RANGER ACTIVITIES DIVISION
                           MORNING REPORT

Attention: Directorate
           Regional and Park Chief Rangers, USPP, BIFC, FLETC

Day/date:  Wednesday, March 1, 1989

INCIDENTS

89-28 - Upper Delaware River - Death of Employee

On the evening of February 27th, park ranger Robin Daniels, who
was a member of a local rescue squad, was killed in a motor
vehicle accident while responding to an emergency during off-duty
hours. Her husband, Cliff Daniels, is also a ranger at Upper
Delaware. A memorial fund has been established in her name;
contributions should be made to: Robin M. Daniels Memorial Fund,
c/o American Legion Ambulance, Eldred, NY 12732. (Glen Voss, CR,
UPDE; Chris Andress and Steve Alscher, RAD, MARO).

89-21 - Grand Canyon - Search

On February 20th, rangers in the backcountry office received a
report that D.A., 34, of Flagstaff, Arizona, was overdue
from a month-long solo hike from the mouth of Pearce Canyon,
partially located within Lake Mead, to Fredonia, Arizona - a
distance of 150 miles. D.A. had been dropped at Pearce Canyon
on January 16th, and said that he would make contact in a month
when he reached Fredonia. D.A. carried a 22-day supply of food
with him and was known to have a great deal of experience hiking
remote routes within the canyon.

A search effort was begun immediately. On the afternoon of the
20th, investigators flew out to Tuweep in a helicopter to check a
food cache known to belong to D.A. - one of four he had
established in the park - but found nothing. The PLS (point last
seen) was also investigated, and a low-level reconnaissance
flight was conducted over D.A.'s intended route. An initial
search area was established which ran from Pearce Canyon to the
Tuweep ranger station with a southern border along the Colorado
River and a northern border along the Shivwitts Plateau onto BLM
land - an area encompassing about one million acres, or 1,600
square miles. This rugged portion of the park is located in the
Lower Granite Gorge and is only traveled by hikers with
exceptional route-finding skills.

Because of the size of the area, and the fact that D.A.'s had no
known itinerary, a number of additional resources were brought
in. These included an NPS helicopter, trackers and hasty teams
from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, SAR teams from the
Coconino County and Maricopa County Sheriff's Offices, two SAR
dog teams from the Montezuma County K-9 SAR unit, two Arizona CAP
aircraft, two Arizona Department of Public Safety helicopters
(one with a forward-looking infrared CFLIR3 system), an Arizona
National Guard helicopter, a contract helicopter, an NPS patrol
boat and a total of 93 people from both outside agencies and NPS
areas (Joshua Tree, Lake Mead and Albright Training Center).

On February 22nd, a food cache on Muav Saddle was checked, even
though it was over 50 miles from D.A.'s intended route. It was
partially disturbed, and tracks were found in the snow matching
the description of those belonging to D.A.. A new search area
was established between Muav Saddle and Phantom Ranch, while
resources to the west were demobilized. On February 23rd,
tracking teams and hasty teams were flown to the search area.
Tracks and campfires found within the search area confirmed that
D.A. was either still moving toward Phantom Ranch or had left
the search area. On the 24th, all resources were withdrawn from
the field, and search activities were switched to a passive mode.
At 3 p.m. that afternoon, Dirk D.A. was contacted by park
employees at the Indian Garden ranger station, located five miles
below the South Rim. He had covered over 200 miles on foot.

During a debriefing, D.A. told park personnel that he had
decided during the hike to take an entirely different route.
While he was on Muav Saddle, a winter blizzard dropped two feet
of snow and D.A. was forced to take shelter for 18 days in an
historic cabin on the saddle. D.A. said that he was near
starvation by the time he managed to struggle through the snow to
reach his nearby food cache. In an effort to get out of the
area, he constructed crude snowshoes from tree limbs and window
screening and set out across the North Rim. After five miles of
hiking, these snowshoes became heavily laden with ice and he was
forced to turn around. It took him two days of struggling
through waist-deep snow to get back to Muav Saddle. After two
days of warm weather, D.A. decided that he was well enough to
risk an exit by way of the North Bass Trail, which was covered
with ice. D.A. descended from Muav Saddle on the 36th day of
his trip - the same day that rangers were notified that he was
overdue. As it turned out, D.A. had been moving continuously
toward an exit from the canyon on the Bright Angel trail as
searchers were reconstructing and following his earlier route.

Although D.A. had not obtained the backcountry permit required
of all overnight hikers into the Canyon, he told rangers that he
was hoping to be rescued during his ordeal on Muav Saddle.
Adam's failure to comply with the permit system unnecessarily
complicated the search effort; he has since been issued citations
for two violations, including hiking without a permit, and will
appear before the US magistrate on the South Rim on March 8th.
(CR, GRCA, via RAD, WRO).

OFFICE NOTES

1) Walt and Al West of the Forest Service will be presenting a
program on fire management to the 600-member Conservation Round
Table at the National Press Club today. The Round Table is an
affiliate of the Natural Resources Council of America. (Walt
Dabney, RAD, WASO).

STAFF STATUS

All here today.

Prepared by WASO Division of Ranger Activities
FTS 343-4874/4875 or 202-343-4874/4875