little trail ride

[William Cunningham <slypigs@domain.elided>]

well cookie dan asked for it so the rest of you have to suffer.
Scenario:
4 hikers missing for 4+ days. We have fixed wing aircraft, helicopter,
ground pounders (folks on foot), and people on horseback searching in
the Bridger Wilderness. The first real snow of the year has occurred
with 18 inches of wet heavy snow blanketing the country above 8000 feet.
With good coverage inside the search area (ie. lots of resources), we
need to go for containment. Containment means that all peripheral points
where these folks could exit (flush out) need to be checked.
Many of these points are accessible via primitive roads and trails which
cross private land and are  seldom accessed by the general public. These
are the roads that SS II and I volunteer for, the opportunity to travel
"once in a life time" trails and serve people in distress at the same
time is very satisfying.

The trip:
Load the ATV on my trailer and hook it to the SS II, round up a ground
to air radio and my search and rescue radio plus everything (I hope) to
spend the night out, drive 140 miles of pavement to a ranch near the
search area where I hook up with a friend that will drive the ATV ( I
drive the SS II). Load the ranch dogs and the ranch hand into the Scout
(with ATV  in tow) and head for the private road that will take us UP to
the Wilderness boundary....

to be continued, need to look at some maps so I can give distance,
elevations , etc.
BTW the trail is about a 3+ so don't look forward to any twisted metal
or roll overs :-)

Willy
SS II