Lynn appreciates friends in need

Lynn Altieri-Need,  mobilized the Mono County Search and Rescue team when she got lost on a hike with her dog on Wednesday, August 12.

Ironically, it was her birthday. “I told [husband] Stu I wanted a low-key birthday,” she recalled. The plan was a hike followed by dinner at home with her husband and two children.

The original plan was to hike up the Convict Creek Trail, do a loop, skirting Bloody and Laurel Mountains and return to Convict Lake. This is what she told her husband she planned to do, and this is what she did not do. As Lynn said, “Mistake number one.”

Instead, she changed her route and decided to take a shortcut to Edith Lake and then hike down to Laurel Lakes where she could call her husband and he could pick her up.

Though she had a map, the area is not clearly marked and she ended up bushwhacking straight out into the wilderness.

As Lynn acknowledges, she doesn’t have the best sense of direction. “As my husband says, ‘Lynn, whatever you think you should do … do the opposite.”

By 3:30 p.m., she knew she was very lost and had a brief “moment” which lasted about 45 minutes.

She had food and water with her, and a jacket. She had a cellphone, but no service. On the plus side, she is very fit and accustomed to tackling long-distance hikes.

She decided to continue following the water, and have faith that she would run across someone.

Soon after she resumed her trek, her two-year old Australian Shepherd caught a chipmunk. Normally, Lynn would discourage this behavior. In this case, she figured he might as well enjoy his snack, because that was dinner.

About 5:30 p.m., just as Lynn was scouting for possible evening shelter in a rock cave, she comes across a couple. They had set up camp nearby\, and were on a short day-hike. The couple was from Long Beach, both in their mid-40s, and, more irony, it was the other woman’s birthday, too.

The couple advised that there might be a ranger at Purple Lake, about 1.5 miles distant. Or there might not.

“We think you should stay with us,” they said.

Lynn got a spot in the tent with her birthday-mate. They gave her the extra emergency blanket they had.

The man slept outside in his zero-degree sleeping bag.

“I shivered all night,” said Lynn, who said she now plans to hike with two emergency blankets.

The next day, she hiked out to Purple Lake, where there was no ranger, but there was a fairly well-equipped horse pack group there.

They had a solar phone charger, so she was able to juice her phone a bit for the time when she’d have service to call her husband.

In the interim, one gentleman (Rod from San Diego) said he would hike up to place a call for her to Stu, since she was interested in getting on her way as soon as she could.

They also had dogfood. Score.

When she reached Duck Lake, she couid see the Search and Rescue helicopter.

Mono County Search and Rescue reported that it received an initial call at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

The team dispatched two hastily organized teams, one of which spent the night in the field, tracking, and interviewing backpackers at their camps.

The next morning additional teams were sent into the field in addition to the aforementioned CHP Helicopter from Fresno.

S and R calculated Lynn hiked over 20 miles, much of it cross country, climbing over 6,300 feet, crossing a high ridge above Franklin Lake, and finishing 1,500 feet higher than she had started 30 hours earlier.

Sheet: So Lynn, this strikes me as an extravagant length to go to in order to bring attention to the ice rink roof issue. Altieri-Need has been one of the leading advocates pressing the Town to put a roof on its ice rink. 

Altieri-Need just laughed. While it wasn’t her goal to bring attention to the ice rink roof, she did appreciate the t-shirt that Jeff Posey presented her upon her return (see Posey design at right).

“Hockey Moms are tougher.”

When she got home, the first thing her son Koa said to her was, “Wow, you missed your birthday.”

The family had not only cleaned the house the previous day while she was out hiking, but had also prepared dinner.

The takeaways from her adventure?

As mentioned before, she will bring two emergency blankets on her hikes, as well as waterproof matches. She will also bring just a plain old compact disc – for reflective purposes, to aid the helicopter in search.

Finally, she says, “Don’t rely on your phone, You may not have service.”

She also said she is not planning to go off-trail in the future – “at least by myself.”

Final irony. Mono County Search and Rescue had stopped by Lakanuki the day Lynn went missing to ask for a donation. It’s fair to say they will receive a sizable one.