August 7, 2023

At approximately 2:00 PM, RCSAR received a page to assist a hiker on the Gold Creek Lake trail in the Mount Zirkel Wilderness area. The hiker was experiencing symptoms of altitude sickness. A Classic Air Medical helicopter was able to locate the subject, but there was not a good landing zone nearby. The North Routt Fire Department also responded to the call and was first to make contact with the hiker and their party. RCSAR responded with 8 team members who helped package the hiker in a vacuum mattress for transport. The team utilized the wheeled stokes and litter to wheel the hiker approximately two miles to the trailhead. All members of the team were out of the field shortly after 5:00 PM.

August 26, 2023



RCSAR was dispatched to the First Creek Falls trail to aid a solo trail runner who was stung by a bee and suffering possible anaphylactic shock. Members of the Steamboat Springs Fire Department were quick to provide an initial response. RCSAR sent two teams into the field where they readied the runner for transport. Again, the team utilized the wheeled stokes/litter to wheel the runner down the trail and back to the trailhead.

August 29, 2023 

RCSAR was paged for the rescue of a mountain biker on Emerald Mountain who had briefly lost consciousness and was suffering chest pain. The reporting party was an off-duty flight nurse with Classic Air Medical, and provided critical initial information on the mountain biker's condition. RCSAR maintains a side-by-side vehicle in its downtown headquarters, specifically for quick responses to in-town trails, and was able to respond within 20 minutes of the initial page. A paramedic from Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue accompanied the team to the top of the Morning Gloria trial, while a Classic Air Medical helicopter launched from Glenwood Springs. The RCSAR team wheeled the biker up the trail to the waiting side-by-side and then transported the biker to Prayer Flag Meadow, where the helicopter was able to land and load the biker.

September 12, 2023



Shortly after 1:00 AM, RCSAR received a page for a hunter on McAlpin Mountain in North Routt County who needed assistance. The hunter had planned to spend the night camping on the mountain, but was not prepared for the wet and cold conditions or able to hike back to the trailhead. Given the difficult access to the location, RCSAR enlisted the help of Classic Air Medical to fly two team members to the hunter's location and then transport the hunter and team off the mountain. As always, RCSAR recommends being prepared for current (and possible future) conditions and carrying the 10 Essentials, including warm clothing and gear, lights, and fire starter.

Food On-The-Go | Favorite Winter Snacks

We recently surveyed the RCSAR team to discover some of their backcountry favorites so we could share them with you. In anticipation of the upcoming winter excursions, we asked "what is your favorite winter outing power snack"? While the answers were diverse, sugar and carbs for quick energy were high on the list with bacon making a strong appearance across the board.

The most popular favorites were:

• Honey Stinger Chews or Nut & Seed Bar
• Peanut Butter & Jelly or Peanut Butter & Honey
• Bacon
• Chocolate
• SPAM!
• Nuts
• Baked Goods: Hostess Cherry Pie, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Rice Krispies, Donuts (aka Power Rings), Homemade Granola Bars
• Candy: Snickers, Sour Patch Kids

Some of the more unique answers included:

• Lentil Soup
• Walking Tamales
• Leftover Pancakes & Bacon Wrapped Together w/ Peanut Butter
• Somebody Else's Food (we'll be keeping an eye on our snacks around Michael!)

Kaya - RCSAR's Rescue Dog

It wasn't more than 24 hours after she was fully certified as a search and rescue trailing dog before Kaya and her handler, Yuri Kachuro, were called up for their first RCSAR mission. In June 2022, RCSAR was dispatched to search for a missing woman near King Solomon Falls trailhead. Yuri collected scent articles in town and then he and Kaya headed north to aid in the search.

Kaya is a highly trained German Shepherd who specializes in tracking/trailing a lost person using scent. Yuri refers to her as a 'princess', not only because of her beauty or personality, but because she comes from an exceptional line of grand champion German Shepherds. Kaya's line of German Shepherds have been bred to enhance specific traits (nose work, obedience, temperament) and trained to work in partnership with their handlers.

Like many other types of working dogs, Kaya loves to work! Kaya knows she's working when she has her search and rescue vest on and she yips with excitement when she sees it. While German Shepherds can make outstanding search and rescue dogs, other breeds and mix breeds with the right temperament and a keen sense of small also excel at SAR related tasks, including Bloodhounds, Border Collies, and Labrador Retrievers.

When searching for a lost person, trailing dogs like Kaya are provided with a scent article such as a piece of clothing, shoe insole, or hairbrush belonging to the lost person. Their exceptional sense of smell enables them to track/trail the person to whom the scent belongs. Search dogs are assigned the job of locating a lost person and they can also be very helpful by eliminating specific directions of travel from the place the lost person was last known to be. For example, on the King Solomon Falls search, Kaya eliminated a number of possible trails from the trailhead.

Yuri and Kaya operate as a very close knit team. Yuri adopted Kaya in 2019 when she was 8 weeks old, specifically to train her to be a search dog. With some previous experience training a search dog, Yuri set out to ensure that Kaya would be an outstanding SAR dog. This entailed daily training, multiple clinics with SAR dog groups and associations, and eventually completing a number of certifications including: Tracking with the International Search and Rescue Dog Organization, and Wilderness and Suburban Trailing with Search and Rescue Dogs of the United States. This month, Yuri and Kaya traveled to North Carolina to compete in the RH Search and Rescue Dog National Championship. We couldn't be more thrilled to announce that Yuri and Kaya are National Champions! More to come on this in our next newsletter.

Yuri says that at home, without her vest on, Kaya is very much like other dogs. She is calm but will bark when someone knocks on the door, sleeps on the bed, enjoys playing, loves kids, and eats whenever she can!

RCSAR has had dog teams in the past, but had been without a dog team for several years before Yuri and Kaya joined. Past dog teams included Jim and Pepper, Jim and Bailey, Sandy and Schwar, Scott and Duke, and Janet and Kootaney. Sandy says her time on the team was very special and describes the bond between a search dog and its handler as intense and incredibly connected. She has many stories about the searchers they participated in across the state, including one local search for a missing hunter on Shield Mountain where both Schwar and Duke worked to find the missing man. All of RCSAR's dog teams have been a part of Search and Rescue Dogs of Colorado (SARDOC).

Yuri and Kaya are an excellent team to continue this line of RCSAR search dogs. Aside from the skills and benefits Kaya brings to the team, RCSAR loves having her around. She's very approachable and loves a good pet. If you see her out and about, stop and give her some love!