adding that the temperatures were expected to drop below freezing. “It’s very cold out there.”