Snowbound couple are rescued

NORDMAN — Priest Lake Search & Rescue rescued an elderly couple Saturday night after becoming snowbound and attempting to hike out on foot with only a blanket and no coats.

The couple was attempting to circumnavigate the north end of Priest and Upper Priest lakes. They started out from the Lions Head Campground but their vehicle became stuck in the snow, according to a PLSAR press release.

The couple, identified as Don and Sharon Kendrick of Usk, Wash., were initially reported to be making their way back to Nordman on foot. Bonner Dispatch advised that the couple’s cellphone showed them at a location on U.S. Forest Service Road No. 1013, near Cedar Creek

Priest Lake Search & Rescue was activated at 7:40 p.m. and a Bonner County sheriff’s deputy proceeded up the road, but encountered impassible conditions within about 10 miles.

About an hour later, rescuers made contact with Don Kendrick via cellphone and he advised that they were very cold and without jackets. They had no way to start a fire and only a small blanket, Kendrick told PLSAR.

The couple was advised to stay on the road and to keep moving to stay warm. A 10-member search party on all-terrain vehicles fanned out on roads north of Lions Head.

Don Kendrick was instructed to call in every half hour or if he heard ATVs and UTVs converging on their position. Cell coverage, however, was spotty and rescuers never received another call.

One the ATV teams encountered the couple at 10:34 p.m. on Idaho Department of Lands Road No. 1.

“The couple told the searchers they did not think they would have survived the night if they had not been rescued,” the news release said.

The Kendricks told searchers their vehicle became stuck in the snow approximately eight hours prior to their rescue. Temperatures were in the mid-30s when the couple was found.

All told, 26 PLSAR volunteers took part in the rescue and logged near 1,450 road miles while seeking the couple. PLSAR put the couple up at a local hotel for the night.