PORT ANGELES — A 31-year-old Port Angeles man was injured Saturday when he tumbled about 100 feet in the remote Buckhorn Wilderness, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said.
The man, whose name was being withheld, was rescued by the Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team.
He was treated for minor head, shoulder and back injuries at Olympic Medical Center.
“We were very, very grateful that he was not seriously injured,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Lyman Moores said.
The hiker was about 2 miles up the Tubal Cain Mine Trail south of Sequim when he fell.
Members of a Kingston Boy Scout troop heard the man yelling for help, Moores said.
A scoutmaster hiked out of the area to get cellphone service to phone 9-1-1 and provide GPS coordinates of the injured hiker at about 5:30 p.m.
Initial report
The hiker was initially reported to have suffered a broken back.
About 10 members of the search-and-eescue team made the 26-mile drive up Palo Alto Road to the trailhead.
The hiker was treated by an initial response team at about 11 p.m.
Migel Nogales, a U.S. Border Patrol agent and trained emergency medical technician, provided first aid, Moores said.
Olympic Ambulance and a Clallam County Fire District No. 3 medical unit arrived at the trailhead at about 11:45 p.m.
Moores said the injured hiker had moved from Virginia to Port Angeles about a year ago.
Clallam County Search and Rescue is a volunteer division of the Sheriff’s Office that responds to emergency urban or wilderness search-and-rescue calls 24 hours a day.
Its members train in search and rescue, radio communication, navigation, tracking, emergency medicine, technical rescue and water rescue.
Anyone interested in becoming a Search and Rescue team member should contact the Sheriff’s Office in person or fill out a volunteer application at www.clallam.net/sheriff.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
