Lost and Found – Rescue Edition

On average, over 2 million people visit the Saugatuck area each year. A portion of those visitors find their way to the beach via trails through the Saugatuck Dunes State Park. Some of those visitors can’t find their way out. That’s where we come in.

The state park is not actually in Saugatuck at all. It is located inside the south-western corner of Laketown Township. The park is home to 2.5 miles of sandy Lake Michigan shoreline, coastal dunes, forested areas, 13 miles of trails and the 300-acre Patty Birkholz Natural Area. Four trails take visitors over rolling terrain and sandy trails to Lake Michigan. The .75-mile, one-way Beach Trail (yellow markers) is the shortest route.

It’s easy for someone who is not familiar with the trails to take the wrong trail back towards the parking lot and feel lost. Some wander off the paths and find themselves deep in an area that they are not supposed to be. Internet and cell coverage is spotty at best, which can lead to panic and fear for the beginner hiker.

Others spend a little too much time in the sun or don’t consume enough water and become dehydrated. Some over-estimate their fitness levels and quickly realize those hills they went up and down on the way to the beach are still there on the way back to the parking lot.

Park rangers are on duty at the park from May-August most days and will assist when they are available by helping us look for lost people. Beyond that is where we come in. When 911 is called, we respond with a duty crew and our John Deere Gator to transport rescuers to the area to search. Then we spread out on foot using information from our dispatch center and other hikers if possible.

If a person is injured, we have EMTs that will tend to the patient before an ambulance arrives. We can haul them out using a stokes basket strapped to a special platform on the Gator. This past Monday evening, crews spent a couple hours on a “missing person scavenger hunt”. Three firefighters at a time left the parking lot on the gator with information from the training officer who acted as a dispatcher. The crew had to decipher the message and find the “victim” (an orange driveway marker) in a pre-determined location. While they conducted their search, Firefighters Draper and Nevarez conducted ropes and rigging scenarios for the balance of the crew. Pulleys and carabiners were used to create mechanical advantage to make it easier for less people to haul a victim up a ravine.

It is always best to be prepared and know your way to and from the beach. If you don’t we will be there as soon as possible to lend a hand.