What started out as an evening walk in the park ended in a ride to safety aboard a hovercraft Sunday night.
West Vancouver police received a call for help from a hiker in Lighthouse Park who had lost his way in the dark, just after 9 p.m. Officers called North Shore Rescue members in to help but sent patrol officers to the park to start the search.
While sticking to trails, police were able to make voice contact with the missing man, who had gotten off trail and stuck on the steep, rocky crags on the waterfront.
"He was safe and uninjured and responding vocally and it was clear he was down close to the water," said Const. Jeff Palmer, West Vancouver police spokesman.
From there, police were able to direct the Canadian Coastguard service to the water's edge to pick the man up and give him a ride to a nearby beach where a cab was waiting.
The hiker wasn't carrying a flashlight and clearly didn't have a safe plan to get out of Lighthouse Park, Palmer said.
"Even in an urban park, you still need to do some basic preparations like: Know where you're going. Leave enough time to get out of there before it gets dark," he said. "You can still get lost in there and you can still get down into some areas where, if you can't see anything, you don't have a safe means to get up and out."
