Search and rescue team carries injured hiker 2 1/2 miles to safety

CLALLAM COUNTY, Wash. -- A man hiking in the Buckhorn Wilderness was carried nearly 2 1/2 miles after he fell and pulled a hamstring on the Camp Handy Trail.

Ruth Nelson and her neighbor, Reed Finrock, were hiking last month when Finrock tripped and was unable to walk.

Nelson then left her neighbor, walked the 2 1/2 miles down the trail then drove 10 miles until she could get a cell phone signal and called 911.



Members of the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department Search and Rescue (SAR) Team and the Fire District III quickly responded, hiking up the Camp Handy Trail, administering first aid to Finrock, then carried him back down the trail.

The search and rescue team thanked Fire District III EMT’s Jim Whitaker and Kevin Van De Wege for making  a "very tough job look easy."

Clallam County Search and Rescue encourages anyone hiking in the backcountry to be prepared, have enough survival gear to spend the night in the event you were to become injured or lost.