Sunday was a busy day for Grand County’s all volunteer Search and Rescue team as the local organization responded to two emergency calls, both on the Roaring Fork Trail near Lake Granby.
Around 3:30 p.m. Sunday, first-responders received an emergency medical call involving a hiker approximately two miles up the Roaring Fork Trail who was unresponsive and may have had a heart attack, according to Search and Rescue.
Along with Grand County EMS and two Grand County Sheriff’s deputies, Search and Rescue climbed the steep Roaring Fork Trail roughly a mile-and-a-half to the location.
“The hiker, a 57-year-old male, was pronounced dead on the scene by EMS personnel,” officials from Search and Rescue said.
A team of 11 volunteers and two sheriff’s deputies then spent several hours working to carry the man’s body to the trailhead. The team reached the trailhead later at approximately 9 p.m., when the man’s body was taken to the Grand County Corner.
The man has been identified as Jeffrey Honert of Arvada. Officials do not yet have an official cause of death.
The emergency call for Honert came roughly an hour-and-a-half after first-responders received another emergency call for another individual.
Courtesy of Grand County Search and Rescue
Around 2 p.m. authorities were notified that a man from New York had gotten lost while backpacking by himself on the Roaring Fork Trail near Stone Lake.
Officials from Grand County Search and Rescue were able to talk to and exchange text messages with the lost backpacker as they tried to pinpoint where he was to guide him back to the trail.
“Around 4:30 p.m. the hiker texted that he was still lost and was going to camp at Stone Lake,” Search and Rescue said. “He had camping gear and iodine tablets, but was getting low on food.”
Around 7 a.m. Monday, four members of Grand County Search and Rescue headed out and went over seven miles up the trail.
“They were able to locate the man and help him back down to the trailhead before 3 p.m.,” Search and Rescue said. “The hiker did not have GPS or compass, and the map he had didn’t have enough detail for navigation.”
Search and Rescue noted that the area where the man became lost — the Hell Canyon drainage — has produced several search and rescue calls in recent years, partly because the trails in the area are “well advertised on the internet, but not well maintained.”
Grand County Search and Rescue recommended researching trails before heading out, carrying a quality map and functioning compass, and taking extra food and water. The organization also recommends carrying a GPS device into the field.
“Do not depend on cell service in the area,” officials warned.