Sonora, CA — A Lodi man and his son are safe and well after becoming stranded in a remote part of Tuolumne County over the weekend.
The Tuolumne County Sheriff´s Department says 36-year-old Rocky Decota and his 10-year-old son Rocky Decota Junior went out Saturday to cut a Christmas tree on National Forest lands off of Highway 4.
Lieutenant George Ruckman of the Tuolumne County Sheriff´s Office says the two became stranded when their pickup got stuck in the mud near the McCormick Meadow area.
He says once authorities spotted the pair from a helicopter early this morning, they were picked up rather quickly, but not before a lot of effort by the search and rescue personnel.
Ruckman says the call was initially received Saturday evening. Personnel searched about 750 ground miles through storm conditions all night Saturday into Sunday.
The Sheriff´s Department was assisted by personnel from the Big Trees State Park, U.S. Forest Service, the Sacramento Valley High-Tech Task Force and the California Highway Patrol.
The two had no food or water and were in an area that was very to difficult to get to by land. At one point the rescuers were delayed because they themselves had become stuck in the mud.
The two were checked out by paramedics upon their rescue.
Contact Eric Nelson at Eric Nelson
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 2:32 pm