Juan de Fuca Search and Rescue Historical Archive1948–2026

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Juan de Fuca trail third busiest in B.C. for search-and-rescue calls

Times Colonist20 May 2023Roxanne Egan-ElliottJDF SAR era

Roxanne Egan-Elliott. “Juan de Fuca trail third busiest in B.C. for search-and-rescue calls”, Times Colonist, 20 May 2023 ref-only
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Summary

Hikers on the Juan de Fuca trail made 13 calls to search and rescue in 2022, making it the third busiest trail in the province, according to the B.C. Search and Rescue Association. The top three reasons for SAR calls were: lost with no map or navigation device; poor footwear or footing leading to a slip; and being unaware of a trail's difficulty, according to Sandra Riches, executive director of B.C. AdventureSmart. Of 504 hiking-related calls province-wide in 2022, 271 could have been prevented by appropriate footwear, map skills, and trail research. B.C. AdventureSmart describes the JdF trail as "advanced" — 47 kilometres, three to five days, most popular May to October. Seven new cell towers were installed between Sooke and Port Renfrew this spring [2023], bringing a signal to the trail for the first time.

Written from the article text only. Where the scan is hard to read, the summary was taken from the page image rather than the OCR.

Details

Headline“Juan de Fuca trail third busiest in B.C. for search-and-rescue calls”
PublicationTimes Colonist
Date20 May 2023
PageNot applicable — web edition, no print page number
BylineRoxanne Egan-Elliott
EraJDF SAR era
Document typenews report
Original articleTimes Colonist — the article on the publisher's own site ↗
Sourcetimescolonist.com
Accessed2026-08-04
Licensingref-only
Record confidenceconfirmed

Archivist's note

First published figure for annual JdF trail SAR call volume: 13 calls in 2022, third busiest trail in BC. The seven-cell-tower installation note dates a significant infrastructure change that affected the team's callout capability. The Cape Scott trail is noted for context (10th place, five calls). Paul Berry is in this article titled 'search manager at Comox Valley Search and Rescue.' Mystic Beach is named only in the photo caption (tent platform photo by Ministry of Environment / B.C. Parks).

The clipping

Scan of Times Colonist, 20 May 2023 — the article “Juan de Fuca trail third busiest in B.C. for search-and-rescue calls”
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Archive notes

Web-sourced statistics article. No specific incident. Photo: tent platform at Mystic Beach (Ministry of Environment / B.C. Parks). Captured from leads investigation 2026-08-04.

Record id 2023-05-20-times-colonist-nopage-jdf-trail-third-busiest-sar. Original file in the project archive: 02_articles/2023-05-20_times_colonist_jdf_trail_third_busiest_sar.pdf.

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  • 20 May 2023Hikers on the Juan de Fuca trail made 13 calls to search and rescue in 2022, making it the third busiest trail

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