Hikers

GLENDALE — Glendale educators are keeping their hopes high for retired Glendale teacher Dean Christy, who has been missing in the San Bernardino Mountains after getting lost while hiking Friday afternoon. Christy, 62, grew up in La Crescenta and worked as a teacher and administrator for the Glendale Unified School District for 30 years, retiring in 2002. His wife, Joan Christy, also worked for the school district. “There’s lots of people praying for a healthy return,” said Assistant Supt.

From sunrise to sunset, Crescenta Valley residents can be seen walking the paths of Deukmejian Wilderness Park. A variety of long, winding dirt trails lead hikers up into the San Gabriel Mountains. Through Glendale Parks and Recreation, a series of tours and educational programs are offered that cover everything from the deer population to the park?s prehistoric past. One such tour took place last Saturday, when La Crescenta geologist Tom Davis took about 15 hikers on a walk back through time, teaching them how the park area was formed.

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST — Pot, vandalism, burglaries and black bears — as if dehydration brought on by drought conditions weren't enough of a danger to hikers this summer, a surge in illicit activity and parched wildlife can make visiting local mountains an exercise in more than just uphill hiking. From hidden hillside marijuana crops to secret canyon parties and vehicle burglaries at trailheads, warmer weather typically draws droves of those who try to use the expanse of the 650,000-acre Angeles National Forest to mask their bad behavior, and in the process, leaving scars on not only the park experience, but Mother Nature as well, officials say. "We're constantly on the lookout," said Stanton Florea, spokesman for the Angeles National Forest.

ANGELES NATIONAL FOREST ? Montrose Search and Rescue crews returned home Wednesday evening after taking part in a successful two-day effort to find a 44-year-old South Los Angeles man on Mt. San Antonio in the Angeles National Forest, authorities said. The man was rescued after spending three days alone on the mountain with bone protruding from a compound fracture to his ankle, said Mike Leum, reserve chief of Search and Rescue for Los Angeles County and member of the Montrose team.

NORTHWEST GLENDALE — Five teenagers stranded in Brand Park for more than four hours were rescued on Thursday, after a search hindered by high winds and nightfall ended with a Los Angeles Sheriff's Department helicopter lifting them to safety. Four boys and one girl, all between 14 and 15 in age, who went up one of the park's trails at about 1 p.m., called 911 with their cellphones at 5:42 p.m. after one of the boys received an injury to his ankle, Glendale Fire Capt. Jim Frawley said.

Members of the Montrose Search and Rescue spent the weekend looking for two missing hikers that were separated from each other and spent the night in Angeles National Forest. Sam Stewart, 19, and Lucas Bennett, 24, both of Los Angeles, were in the forest near the top of Angeles Crest Highway on Saturday afternoon when they got separated, according to rescue team Capt. Janet Henderson. "They had originally gone up for a four-hour hike," Henderson said. They looked for each other, then Stewart went back to the car and waited for Bennett, who did not return.

It's not that members of the Montrose Search and Rescue Team and the Glendale Park Rangers don't like saving lives — they just wish people would hike a little more safely. The two agencies have rescued about two dozen lost or injured hikers since June, officials said. "I would love the day to come when we didn't have to go out and search for lost hikers, but with popular outdoor activities, it's part of our job," Park Ranger Supervisor Russ Hauck said. Rescue personnel are trying to spread the word and warn local hikers to be smart when hitting the trails.

GLENDALE — The body of a man found in the brush on a hillside last week was 66-year-old Vigen Mkrtchyan, who went missing more than two weeks ago, officials confirmed on Thursday. Mkrtchyan, who left his Glendale home on July 19 to go hiking, died of natural causes, likely a heart attack, said Lt. Fred Corral with the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office. Mkrtchyan suffered from Alzheimer's disease, high blood pressure and other heart-related conditions, Corral said. "We finally identified him through dental X-rays, because the body was so badly decomposed," he said.