North Shore Rescue offers safety tips after missing hikers, senior dog rescued

A dog is carried down the BCMC trail in a stretcher. (North Shore Rescue)

For those planning to venture into the great outdoors over the long weekend, North Shore Rescue has ways you can stay safe—and hopefully avoid needing their assistance.

The volunteer rescuers had a busy Saturday last weekend, finding a pair of missing hikers and helping a senior dog get down from a trail.

In the first instance, two hikers became disoriented and got lost off the Hollyburn Mountain trail in Cypress Provincial Park.

“They were going to end up in a difficult, remote area. When they got disoriented, they had the sense to call 911 for help,” Stan Sovdat, search manager with North Shore Rescue told CTV News.

Thankfully, they still had some cell service and the rescuers were able to pick up their co-ordinates.

The hikers were wearing inadequate footwear for the area, which still has snow, Sovdat said. While they had “really cold feet,” the two were able to walk down once they were found.

The pair had a dog with them—a French bulldog—which also made it out safely with no issues, he said.

The French bulldog rescued along with two hikers on Hollyburn mountain trail. (North Shore Rescue)“They were truly lost,” Sovdat said. “They were very thankful that we helped them and realized that they need better footwear, better preparation and have to understand the trail and do some planning.”

He said the biggest factor that led to the hikers’ successful rescue was that they had cellular reception.

Sovdat urges those who are going out into remote areas with unreliable service to buy an InReach communicator—which allows users to send text messages via satellite in areas without reception.

“What's your life worth? It’s, you know, 20-odd dollars a month, and you can call for help from anywhere,” he said, and added that new iPhone 14s can also communicate via satellites.

And if you can’t communicate while out in the wilderness, Sovdat says to always let somebody know where you’re going and what time you plan on being back, so they can call 911 if you don’t return.

He recommends following “The Three Ts:” trip planning, training and taking the essentials.

That includes knowing what the trail conditions are like in advance and planning your route, as well as bringing enough food and water and extra clothing for weather.

If you’re bringing a pet—something Sovdat doesn’t recommend for particularly remote treks—make make sure you have extra food for it too, he said.

“I've seen pets in really bad places,” he said. “You're just asking for trouble out in the middle of the wilderness where no help is readily available, having to potentially carry your dog out for kilometers and kilometers, and it's just not a good plan.”

That was a situation that was avoided on Saturday, just as the team was leaving from the Cypress call.

North Shore Rescue was called to the BCMC trail on Grouse Mountain, where a senior dog had collapsed and refused to move.

Sovdat said the owner was “distraught,” and was attempting to carry the 120-pound dog back to the parking lot.

The dog was “exhausted, refusing to move, overheating, not doing well,” he said. The team tried to coax the dog down the hill, but it would collapse again every 30 to 50 feet, Sovdat explained.

The rescuers eventually got the dog onto a stretcher, carrying it and letting it walk when it could, until they reached the parking lot.

Once off the trail, the dog was fine, Sovdat said.

Before going on a wilderness adventure this summer, he recommends checking the website AdventureSmart, where you can find information about how to prepare for an outing and what to do if you run into challenges.