Christyna Arista was not going to wait.

Her husband, Andres Marin, was lost in the darkness in the Cleveland National Forest, injured, disoriented, cold, wet and lightly dressed.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department had suspended its search for the night Saturday and the volunteers with the Riverside Mountain Rescue Unit had decided conditions were too treacherous to ascend the trail on which the mountain biker was lost.

So Arista, an experienced hiker, gathered six other family members and against the advice of sheriff’s officials set out on foot about 3:45 a.m. Sunday from Corona toward Santiago Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains. They split up into twos and threes, carrying flashlights and other equipment.

They ascended Indian Truck Trail on the belief that Marin was beginning a descent from the peak. He had called his wife about 5:30 p.m. Saturday more than two hours after he was supposed to have come home to say that he didn’t know where he was and that, although he was headed down the mountain, he didn’t think he could make it. His speech was slow, and he had difficulty answering questions. He said he had fallen.

Shortly before Arista’s brother-in-law arrived at Santiago Peak about six hours and 13 miles later, another volunteer rescuer who had ignored sheriff’s officials found Marin’s body.

Marin’s hands were on the handlebars and his feet were on the pedals. The bike was leaning against the side of the hill.

Marin was purple, and he was dead.

ANGRY WITH RESCUERS

In an interview in the couple’s home Monday, Arista said she was upset that rescuers did not do more to find her husband immediately after she reported him missing about 6 p.m. Saturday.

“I’m angry with them,” said Arista, 33. “I don’t think they made the right choice.”

Sheriff’s Lt. Zach Hall said ideally the department would have sent a helicopter to follow the approximately 53-mile route that Marin, 34, had planned to follow along Skyline Trail, Main Divide Road and Indian Truck Trial.

But the steady rain that night prevented the helicopter from flying, Hall said. Rescuers also ruled out using motorized vehicles that normally would be able to navigate the dirt road because Friday’s heavy rain left the clay soil too slick. The conditions also made hiking to wherever Marin might have been dangerous.

“We could have set up ourselves for a self-rescue. I would not have sent people up there to get hurt,” Hall said.

A sheriff’s news release said a deputy was positioned at the Skyline Trailhead that night, and rescue teams were organized for an early-morning search. Conditions improved enough by 6 a.m. to send out off-highway vehicles and a helicopter.

“I’m upset that we couldn’t get to him in time,” Hall said.

Pete Carlson, writing on the Riverside Mountain Rescue website, said, “With bad weather, no exact location, and no way to drive the roads, the Sheriff and RMRU decided to wait until first light Sunday morning to start searching.”

UNPREPARED

Arista said the Riverside County coroner told her Marin had scratches and cuts but nothing that would have killed him. She believes he simply froze to death.

Arista said her husband was not prepared for the overnight conditions. There was a light but steady rain that evening, and while the National Weather Service does not record the temperature atop Santiago Peak, it got down to 39 degrees on nearby Pleasants Peak, which is about 1,800 feet lower in elevation.

Marin was wearing only a thin shirt that he had recently purchased and cycling shorts. He ignored his wife’s advice to bring food. He had left about 6 a.m. and had planned to return by 3 p.m. so the family could celebrate his birthday, which was that day, at Medieval Times in Buena Park.

Hall, the sheriff’s lieutenant, said that hikers and bicyclist planning even short day trips should prepare for the worst. That means wearing layers of clothing, bringing food and water and carrying a cellphone or beacon.

The route that Marin had planned to take is popular with hikers and bicyclists. Tyler Deweese, a salesman at Jenson USA Bicycles in Corona, said the trail has about a 4,000-foot increase in elevation. He said he was surprised that someone would go out on the trail after Friday’s downpour, which Deweese said could have made the trail “unrideable.”

Arista said her husband had been planning the ride for two weeks and there was no discussion about postponing it for more favorable conditions.

AN ADVENTUROUS SOUL

Marin was not prone to doing things the easy way.

Arista said the family liked to hike to a waterfall in the San Bernardino Mountains community of Forest Falls. While most people would take a well-worn path, the family preferred to climb over rocks to reach the waterfall.

“It was more adventurous,” Arista said.

Marin was a forklift operator at Acker-Stone in Corona, which makes decorative rocks. Arista works at Millennium III in Corona, doing graphic design.

It seemed the family was always hiking, biking or climbing. The couple, who had been married 14 years and had been together for 16, had four children: Andres Jr., 14; Jazmyn, 10; Christal, 7; and Julyan, 4.

Marin purchased his mountain bike only two weeks ago, a light-blue, 29-inch Giant Trance.

“He said, ‘This is my last bike,’ ” Arista said.

Contact Brian Rokos at 951-368-9569 or brokos@pe.com