Deep snow and confusing flagging tape are making hiking on Mount Riley tricky, say members of the local search and rescue team. Two hiking parties called for help after getting lost on the mountain last week.

Jonathan Truong, 23, a passenger off the cruise ship Ryndam, used a cell phone to call for rescue on the north side of the peak at 12:30 p.m. May 26 after becoming disoriented. Truong had a GPS unit and was at a trail marker when rescuers located him.

“He had never hiked in snow before, the tracks were melting out fast and he couldn’t tell his own tracks from old tracks,” said Tim Walter, 3^rd lieutenant on the search and rescue team. “He kind of veered (off the trail and) onto the Chilkoot side more.”

Even with phone contact, it took the search team more than two hours to locate him. Truong was hiking alone and had made an error by not notifying others about where he was going, Walter said. “Luckily, he was able to stay in cell phone range, or else we wouldn’t have had any idea.”

Truong had no survival gear and snow near the top of the mountain was waist-deep, Walter said.

Search team member C.J. Jones said a line of orange flagging tape was put up in recent months at the second major creek crossing on the trail. The flagging goes off to the left of the trail, then ends. “It takes you off the trail and just leaves you there.”

Until the flagging is removed or the snow melts off the mountain, making the earthen trail visible, the flagging will be a problem, said Jones, who’s been meaning to remove it. “You start following the flagging because flagging marks the trail, right?”

Dr. Linda Keirstead of Haines and two others also became disoriented on the trail at 5 p.m. May 28.

A truck with a siren was sent to the end of Lily Lake Road, where Keirstead’s party was able to home in on it. Her group also had a cell phone. Keirstead declined comment.

Walter said the phones were valuable to both parties, but they’re not a sure rescue. He said there was no reception close to Lily Lake, and Truong’s phone likely wouldn’t have worked from east of Riley summit. “If he would have dropped off the back side, we wouldn’t have heard him.”

Walter said hikers need to be aware that local trails generally aren’t as well-marked or groomed as ones in other places.

Jones said that hard-packed snow is making following tracks difficult. “Unless you’re really observant, you won’t see your own fresh tracks.” Actual trail conditions can be hard to discern from below, she said. “Unless you go up there, you don’t even know there’s snow in the trees.”