Teenage hiker falls off cliff, rescued by Coast Guard

CLALLAM -- A 15-year-old girl visiting Olympic National Park on a school field trip fell 15 feet head-first off a cliff north of the Hoh River and had to be medically evacuated by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter, the Coast Guard announced Monday.  She was reported to be in stable condition.

"At approximately 10:46 a.m., watch-standers at Coast Guard Sector Puget Sound in Seattle received a request from National Park Service employees to rescue a fallen hiker," a Coast Guard news release said. "The hiker, an Idaho native visiting the park on a school field trip, had reportedly fallen head-first onto a beach and was in-and-out of consciousness."

An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter crew lower a "rescue swimmer" to the site and the girl was hoisted aboard the copter at 1:12 p.m. and taken to Seattle's Harborview Medical Center.