After losing a drone on Sunday to high winds, I headed into the rugged mountains of the Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs National Monument to search for it.

Along the way I obtained its last coordinates. Although the distance wasn’t great, the closer I got the more rugged the terrain became.

As night approached I decided to find a place to spend the night. I was within a half mile of the last coordinates but the direction was on the other side of the more rugged ridge barrier. It would be impossible to reach without daylight and several strenuous hours of climbing and route finding.

The winter night was cold with high winds and strong gusts but I was comfortable with my decision and weathered the 14 hours of darkness.

The next morning I was packed and ready for some light. I was looking forward to some strenuous hiking so I could warm up. It took 3-4 hours to find an accent that would get me over the ridgeline crest but the other side was even more rugged than the first.

I eventually found a valley that led to the coordinates but there was no obvious route down so it was necessary to explore and route find. Even the best routes down were perilous with numerous slopes of snow, dead ends, dry falls and eventually a dead end ledge overlooking a 100 ft. fall.

By this time I was exhausted and didn’t see another way to descend and knew there was no way I would make it off the mountain before nightfall. I was lodged on an exposed cliff, on the colder north side of the mountain.

The longer I waited the less chance of rescue. My choice was obvious; discretion is the better part of valor. I pulled my survival kit out of my backpack, pulled out my ResQLink VIEW, deployed the antenna and pressed the on button.

Within minutes my PLB rescue had started and I was talking to a member of the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center.

He validated my situation and coordinated a rescue by the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Coconino Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Flagstaff Unit.