Helicopter Called In To Rescue Injured Hiker In Rugged Carbon County Wilderness

A helicopter was called in to help rescue an injured hiker who was stranded in the rugged Platte River Wilderness in southcentral Wyoming on Saturday afternoon.

Carbon County Search and Rescue responded with more than two dozen volunteers to a Garmin inReach SOS message about a hiker with a broken ankle, according to a report from Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken.

The SOS was from a pair of hikers who had traveled about 2 miles north of Elkhorn Point, Bakken says in his report. One of the hikers had a “severe ankle injury,” while the other wasn’t hurt.

Along with the county search and rescue volunteers, aerial responders from Classic Air Rescue and Intermountain Healthcare used a helicopter to locate the hikers along a “small game trail” near a steep canyon above the North Platte River, Bakken said.

That “precarious” position led responders to call for additional support from both East and West Divisions of Carbon County Search and Rescue.

Rugged Terrain 

The unavailability of landing areas on the trail forced the helicopter to conduct what Bakken describes as a “hot unload,” in which the pilot dropped off rescuers before returning to the air. 

Medical personnel then stabilized the injured hiker.

At least 15 volunteers with Carbon County Search and Rescue and several deputies hiked to the patient before deciding to “hot load” them into the helicopter, which had landed on a gravel bar in the river. 

Photos from the incident shared by Bakken show responders carrying a stretcher down the trail while navigating “loose rock, washouts and steep terrain.”

Bakken lauded the rescuer’s work as a successful collaboration between several teams.

“This rescue was a perfect example of the exemplary teamwork and communication between dispatchers at the Carbon County Unified Dispatch Center, deputies with the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office, SAR volunteers from our East and West Divisions and, of course, our friends in high places, the crews with Classic Air Rescue/ Intermountain Healthcare,” he said.

Hiker Hazards

Bakken, who also has served as a search and rescue volunteer, said the high level of coordination and collaboration prevented what could have been a “very different outcome” for the injured hiker.

Saturday’s rescue came about six weeks after Bakken rescued three teens lost on Medicine Bow Peak.

The Carbon County Sheriff’s Office received a distress signal from three hikers who had become lost while climbing Medicine Bow Peak. 

Bakken was in the area and, realizing it was getting dark, he and another volunteer found the teens and guided them to waiting rescue vehicles about 1.5 miles away.

‘Things Just Happen’

Bakken told Cowboy State Daily on Sunday that Saturday’s injured hiker is recovering well. 

He commended the two hikers and said they didn’t do anything wrong.

“These hikers did everything perfect,” Bakken said. “They were a couple, they were in good shape, they had a Garmin SOS inReach device. 

“Sometimes things just happen, sometimes you step on a rock wrong or you step on a log wrong and you break your ankle — and no matter how much you prepare, sometimes those things just happen.”

He said the couple was prepared, and that led to a quick and successful response.

“It wasn’t a matter of being unprepared or making a poor decision, it was just one of those ‘things happen’ (moments) and you can’t really prepare for this,” he said.

Bakken also acknowledged that while search and rescue responses to injured hikers are common, hot loading personnel is somewhat rare. 

These types of rescues, he added, are largely possible due to heightened cooperation between rescue groups.

“In rural Wyoming, it’s so important that we coordinate and work together as a team,” Bakken said. “I think here in Carbon County, we’re really fortunate to have a really strong group of entities that work really well together.”

Jackson Walker can be reached at walker@cowboystatedaily.com.