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Kids spend `miserable' night on McLoughlin Safety in the wild The Jackson County sheriff's search and rescue team recommends the following tips for hikers, campers and others venturing into remote areas: Tell a neighbor, friend or relative where you are going, how long you will be gone and when you expect to return -- even if it's just a day trip. Take a basic survival kit, which should include a map, compass, saw or hatchet, waterproof matches, whistle, cord, three tea bags, knife, 9- by 12-foot orange plastic tarp, candle stubs for fire starters, metal container with lid, six sugar cubes and six bouillon cubes. Take a basic first aid kit, which should include adhesive elastic, triangular and gauze bandages, aspirin, sun block, burn ointment and an antiseptic, and waterproof adhesive tape. If you are lost, stay where you are. Moving around means searchers must cover a larger area. Make camp before dark and don't panic. For pamphlets describing these measures, call the Jackson County sheriff's search and rescue office, (541) 826-6670. They're OK after getting lost Wednesday on the mountain By SUSAN JAY Nine young YMCA campers and their teen leader walked off Mount McLoughlin Thursday morning hungry, thirsty and tired. Billy Pless The youngsters, ages 10 to 12, had spent the night on the mountain huddled together for warmth after becoming separated from their group and lost Wednesday afternoon. Search-and-rescue volunteers found the lost hikers about 6:40 a.m. Thursday with the help of a specially equipped emergency Coast Guard helicopter that flew all the way from Astoria. "It was hard, and was just like miserable," 10-year-old Billy Pless said, recounting his night on the rocky mountain. "I woke up like five times in the night because I was uncomfortable and cold." His group was walking down from the 9,000-foot-summit when they decided to slide down a large, curving patch of snow, Billy said. But once at the bottom, they couldn't get back up. So they kept walking, hoping to find a trail. "We thought we'd find our way out of there because it's not that big of a forest," Billy said. They grew tired and decided to stop and sleep just before dark. "It was really cold and there were rocks everywhere," Billy said. They were hungry and thirsty, too. They hadn't eaten since lunch. "I just ignored it as much as I could," Billy said, and it must have worked. "When we woke up the next morning we weren't hungry or thirsty anymore," he said. They started walking in the morning, and spotted the helicopter. They stopped and waved and then moved out into a clearing between the trees so they could be easily seen. Search-and-rescue volunteers used coordinates radioed from the helicopter to locate the kids and lead them out. Many of the parents waited at the trail head all night with search-and-rescue volunteers and YMCA staff. Billy's mom, Gina Pless, waited by the phone all night and drove up that morning just in time to see Billy walk out. YMCA camp leaders started worrying late Wednesday afternoon when the group didn't show up at the trail head. They immediately called 911 for help. After talking with YMCA leaders and determining what direction the lost group was headed, 15 to 20 volunteers from Jackson and Klamath counties narrowed their search to a 5-square-mile area. Most lost hikers head down the northeast side of the mountain toward the Rye Creek area, said Jackson County sheriff's Sgt. Ken Curtis. "Our past experience is that we have normally located these people at first light in the morning," he said. The Oregon Office of Emergency Management sent the special Coast Guard helicopter from Astoria, probably because the lost group involved a large number of young children. Normally, local searchers use Civil Air Patrol planes. The Coast Guard helicopter, which uses infrared equipment to detect the heat signature of objects on the ground, took about an hour and one time around the mountain to locate the kids, Curtis said. It's easy to get lost on Mount McLoughlin, he said. The trail is hard to find in some areas because of winter erosion, rock slides and signs damaged from vandalism or events of nature. Search-and-rescue volunteers get called four to five times a year to find lost hikers on the mountain, off of Highway 140 near Lake of the Woods. Most people think they can walk down, but the descent is rugged, with large boulders and sharp volcanic rock. "Everyone did a remarkable job," YMCA director Mark Cronin said. The kids did exactly what they were taught to do, he said -- they stopped and huddled together when it started getting dark. Most of the kids returned to the weeklong YMCA camp at Howard Prairie Thursday morning. Billy opted to go home, grabbing some fast food at Burger King and some real sleep. Even though he had a hard night, Billy said what he will remember most about his adventure "was getting to the top of the mountain." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA