Coquitlam Search and Rescue members were called out to Eagle Mountain for an early-morning mission yesterday (Tuesday) to rescue four men who'd been stranded.
Search manager Michael Coyle said the crew was called at 3 a.m. to rescue the group. The men believed they were at Cypress Lake but it turned out they were actually at Westview Point, which is directly above Buntzen Lake and about a two-hour walk from the top of Plateau Boulevard in Coquitlam.
Two SAR members went up on their eight-wheel Argo, which was then used to jump-start the group's ATV, and then followed the group down.
"At some point, their drive train broke so we ended up towing them the rest of the way down," Coyle said.
ATVs and 4x4s are "technically allowed" Coyle said, but the trail isn't maintained and has become extremely rough over the years.
"We've rescued 4x4 people up there for the last 10 years and it's one of the reasons we bought our Argo," he added.
The group didn't call for help until the middle of the night because they'd lit a fire and tried to fix the ATV themselves.
"They were smart - they didn't try to hike down in the dark by themselves," Coyle said.
Tuesday morning's rescue was the second on Eagle Mountain in just a few days.
On Sunday evening, members were called just after 5:30 p.m. by a group of six hikers on the Swan Falls trail. They were located by helicopter a short time later; SAR members hiked in and met up with the group partway down the trail and guided them back down the mountain.
