Fernie SAR was tasked to search for a missing 52 year old male hiker in the Akamina-Kishinena Provincial Park located in the South East corner of British Columbia. The subject had started in Alberta from Waterton in Waterton Lakes National Park and hiked over the border into BC on a well known and popular 20km trail loop. The subject missed his 6pm return shuttle and was reported missing by the shuttle company.
Parks Canada staff from Waterton initiated a search for the subject that evening and into the night but as the subject was believed to be in BC called in Fernie SAR to assist in the search. Due to the remoteness of the area and difficulty in access from the BC side and that Parks Canada staff were already searching for the subject the command post remained at the Wardens office in Waterton and Fernie SAR and Parks Canada staff seamlessly joined forces to continue the search.
The subject was located by a ground team early in the afternoon. The subject was exhausted and dehydrated due to running out of water the previous day but after drinking a few litres of water was able to assist the team in preparing a landing zone for a helicopter pick up.
The subject had missed a turn on the trail and carried on a now decommissioned trail. The decommissioned trail is fairly obvious at the start but then fades away to nothing. At this point the subject carried on for a while believing he would relocate the trail but when this was not the case and with darkness approaching took the wise decision to stop for the night and wait for daylight to start to make his way back the way he came.
A ground team consisting of a Fernie SAR dog handler and a Parks Canada member of staff that were searching the trail quickly soon identified fresh tracks and carried on down the trail, just as they were getting to the point where the trail disappears the subject had finally made his way back to that point and was located by the team.
Once located due to the weakness of the subject and the length of hike required to get back to the nearest vehicle it was determined that a helicopter should be used to return the subject and search teams back to the Parks Canada wardens office in Waterton.