Father and son rescued while hiking
By John Loesing newstip@theacorn.com

SAFE AT LAST- Jay Nardi and his son Oren, 12, are home again in Calabasas after a sheriff's team with a helicopter rescued them when they became lost on a hike.

Even experienced hikers can find trouble on the trail when circumstances turn against them.

Jay Nardi of Calabasas and his 12yearold son, Oren, were rescued by a sheriff's helicopter earlier this month after becoming lost during a late afternoon hike in the Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Reserve.

Nardi, a 52-year-old private school teacher, had veered off-trail during a 10-mile trek into the Simi Hills and had only a T-shirt to keep him warm as darkness fell.

Following an emergency 911 call from Nardi's nearly depleted cell phone, a helicopter from the sheriff 's department Malibu Search and Rescue Team found Nardi and his son safe but stranded in a rough area about one mile south of Bell Canyon.

Nardi experienced hypothermia but his son was unharmed.

"He didn't panic. He trusted himself and he trusted me," the father said.

Experienced hikers Nardi and Oren had made frequent forays into the Ahmanson Ranch open space where they enjoyed studying the plants and animals of the region. They began their Sat., Dec. 8 hike wellprepared with food and water, a knife, and even a signaling mirror, but got off to a late start. Their journey started at the Las Virgenes Road trailhead in Calabasas.

"We made a mistake by not leaving until noon," Nardi said.

About two hours into the hike the pair left the East Las Virgenes Canyon Trail to explore a new route, but found the path had been destroyed by fire. They became lost and started scaling steep hills.

"All of a sudden there was no trail and I was worried," Nardi said.

He had dropped his jacket during the confusion and wore only a light shirt as the temperatures began to fall.

Nardi thought he could find the nearby Cheeseboro Canyon trail and perhaps work his way west to Old Agoura, but the plan wasn't working.

"I tried to find outlets but there weren't any," he said. "It was already after 3:30 and it was getting dark fast.

Lessons learned

As dusk approached, Nardi placed a 911 call and described his position. He hung up and received a call back from the sheriff's department, and said that within minutes after the second call his cell phone battery died. Nardi said deputies told him he should have left his phone off during the hike in order to save power. Cell phones use more battery when forced to search long distances for a signal, they said.

Nardi also regretted that he didn't carry a lightweight thermal blanket on the hike. He's since purchased one. He also wasn't carrying a flashlight. When the helicopter arrived at sundown Nardi said it was the "most pleasant sound" he'd ever heard.

The father and son were taken to the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station and soon returned home. Oren wrote a letter to the deputies thanking them for their swift response and kind treatment.

"Thanks to you, my dad and I are home safe and sound and I can truly have a happy holiday," the boy said in his letter.