Howdy Boon,
I'll have to ask the fire people at Pacific Valley about this to see if they know where the mountain biker went astray. I hiked the loop last July 17th while I was doing volunteer back-country ranger duty for the Forest Service, and my recollection was that the trail was pretty easy to follow from the south trailhead to Kelly Camp and from Stag Camp to the north trailhead. Also, starting in an open area not far past Kelly Camp and continuing IIRC almost all the way to Stag Camp someone had marked the trail with blue pin flags (and no, I didn't take any of them out, even though there were more of them than were really needed, because the tread gets really sketchy in that region and I thought they might help avoid an incident like this one). FWIW, I left several copies of your excellent map (with an additional sheet containing GPS coordinates of most of the interesting points thereon) in the office at Pacific Valley because one of the seasonal firefighters got lost when he mistakenly got onto the spur trail that goes out onto Middle RIdge. He made it back to the barracks without help, but did so by walking down Prewitt Creek. He said it was an adventure that he didn't care to repeat.
Mike Heard
Chalk up another one for the Prewitt Loop
Chalk up another one for the Prewitt Loop
Tough deal for this guy, but at least he made it out OK with only a bruised ego. Never underestimate the challenge of the Prewitt Loop trail! Now if he'd read the trail reports on the VWA website beforehand he may not have gotten himself in such deep trouble as to need to be extricated by helicopter.
From the Moco Sheriff's blotter, via the Carmel Pine Cone:
http://www.pineconearchive.com/080912-8.htm
Big Sur: The Monterey County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was called to search for an overdue mountain biker on the Prewitt Loop Trail, near Plaskett Creek, in Big Sur. The mountain biker, a 48-year-old male Sunnyvale resident, had left for a solo mountain bike ride and failed to return back to his vehicle. Search and rescue team members, as well as U.S. Forest Service personnel, were able to locate him during the early morning hours of Sept. 1, but were unable to access him due to heavy brush and steep, rocky terrain. The California Highway Patrol helicopter, H70, was called in to assist in the extrication of the man in the morning. He was extricated without further incident by H70. He apparently lost his way and was attempting to walk back to his vehicle but was stopped by the heavy brush and steep terrain. He did not suffer any serious injuries.
From the Moco Sheriff's blotter, via the Carmel Pine Cone:
http://www.pineconearchive.com/080912-8.htm
Big Sur: The Monterey County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was called to search for an overdue mountain biker on the Prewitt Loop Trail, near Plaskett Creek, in Big Sur. The mountain biker, a 48-year-old male Sunnyvale resident, had left for a solo mountain bike ride and failed to return back to his vehicle. Search and rescue team members, as well as U.S. Forest Service personnel, were able to locate him during the early morning hours of Sept. 1, but were unable to access him due to heavy brush and steep, rocky terrain. The California Highway Patrol helicopter, H70, was called in to assist in the extrication of the man in the morning. He was extricated without further incident by H70. He apparently lost his way and was attempting to walk back to his vehicle but was stopped by the heavy brush and steep terrain. He did not suffer any serious injuries.