We took a group of 17 young men and 3 adults on a multiple day campout that would include several slot canyon hikes with rappelling.  On day 2 of the camp, we mixed up directions and entered into a slot canyon different than what we had planned and little did we know, this was an “impossible” canyon to pass.  About 2 hours into the canyon we realized we were stuck with no passage forward or back. Thank goodness we were carrying a personal locator beacon.

We knew people were coming to camp later in the day, but we were worried they would not know where to find us because we were in a different canyon than planned.  About 12 hours went by and we started to worry that we would not be found.  We activated the ACR personal locator beacon and sat tight for help.  Search and rescue arrived in the morning and was able to airlift each of the boys and adults out of the “hole”.  Knowing that help was on the way, gave these boys hope and peace that they would be ok.  Because of the assurance, this turned a potentially devastating experience into an inconvenience that the boys knew they would survive. The boys were in surprisingly good shape when they were rescued.

Special thanks to Search and Rescue for their professionalism and skill.  These men were true heros to these 17 boys (and us).