Missing hikers rescued near Mount Seymour's Dog Mountain trail
Hikers braved wet, cold conditions for several hours before volunteers were able to get to them
Two people who went missing near the Dog Mountain Trail, a popular hiking and snowshoeing spot on Mount Seymour, have been rescued late Tuesday night.
"It was a trip I'll never forget," said Katharena Rek, a German tourist. "It was quite cold and got colder and colder."
Rek was hiking the trail with Ian Willemsen from Coquitlam, B.C., when the pair lost their way and couldn't find their way back in the dark.
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"We weren't too far from the trail, we knew that. That's why we stayed put," said Willemsen.
"We did leave late in the day, so really we should have left a couple of hours, at least, earlier."
The two hikers didn't get to the trail until about 2 p.m. PT. Sunset in Vancouver during this time of year is at 4:15 p.m., and the five-kilometre trail takes roughly two hours to complete.
Trail washed out on rainy night
Willemsen said trails in the area were washed out and the path wasn't clear, and when they tried to backtrack "everything looked the same."
Mike Danks with the volunteer-based North Shore Rescue said the two hikers weren't dressed for the frigid conditions.
"Obviously we weren't ready for an overnight trip, but for just a day trip we were fine in terms of how we were dressed," said Willemsen.
.<a href="https://twitter.com/NSRescue">@NSRescue</a> has sent out 4th team of 3 people to search for lost German hikers on Mt Seymour. <a href="https://twitter.com/cbcnewsbc">@cbcnewsbc</a> <a href="https://t.co/1swOBkJ9nV">pic.twitter.com/1swOBkJ9nV</a>
—@CBCKamilDanks said earlier in the evening that the foreign cellphone the two had made it more difficult to pinpoint their exact location.
He also said tourists and other hikers often rely on cellphones for navigation, which can cause problems because there isn't usually cellular service in the backcountry.
"It's a real challenge with tourists that are visiting Vancouver," said Danks. "The mountains are so accessible, I think they're getting up there and not realizing they're a potential hazard."
He said North Shore Rescue is hoping to work more closely with visitors and locals to prevent these types of rescues in the first place.
The volunteer-run organization has had its busiest year on record.