Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND – Washakie County Search and Rescue Commander David Michel provided details of his team’s busy day on Jan. 31 of this year, when they responded to two calls.
They began their day by responding to a call that came from a man who was stranded with his dog at his cabin in the mountains above Ten Sleep. A storm had brought deep snow to the region and rendered him unable to leave.
Michel said that Washakie County Search and Rescue responded alongside Washakie County law enforcement, and brought three snowmobiles and two tracked vehicles to reach the man and retrieve him, his dog and other belongings. He was found safe and brought down the mountain, being taken to Washakie Medical Center to receive medical attention for suspected frostbite, according to Washakie County Sheriff Austin Brookwell.
Around 10:30 p.m. that night, another call came in. Big Horn County asked for assistance in finding a man that had gone snowmobiling in the mountains and was overdue to return home. The joint team made up of Washakie and South Big Horn County search and rescue volunteers found his truck at a trailhead, and set off in two teams of two snowmobilers to search the trail. They found the man walking back toward his truck on the trail about seven miles from the trailhead. His snowmobile had broken down 14 miles out, and he had walked seven miles before he was found.
The man was uninjured, and was not in immediate need of food or water. Michel said “He had been walking for six or seven hours, and he was just ready to go home.”
Michel said that although extremely uncommon for there to be multiple search and rescue calls in the same day, this is a situation that his team has encountered before. He said “We’ll go three or four months sometimes without anything, and then one day we’ll get a call on our way back from a rescue we just finished, or even have two at the same time.” Michel said that being prepared for anything is just part of the job as a member of a search and rescue team.
Michel also took the opportunity to summarize search and rescue operations that took place in 2022. He said that there were six operations that Washakie County Search and Rescue participated in, all of which were successful. Two of them were to assist motorists, one missing person, one hiker, one hunter, and one family of snowmobilers. They were all either in Johnson County or near the border between Washakie and Johnson County, in the mountains.
The operation to assist the family of snowmobilers was the most recent of the six, having happened during the winter holiday season of 2022. They called for help when they were unsure whether they would make it to their cabin travelling in -30 degree weather. Washakie County Search and Rescue responded, and confirmed that the family made it to their destination safely.
These operations were mostly assisting Johnson County’s Search and Rescue team, or them assisting Washakie County. Michel said that typically, any operations that Washakie County Search and Rescue participates in are with the help of either Johnson or Big Horn County’s teams. He said “We enjoy helping those guys; they’re our neighbors, and they would do the same for us. We all work well together.”
He also made the point that manpower is key to their operations, as they often have to cover wide swathes of country when out on searches. Having more people out looking will give them better chances of finding people, and often helps them do it faster.
Michel said that Washakie County Search and Rescue is always open to volunteers. If you are interested in offering aid or want to learn more, go to wcwsr.com or email Commander Michel at [email protected].