Dehydrated hiker rescued from Panamint Butte

News Release Date:
August 16, 2024

Contact:Abby Wines (NPS), 760-786-3221

Contact:Matt Lamar (NPS), 760-786-3299

Contact:Lindsey Stine (Inyo County), 760-878-8576

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. - A Death Valley National Park resort employee was rescued on August 13 after becoming severely dehydrated while hiking Panamint Butte.

The man started hiking at 4 am from Panamint Springs Resort. He crossed Panamint Valley, then climbed Panamint Butte's west face. He had hiked more than 8 ½ miles and gained 4,600 feet in elevation. He got to the summit around noon. Then it was time to head back.

He consulted a topographic map and decided to descend through a canyon. The man came to a rappel anchor at the top of a dryfall. Not having ropes and technical gear, he climbed back up the mountain and descended the route he had climbed that morning.

He ran out of water around 4:30 pm.

Heat and dehydration caught up with him. He reports that he lost consciousness and slid down a scree slope. After an unknown period of time, he woke up bruised and realized it was time to call for a rescue. He used the SOS function on his Garmin around 6:00 pm.

The National Park Service (NPS) and Inyo County Sheriff's Office got the request for assistance around 7:40 pm. The first agency contacted did not have a helicopter available. The VX-31 "Dust Devils" at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake took the mission, but were delayed by needing to troubleshoot an alarm on the helicopter. The Navy helicopter rescued the hiker around 11:15 pm.

The rescued man, a Death Valley local with extensive experience hiking in the desert, has advice for other hikers: "Carry more water than you think you need. Have a plan and tell someone where you're going. Carry a Garmin or some sort of communication device if you're not staying close to a road."

Other requests for help

The National Park Service and Inyo County responded to three other requests for assistance just hours before the call came in for the Panamint Butte hiker. A woman reported her husband overdue after he failed to return from a drive to Badwater in the planned amount of time. Inyo County Sheriff's deputies started searching the area, and the search ended when the man was able to contact his wife.

A woman planned a one-hour hike at Mosaic Canyon. She was reported overdue by a family member after not returning to her vehicle five hours later. Just after the agencies received notification, the overdue woman reached cell phone coverage and called her family.

National Park Service park rangers responded to a call for a woman who had a "horrible accident." The reported location was unclear: it could have been North Highway or Racetrack Road. The accident happened near milepost 18 on North Highway. The woman got a ride with other park visitors, who called in the accident. Park rangers met up with the woman along North Highway, evaluated her medical condition, and gave her a courtesy non-ambulance transport to Pahrump, NV.

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