Search for Lost 13 Year Old Boy Scout DEM #97-1541 August 25, 1997

Our payment for a job well done.
Returning the boy to the arms of his father

The unit was contacted at 12:03 A.M. on the 25th of Aug. by the Pierce County Department of Emergency management. The Lewis County Sheriff had requested our help in the search for David Wells, a lost 13 year old Boy Scout in the Goat Rocks Wilderness near White Pass. David along with his father and about 50 other Scouts had been hiking the Pacific Crest trail. The group had split into two groups, a fast one and a slow one. David was hiking alone between the groups when he came to a fork in the trail and took the wrong one. When the rest of the scout troop reached the Walupt Lake Campground young David was discovered missing and a search was started.

Seven members of the Unit responded they were: Chris Berryman, Fran McFarland, Rick Wire, John Miner, Ed Hrivnak, Eric Hrivnak and Bill Weber. While Chris, Fran, Rick , John and Bill met at the Cache at 4:00 A.M. to drive to the search area in the rescue truck, Ed and Eric went to Rainier 1, the county rescue helicopter, to fly to the area. The rescue truck arrived at the search base at 6:00 A.M. and the team proceeded to establish a landing zone for the helicopter. Due to fog and weather the helicopter did not arrive until 10:00 A.M. A four person team consisting of John and Fran and two members of the Central Mountain Rescue Unit were flown in to replace a team of five sheriff deputies. They had found David's tracks and had trailed him until nightfall the previous night. After inserting the team the helicopter proceeded to conduct an air search with Ed as crew chief and Chris and Rick as searchers. Eric and Bill remained at search base.

David's mother thanks Chris Berryman
and Bob Hoffman.

About 5 minutes into the air search Ed spotted something blue being waved. David had wandered into a hunters camp and had found a cache of food. He was now waving the blue tarp that covered the food cache. The helicopter tried to land across a small creek from him, but had to abort that landing and land a quarter mile upstream from David. Chris and Rick then hiked through ankle to knee deep marshy terrain to reach David and then returned with him to the helo. The scout got his first ever helicopter ride on the way back to search base. After extracting the four person team inserted earlier they all returned to a heart felt thanks from the boys father and mother. Everyone returned to the cache around 6:00 P.M.

©Copyright 1997 Tacoma Mountain Rescue