A hiker has gotten lost this evening near the Mendocino Coastal village of Anchor Bay prompting law enforcement and emergency personnel to begin a search and rescue operation.
Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office Captain Greg Van Patten confirmed a 73-year-old man went missing after hiking with his wife along a logging road off of Fish Rock Road “just east of the dump”.
The hiker and his wife somehow became separated around 4:37 p.m. this afternoon. The wife indicated he had been missing for approximately one-and-a-half hours when she first contacted law enforcement.
Captain Van Patten told us the hiker is from out-of-county and experienced in the outdoors but “not equipped for overnight according to his wife.”
Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office deputies and South Coast Fire Department are on scene conducting a “hasty search” of the area right now.”
A callout for resources went out around 7:00 p.m. asking emergency personnel to amass near mile marker 4.88 on Fish Rock Road, approximately four miles north of Gualala.
The Fish Rock area is a well-known hiking destination replete with redwood trees, inland creeks, and ferns.
UPDATE 8:20 p.m.: Scanner traffic indicates the hiker has been located and is being evaluated by medical personnel.
Please remember that this story is unfolding. Information is being reported as we gather it. However, some of the information coming from witnesses and initial official reports could be wrong. We will do our best to get the facts but, in the case that something is inaccurate, we will update with correct information as soon as we can.
Seems like a helicopter with night vision and a heat source device could fly the area? ??