By Mary O’KEEFE

Montrose Search and Rescue coordinated efforts to locate a missing hiker in the Mount Waterman area.

Rene Compean was reported missing on Monday at about 6 p.m. He was found uninjured on Tuesday at about 3:30 p.m.

Compean had sent to a friend a text and photo of himself sitting at the edge of a canyon.

“We had this picture but had a hard time identifying exactly what area it was,” said Montrose Search and Rescue team member Steve Goldsworthy, operations leader for the search.

The photo did not show any mountain peaks, which could help identify Compean’s location, only the hiker’s legs hanging over into a canyon. The photo, however, did show Compean’s legs covered in ash, which gave searchers a clue that he was in the area of the Bobcat Fire. The fire occurred in September 2020 and the area was subsequently closed with many of the signs that marked trails no longer in place due to the fire.

Goldsworthy said the area of Twin Peaks, south of Mount Waterman, was a place of interest for the searchers on Monday night. Cellphone forensics showed Compean was on that side of Mount Waterman.

Montrose Search and Rescue was assisted in the search by teams from Sierra Madre, Santa Clarita, Altadena and Antelope Valley, in addition to air support from the LASD Air Rescue 5 and LA County Fire.

Teams were not only battling steep terrain, they were also dealing with weather issues like heavy fog. Members of the search teams searched all night but, due to the terrain and bad weather, did not get to the location where Compean was eventually found. On Tuesday, crews were taken to specific areas by LASD Air Rescue 5 and dropped into the field to search more extensively.

Compean’s vehicle was found in the Buckhorn Campground area; however, that did not provide much information.

“The problem is when you park your car at Buckhorn there are [about] five trails leading to multiple destinations. There is a spider web of trails in [that area],” Goldsworthy said.

On Tuesday LASD reached out via social media asking for assistance from any hikers who were familiar with the area. MSAR team member Will Richards vetted all the responses to the request and found one that pinpointed the same area MSAR members were interested in. The area that citizen pinpointed was in the same area where the phone forensics placed the hiker, between Twin Peaks and Triplet Rocks.

Search efforts were refocused with team members concentrating on this area. As crews were preparing to hike again, a heavy fog was setting in. LASD Air Rescue 5 went to the identified area to search and Compean heard the helicopter. He climbed up the mountainous area to make certain he was above the fog, which was quickly rolling in. LASD Air Rescue 5 spotted him and was able to hoist a medic down to bring Compean to safety.

He was flown to the command post where he met with searchers.