A pair of hikers was rescued by Kaua‘i Fire Department firefighters in separate incidents on separate days this week, in Koke‘e State Park, and in upper Wailua, officials said. On Monday, a Lihu‘e man was reported missing at 3:42 p.m.
A pair of hikers was rescued by Kaua‘i Fire Department firefighters in separate incidents on separate days this week, in Koke‘e State Park, and in upper Wailua, officials said.
On Monday, a Lihu‘e man was reported missing at 3:42 p.m. off the Koaie Trail, said KFD Battalion Chief Robert Kaden.
According to Kaden, firefighters staged at the Kanaloahuluhulu Meadow in Koke‘e State Park and a state Department of Land and Natural Resources employee found the man’s car near Camp 10.
Firefighters from Waimea fire station went to Koke‘e, while the Inter-Island Helicopters craft with Lihu‘e fire station rescue personnel was dispatched from Burns Field, Kaden continued.
The helicopter team found the hiker about a half-mile west of the Mohihi Trail, Kaden added, and firefighters aboard the Inter-Island Helicopters craft then secured the hiker using a long-line, and transported him to Koke‘e Lodge.
He did not need medical attention.
The second hiker, on Tuesday, Kaden said, was a Pennsylvania man reported missing by his son at 7:10 p.m.
The father and son could talk via walkie-talkie, and the son reported to KFD that the man, last spotted near Loop Road, was dehydrated but OK.
Firefighters from Kapa‘a and Lihu‘e responded, and KFD personnel walked the man out from the trail.
He also did not need further medical attention, Kaden said.
Rick Talley, 47, of Rick Talley Photography, an experienced hiker who was prepared for the day hike with his father, Richard Talley, 65, had a perfect plan go bad, he said.
“I did everything by the book” but, unfortunately, things went a bit wrong, he said.
After his father, the Pennsylvania man described earlier, got tired, Rick Talley and the rest of the party left him near a stream by their vehicle with the walkie-talkie, food and drinks, with instructions for him to stay at the stream, by the vehicle, and then continued on their hike. When they returned to the stream and vehicle, his father was gone. Apparently, he had wandered up a stream trail, out of walkie-talkie range, and after dark. Rick Talley promptly called 911.
His father was found, dehydrated and exhausted, but otherwise OK. He was unaccounted for for around two hours, his son said.
- Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net. Tom Finnegan, staff writer, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) or tfinnegan@pulitzer.net.
