Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: A novice hiker missing from the Noon Creek Campground on Mount Graham was located overnight by Graham County SAR.
By Jon Johnson
MOUNT GRAHAM – The Graham County Search and Rescue Team worked into the early morning hours of April 9 to rescue a novice hiker who became lost on Mount Graham.
According to a Graham County Sheriff’s Office report, Graham County Dispatch received a call at about 10:32 p.m. on April 8 from a woman who said her granddaughter’s fiancé had left the Noon Creek Campground and had been missing for several hours.
The woman described the missing hiker as a “city boy” who had never been camping or to the mountains before. The hiker also reportedly suffered from vertigo in high elevations.
The missing man was last seen in the Noon Creek Campground at about 7 p.m. After not being able to find him themselves in small searches, authorities were notified.
First on the scene was a Graham County deputy with his K9 Kukui. The dog took the missing hiker’s scent and tracked it up and down to Highway 366 but the scent was lost.
Graham County SAR then arrived and staged a command post in the Noon Creek Campground. The experienced members of the search and rescue team located the missing hiker in a canyon south of the camp and rescued him.
