Peninsula Search Teams Battle Heat and Terrain
Experts say if ever lost, staying still is your best chance of being found
Sunday, Jul 19, 2009 | Updated 9:15 AM PST
Damian Trujillo
Search crews head out to look for a man who did not return home from a hike on the peninsula Thursday night.
Sheriff's deputies will spend a third hot day searching for a man who never came home from a Thursday evening hike in the rugged Skeggs Point area of unincorporated San Mateo County.
The high in the area will reach the 90s again Sunday. Its feared the man either fell down a steep hill and is hurt or that he got lost along the trail somehow.
Douglas May, 55, left his home in San Carlos around 5:30 p.m. to go hiking, but family members became alarmed and contacted the sheriff's office when he never returned.
People who hike the trail said they often saw May sitting along the trail reading a book.
A sheriff's deputy found May's car just before 1 a.m. Friday in the Skeggs Point parking lot. Authorities do not suspect foul play but believe May could be lost or injured.
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Sgt. Linda Gibbons described the terrain in the Skeggs Point area as "dense and hilly." It is steep and rugged and there is thick manzanita, which makes searching challenging, authorities said.
The San Mateo County Sheriff's Office and the county's office of emergency services expanded the search off the main trails in the area. Skeggs Point is part of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, located on state Highway 35, south of state Highway 92.
Saturday's search was staffed with 122 search and support personnel and will continue again Sunday.
Experts say if you ever find yourself lost in the woods to stay still and not move around. They say that if your best chance of being found.
Anyone with information on May's location should call Detective Marcus Gathright at (650) 363-7823.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
Posted Sunday, Jul 19, 2009 - 9:05 AM PST
