Father, son rescued after being stuck for 24 hours on Little Cottonwood Canyon trail
Aug 9, 2023, 12:45 PM | Updated: 1:08 pm
Utah DPS crews helping SLCo SAR with an air evacuation after two hikers were stuck in Little Cottonwood Canyon for 24 hours. (Salt Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue)
(Salt Lake County Sheriff's Search and Rescue)
LITTLE COTTONWOOD CANYON, Utah — Two hikers need rescuing after getting lost on a trail in Little Cottonwood Canyon over the weekend.
Salt Lake County Sheriff Search and Rescue crews were called out early Saturday morning to help a father and son who were stuck in Hogum Fork.
SAR said the duo began hiking the White Pine trail early Friday morning and reached the summit of Pfeifferhorn around 10 a.m.
“Their plan was to head west from the summit and finish by hiking out Bell’s Canyon before dark,” the SAR Facebook post stated. “After some difficulty with the terrain, they headed down Hogum Fork.”
SAR said the hikers were unfamiliar with the area and found themselves in the “more technical west side of the creek” that dropped toward Little Cottonwood Creek.
“They stopped about a thousand feet above the creek and called for help,” the post stated. “They were prepared with lights, some water, and appropriate clothing to spend the night.”
Two SAR teams were deployed to their location, and “after several hours of stream crossing, bushwhacking, and crawling up steep forest ground, a team of four reached the patients,” according to the Facebook post.
The SAR teams found the father and son and reported they were “uninjured but cold, tired and ‘done’ with Hogum,” according to the post.
Because of the dangerous route back and the SAR team members also being “done” with the hike, a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter was called in to evacuate the hikers and SAR members.
SAR said everyone was off the mountain around 8 a.m.
