Teens’ hike turns into long adventure

Frontiersman

PALMER — What was to be an afternoon’s hike ended with a ride on a military helicopter for two Valley teens this weekend.

Steven Green said Monday there wasn’t a whole lot to say about his son’s time spent lost on Pioneer Ridge.

“They get lost, they get picked up by a helicopter,” he said simply.

According to Alaska State Troopers, Gehring’s son, David Gehring, 17, Palmer, and a friend, Kelsey Stein, 17, Wasilla, went for a hike up Pioneer Peak on the Pioneer Ridge–Austin Helmers trail Saturday morning.

At about 6 p.m., Gehring said, his son called to say he was lost. Gehring said it’s not the first time someone’s been lost up there. There’s a canyon, he said, up over the ridge that seems to prompt a lot of searches.

“They’ve responded to four other folks who have gotten lost up there in a canyon,” Gehring said.

In response to his son’s call for help, Gehring said he called troopers who in turn called the Rescue Coordination Center at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage.

According to troopers, the RCC launched a helicopter at 11:42 p.m. to go find the hikers.

Both hikers were flown to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center where, at 12:30 a.m. Sunday they were reunited with their parents. Neither reported any injuries.