Hiker Rescued

Karen Peterson

Leader Staff

ARLEE -—What was supposed to be a simple hike last Wednesday for 67-year-old Bob Schure, a veteran hiker, turned into a cold, wet night huddled in a hollowed out tree before a Search and Rescue team spotted him 24 hours after he went out.

"I went up to a Lost Sheep Lake, north of the Jocko, a real simple hike. But all the plants up there are young, and when it started to pour, I lost the trail," Schure said. "After wandering around in the rain, I thought, 'This isn't going to work.' I just stopped, I knew what would happen if I kept wandering."

His dogs were the only thing to keep him company in what was a wet, cold night.

"So I took my four dogs, got into the hollow of a tree, laid down and went to sleep at about 6 p.m. It was cold and it rained all night up there," Schure said.

Schure's wife, Linda, who was back at home, and called for help when he didn't show up that evening.

"I'm a physician, so I knew that as long as I wasn't injured, I had nothing to worry about. But my wife, I knew that she would be worried. She got less sleep than I did — I slept all night," he said.

Before the sun came up, Jake Allred, president of the county's Search and Rescue crew, gathered his team of volunteers to begin searching for Schure.

"We left at 5:30 in the morning and we were on the scene at about 6 a.m. We had man trackers and a K-9 dog," Allred said.

The rain made a nice wet foundation for Schure's footprints, Allred said.

"We went up the trail and were able to follow his footprints. We could see where he went off the trail," Allred said.

While Allred and his team tracked Schure, helicopters were sent out to search from a higher vantage point.

One of the things that Schure did have in his pack was a mirror and he used it to signal the helicopter.

"I signaled them at about three in the afternoon," Schure said.

"The ALERT helicopter had an unsuccessful fly, but later, the [Tribal] Division of Fire flew over and they could see his mirror," Allred said.

As the helicopter crew spotted Schure's signal, the ground unit was closing in on his trail.

"My guys were on the trail right behind him as the helicopter spotted him. He had ended up headed in the wrong direction. And he was pretty tired but he was OK," Allred said. "We were very glad to find him. I was getting a little scared in the afternoon because we weren't finding him but we did."

Schure did the right thing by sitting tight, once he realized he was lost. Although he said he didn't have a full hiking pack, he did have a mirror and water filter with him.

"We had not yet finished setting up packs for the year, but I had a free day so I just took off for a hike. It's about a 10-mile hike, two hours up. I've been up there a number of times and I know that country. But you get cocky and that is when things start to happen," he said.

"I got to see a lot of elk. I had some time to stop and smell the roses," Schure said. "But all the time I was up there, I thought a beer would be nice. I ran out of water and food. When I woke up, I found a stream and I put the water through a filter but I immediately got sick after drinking it."

After being found, Schure got a good drink of clean water before resuming the hike down the mountain with the rescue team.

"I was hypothermic from sitting in the rain and slightly confused, but I do want to get back up there sometime. It wasn't the trail's fault. And a little belatedly, I thanked God for the rain. We need it. But people should know that you shouldn't pack only for a day. You never know," he said.

Schure thanked the rescue team for getting him home with his dogs to his worried wife.

"The search team did a fabulous job. I really can't thank them enough," he said.

Allred said it was a team effort.

"I'd like to thank all the volunteers for their time. The Tribal game wardens, the division of fire, they were all a great help. To everyone else, don't hike alone," he said.