OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK — A man hiking north of Rialto Beach in 2007 was stopped in his tracks.
It was high tide and he couldn’t get around the next headland. He was late for work, so he picked up his cell phone to call Olympic National Park rangers.
“He wanted to call a helicopter to come and pick him up,” said Bryan Bell, an Olympic National Park ranger.
“We told him we couldn’t do that, of course.”
Another man hiking in the heart of the park used his handheld device for the same reason.
“There was an executive a couple years ago who was in the Bailey Range who was going to be there longer than expected and asked about getting a flight out,” said Dave Reynolds, Olympic National Park spokesman.
“The park couldn’t fly a helicopter to him. You can’t just land a helicopter in the wilderness.
“We get those requests from time to time.”
But the vast majority of emergency cell phone calls are legitimate, park officials say.
Bell, who manages the park’s Wilderness Information Center, and three other rangers rescued a lost skier who may have saved his own life by bringing his cell phone.
Facing white-out conditions on Hurricane Hill in December 2007, Randy Kraxberger of Port Townsend phoned the park because he was disoriented.
Rangers Michael Danisiewicz, Sanny Lustig, Scot Bowen and Bell rescued Kraxberger the next morning, and later received the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Valor Award.
“If someone’s life is in danger, we go to great lengths to make sure that that person is assisted,” said Jon Preston, a park ranger who works on the West End in both Clallam and Jefferson counties.
Overall, park officials say the use of technology among visitors has not been a detriment to rangers.
“I’ve been around 16 years, and there’s just been a few cases where one thinks to themselves, ‘This is sort of ridiculous,'” Bell said.
Phone coverage spotty
Technology, however, can present a false blanket of security, especially in a rugged, remote park where cell phone coverage is spotty at best, Bell added.
“Technology can be you friend, or you can over-rely on it,” Reynolds said.
“In the wilderness, you shouldn’t rely on your cell phone.”
Getting in touch with park rangers can be tricky, Preston said. Deep valleys and wooded ridge tops make cell coverage problematic.
“It would definitely be foolhardy to come into this wilderness park and expect cell coverage,” said Preston, who gets reception on his phone about a mile up the trail from the Hoh Rain Forest Visitor Center.
“Beyond that, you’re in a dead zone,” he said.
Preston described technology as a “mixed bag” that can help save lives but also lead to unwarranted search-and-rescue operations.
“Searches are very, very expensive,” Preston said.
“They also have detrimental impacts to the resources that we’re tasked with protecting. We’re going to go to any length possible to save somebody’s life.
“Often times, that means trampling through areas of vegetation that normally we would never walk through.”
“Given that, if a person is genuinely in trouble, by all means, call. But most of the park is not covered with cell phones.”
Rescues expensive
A helicopter rescue operation costs taxpayers at least $1,000 per hour, Reynolds said.
“And then with one or two people on board, and hazard pay sometimes involved, it’s about $1,500 to $2,000 for those kind of rescue missions,” Reynolds said.
“That’s on the low end, and as much as $15,000 on the high end.”
Bell recalled another 2007 case in which two hikers phoned rangers from the Bailey Range because they were “stuck and tired, and sort of scared to go any further.”
The hikers wanted a helicopter, but instead they got hiking companionship.
Helped with a hike
“We hiked in and helped them hike out,” Bell said.
Barb Maynes, Olympic National Park spokeswoman, said she recalled some rescues “where maybe people called up asking to be rescued, and maybe what they needed is some encouragement to keep moving.”
Preston said rangers will evaluate a problem to determine if a helicopter is the appropriate response.
“We don’t generally willy-nilly fly in a helicopter for any problem that might arise,” Preston said.
“We’ll talk to you, but it may not necessarily include a helicopter flight. It may not be the appropriate response.”
The bottom line, park officials say, is don’t rely on technology to bail you out.
Self-rescue and first aid skills, along with the proper equipment and wilderness know-how, are essential, Bell said.
For wilderness safety information, phone the Olympic National Park Wilderness Information Center at 360-565-3100.
________
Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
