Rescuers robbed tr ying to aid distressed hiker

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Add armed robbery to the threats facing hikers this year on the Pacific Crest Trail.

A section of the popular trail running from Mexico to Canada remained closed Monday as Kern County SWAT team members joined deputies to search for two armed men who robbed rescuers trying to aid a distressed hiker.

The incident Saturday in the remote Piute Mountains about 85 miles north of Los Angeles occurred after hiker Charles Brandenburg became dehydrated in scorching heat and activated a rescue device that allowed him to send text messages to authorities.

Hikers trying to complete the 2,650-mile trail have encountered several challenges from an exceptionally wet winter that left a persistent snowpack and has made for arduous plodding and presented several hazards. Several hikers have been injured, and others have reported close calls scaling icy passes and fording raging rivers.

Brandenburg had left the trail for three weeks in June so the snowpack would melt more before he arrived in the rugged high Sierra Nevada. However, the delay meant he was hiking through extreme desert heat in the past week and with diminishing options for water along the way.

“I needed water really bad,” Brandenburg said. “I undercut it. It was a mistake on my part.”

After hiking through heat as high as 110 degrees, he became extremely dehydrated Friday and began dry heaving and cramping.

He awoke at 4 a.m. Saturday to beat the heat, but only had about a cup of water left and was nine miles short of his next water stop. He only got a few miles before he called for help.