Maps take drivers on unwanted detours into rugged terrain on way to Sun Peaks

Chase RCMP receive 2 calls in less than a week about vehicles lost on snowy roads

Martha Wickett
May 26, 2023 6:30 PM

32846765_web1_230602-SAA-lost-Sun-Peaks — Maps guide drivers to impassable terrain on way to Sun Peaks Resort, Chase RCMP responds to 911 calls. (Google Maps image)

Two people went badly astray on the way to Sun Peaks Resort by following directions on their cell phones.

Chase RCMP received two calls in May from people stranded while trying to get to the resort that sits about 50 kilometres from Kamloops.

On May 13 about 9:30 p.m., a person called 911 to say she was following Google Maps when she became lost in the dark near Cahilty Forest Service Road in Adams Lake. Not surprisingly, said a media release, her Honda Fit was not equipped for the terrain she encountered. Fortunately she turned around before her vehicle became stuck in the snow. Police say they were eventually able to locate her and guide her back to a more populated area.

Less than a week later, Chase RCMP received another request to help a family stranded in the same situation. The call came in on May 19 at 8:50 p.m.

鈥淭his caller reported he was travelling from Calgary to Sun Peaks. Google Maps directed him to travel by Forest Service Road from Adams Lake to Sun Peaks; he followed those directions precisely until his vehicle got stuck in the snow,鈥� reads the release.

Police were trying to locate the vehicle when they received word that the family had managed to free their vehicle and were backtracking so they could take a road more travelled.

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About the Author: Martha Wickett

came to Salmon Arm in May of 2004 to work at the Observer. I was looking for a change from the hustle and bustle of the Lower Mainland, where I had spent more than a decade working in community newspapers.

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