11/15/23

Members of the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office Verde Search and Rescue (SAR) teams were kept busy over the weekend. On Friday evening, a Texas couple contacted authorities after getting lost while hiking in the Secret Canyon area west of Sedona. The couple said they started their planned five-mile hike mid-morning, left the original trail, then could not find their way back to any known trail. Verde SAR members, unable to obtain accurate cell phone coordinates, were sent up a total of three canyons after finding the couple’s vehicle at the Secret Canyon trailhead.

A DPS helicopter joined the search, and located the couple just before ground search teams arrived at their location. The female suffered a minor arm injury due to a fall. The couple were flown to a landing zone, then picked up and taken back to their vehicle.

Then on Sunday evening, a 911 call to the YCSO dispatch center from a 22-year-old Sedona woman sent multiple SAR units to the Devil’s Bridge trail. Dispatch was able to obtain a set of coordinates from the woman's call as her phone battery went dead shortly after her call. SAR personnel found a discarded bottle that belonged to the woman and eventually were able to make voice contact. They located her on the Dawa Trail, several miles from her original trail.

The woman was not injured, and WAS returned to her vehicle by search and rescue personnel.