UPPER LAKE, Calif. – A 13-hour Search and Rescue (SAR) operation coordinated by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office in the Mendocino National Forest on Sunday has resulted in the safe return of two visitors from out of county.

Capt. James Bauman of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said 34-year-old Ambrosio Maldonaldo of Ripon and 60-year-old Gilberto San Miguel of Modesto were found cold, hungry but otherwise unharmed on Sunday night.

At 11 a.m. Sunday sheriff’s dispatch received a call from Lake Pillsbury resident Steve Bettencourt, who reported that two relatives, Maldonaldo and San Miguel, had left his home on Saturday and were stranded in the snow somewhere in the Elk Mountain area of the National Forest, Bauman said.

The men were reportedly visiting Bettencourt in Lake Pillsbury and had left to return home on Saturday at about 4 p.m., Bauman said.

Several hours after leaving Lake Pillsbury, Maldonaldo and San Miguel called Bettencourt and told him they had become stuck in the snow on their way down the mountain. Bauman said they told Bettencourt they were going to remain with their vehicle until the following morning when they would attempt to walk out.

By mid-morning on Sunday, the two men had been unable to walk out due to weather conditions but did manage to get within cell phone range to call Bettencourt again for help, Bauman said.

As sheriff’s Search and Rescue personnel were being alerted, U.S. Forest Service personnel attempted to access the area from the Mendocino County portion of the forest but could not get through due to adverse conditions, according to Bauman.

He said sheriff’s personnel and Search and Rescue volunteers staged at the Middle Creek campground in Upper Lake to coordinate search efforts. A Sonoma County Sheriff’s helicopter was requested to respond to assist with the search but the aircraft was canceled while en route due to weather conditions.

At approximately 1 p.m. Sunday, a Search and Rescue four wheel drive team attempted to reach the area the two men were believed to be in but Bauman said the team was forced to turn around before reaching the summit of Elk Mountain due to conditions.

He said additional resources were called to the area to assist, including a Mendocino County Search and Rescue snowmobile team, snow plows from the Lake County Public Works Department and a Cal Fire “snow cat” stationed out of the Boggs State Forest. The Sheriff’s Mobile Command Post also was deployed to the Middle Creek Campground to act as an operations center.

As night time fell, resources worked to clear the roadway into the search area and Search and Rescue coordinators continued to try and narrow down the exact location of the men, Bauman reported.

Bauman said that once the route on Elk Mountain Road had been cleared by county snow plows, the Cal Fire “snow cat” was hauled to the summit of Elk Mountain and then deployed with Search and Rescue and Cal Fire personnel on board to venture further north in search of the two men.

At approximately 9:45 p.m., the Cal Fire snow cat located Maldonado and San Miguel sheltered in their vehicle on Elk Mountain Road, approximately four miles north of Horse Mountain, Bauman said.

The two men were transported down the mountain to the Sheriff’s Command Post where they were fed, and then lodged for the night in a local motel. Bauman said family members were scheduled to pick up both men on Monday.

Bauman said the sheriff’s office was very pleased with the coordination and outcome of Sunday’s Search and Rescue operation.

Sheriff Frank Rivero expressed his deepest gratitude to the Search and Rescue Coordinator Lt. Chris Macedo and to the Lake County Search and Rescue volunteers for their efforts.

Rivero also commended and thanked the allied agencies that supported the rescue, including the U.S. Forest Service, Cal Fire, Mendocino County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue and the Lake County Public Works Department.

Follow Lake County News on Twitter at http://twitter.com/LakeCoNews, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lake-County-News/143156775604?ref=mf and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/LakeCoNews.