12 Tired and Cold Campers Are Rescued Near Idyllwild

A dozen stranded campers, including five children, were hauled out of deep snowdrifts early Tuesday after spending two days trapped on a remote mountain east of Idyllwild.

“They’re tired and cold. Tired, cold and relieved,” said Assistant Chief Dale Hutchinson of the Riverside County Fire Department and California Department of Forestry, who helped coordinate the rescue effort.

One of the campers, Lois Glass of Thousand Palms, was sobbing with relief when contacted at her home Tuesday evening.

“We’re fine,” she said.

Glass said she, her son and several other relatives and friends from Thousand Palms and Palm Springs headed to their favorite camping spot on Santa Rosa Mountain on Saturday.

While they slept, they were caught in the massive, unexpected snowstorm that hit Southern California that night. One of the campers, Claudia Ibarra, was able to use her cellphone to notify relatives, Glass said.

“She said, ‘We’re stuck,’ ” recalled Glass, who said that as soon as she saw the snow she knew they were in trouble. Several of their tents collapsed as they slept.

“As swift as the storm moved in, there was nothing they could have done,” said Hutchinson, who added that temperatures were below freezing on the mountain for days, dropping to 21 degrees Monday night.

Authorities were notified before noon Sunday of the stranded campers, said San Bernardino County sheriff’s spokesman Earl Quinata, but were forced to postpone full-scale search and rescue efforts until Monday morning after a helicopter and a plane were unable to find them in inclement weather and fading light.

“The only option available at the time was of having our search and rescue unit hike in, which turned out to be over eight miles ... and hiking eight miles out with the children,” Quintana said.

“At that time ... the Forest Service told us the family is not in need of immediate medical attention, and they made the decision that they could stay overnight.”

In addition to Glass, 53, and Ibarra, 23, the campers were Cristian Jarquin, 2; Joshua Torres Ibarra, 12; Jermiah Evans, 6; Andrew Evans, 4; Carlos Apolinar, 16; Maria Eleen Ibarra, 45; Recardo Robles, 38; Francisco Perez Jarquin, 23; Gloria Ramirez, 21; and Alfredo Apolinar, 24.

On Monday morning, rescue efforts began again in earnest, with bulldozers brought in from Riverside and San Bernardino counties and a doctor and other rescuers outfitted with snowshoes and in all-terrain vehicles.

The campers spent Sunday and most of Monday night either by a campfire or in their four cars, huddled together for warmth, eating the last of their food and turning on the car heater as much as they dared, Hutchinson said.

On Monday night, a bulldozer and a Sno-Cat cut a 12-mile road through deep snow to the cars, and transported them back out of the Santa Rosa Mountains campsite to Pinyon fire station, where relatives were waiting. There were also two small dogs with the campers, and they survived without a problem, Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson said the group did the right thing by staying together, staying warm, and calling for help.

“They went up there to a place they camp routinely, but they just got caught this time,” he said. “This storm caught everybody off guard, including them.”

He stressed that it was crucial to carry warm clothing, extra food and water, and a phone, and to give relatives or friends an itinerary and planned time of return.

Fire department and Forest Service rescuers extricated several other stranded motorists off remote dirt roads Monday afternoon, including a group in a vehicle off Black Mountain Trail between Idyllwild and Banning, and a hiker off Old Banning Idyllwild Road.

“It was a unique snowstorm,” Hutchinson said.