Most people think search and rescue is all adrenaline and helicopters.

Truth is, 90% of the job is boredom. Checking radios, restocking gear, driving home because

the missing hikers showed up at a gas station before we even laced our boots.

I signed up as a volunteer after moving back home.

I figured it was a good way to give back, and maybe feel useful again.

Our SAR unit covers a massive stretch of mountain forest, crags, old trails, floodplains,

abandoned logging roads.

Beautiful, if you're just hiking it,

deadly if you get stuck overnight. We're based out of a small depot near the Ranger Station.

It's mostly paid staff. The volunteers like me are floaters, filling gaps when numbers get low, or terrain's too rough to cover fast. They pair us up.

There's always one experienced with one volunteer.

My guess is that we don't cause another rescue while out in tricky conditions.

We got an alert at 4.17 p.m. while out in tricky conditions.

We got an alert at 4.17 p.m. A heavy winter storm was rolling in fast, soon to slam the region with snow,

wind and zero visibility.

Multiple hikers had reported seeing a little girl in a red coat near the Ridge Trail,

wondering alone, no adult in sight.

No one knew where she came from.

No reports of a missing child matched the description.

The sheriff's office kicked it to SAR immediately.

When I checked in, I prayed to be paired with anyone except Riker, the

oldest guy there by at least two decades. He looked like someone who had carved a man out

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