Pair of hikers rescued northeast of Kotzebue

ALASKA NEWSPAPERS STAFF

July 10, 2008 at 10:09AM AKST

The Alaska Army National Guard and Kotzebue Civil Air Patrol rescued two hikers northeast of Kotzebue on Monday, June 30, according to an Army National Guard statement.

The hikers, Michael Lett, 33, of Texas and Matt Wilkins, 21, of Montana, were on a trip from Kivalina to Ambler when Wilkins badly injured his foot. The two men were able to avoid further injury by using a satellite messenger to call for help.

At approximately 7 p.m., the Alaska State Troopers in Kotzebue requested assistance to find and rescue two hikers in distress.

The 11th Rescue Coordination Center assigned A Company, 207th Aviation of the Alaska Army National Guard and the Civil Air Patrol to conduct the search.

“The hikers were able to call to be rescued through new technology called SPOT, or Satellite Personal Tracker. They activated their SPOT, which sent a call down to the Lower 48, which then called the Alaska State Troopers for assistance,” said Tech. Sgt. Gail Paculba, 11th Rescue Coordination Center, Alaska National Guard.

“What’s really interesting is that SPOT gives generalized GPS coordinates, so the Civil Air Patrol was able to go to the area and locate them, and the 207th Aviation was able to go in and pick them up.”   

The Civil Air Patrol found the hikers at Akiak Creek and sent precise coordinates to 207th Aviation, based in Nome, to pick the hikers up and transport them to Kotzebue for medical treatment.

“I think it’s a great working order — the Civil Air Patrol is great at searching for and finding people, then letting them know that help is on the way, and subsequently having the helicopter come in to pick them up is always a great move,” Paculba said.

Both the Alaska Army National Guard’s 207th Aviation and the Kotzebue Civil Air Patrol were awarded one save and one assist for this mission.

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