Staying on designated routes in remote public land areas of the California Desert became an important lesson for an OHV recreationist and his passenger who fell down a vertical mineshaft last weekend in eastern Imperial County (luckily, a broken arm was the only injury). Traveling off-road in a designated "limited use" area (where travel is restricted to identified safe routes), the two men spent Sunday afternoon and night -- 20 hours total --down the abandoned mineshaft before being rescued.

"The two men who spent a night at the bottom of a 30-foot mine shaft in the California desert said they were not sure when — or if — they would get out....The two had a nine-channel radio with them, but it was no good at the bottom of the shaft. They knew their friends and family who were also on vacation with them would start looking at some point, but they did not know if they would be able to find them."

Since Mertle, 67, could not use his broken arm, Cheli set about doing work necessary to last them through the night. He did his best with a lug wrench and a pocket knife to disconnect the vehicle's battery and fuel line.

"If it would have caught fire, we'd have been cooked down there," he said.

Cheli cut up the vehicle's seats and pulled out the foam to warm them, sliced the fabric top to create a makeshift tent and threw anything the two did not need out of the mine in hopes that someone would see it. They were afraid the temperatures would plunge overnight, but Cheli said it was actually not that cold. The fabric top helped in keeping the winds off them.

They spent the night in upright sitting positions trying to sleep but with no success. This was no surprise since two people and a vehicle were wedged into a space that was about 10 feet by 10 feet. Cheli said at one point some sort of animal was near the top of the shaft and knocking rocks in on them.

Mertle said there was no way to climb out of the shaft because the sides went straight up and had loose rock. If no one had found them Monday, Mertle said Cheli was going to attempt to scale the wall.