BELLINGHAM — A hiker who marked out “HELP”‘ in the snow with his snowshoes was rescued Saturday from Church Mountain near Bellingham by a helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles.
According to the Coast Guard, a U.S. Customs helicopter crew had spotted the hiker — who’d been missing for four days in the area south of the North Fork of the Nooksack River — but wasn’t equipped to rescue him.
An HH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Port Angeles was diverted to the scene, where it hoisted the hiker to safety and took him to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Bellingham.
The Coast Guard did not release the name of the man, who was said to be in satisfactory condition in the hospital.
According to the Internet site kulshan.com, the trail up Church Mountain leads from a logging road at 2,400 feet elevation to a former fire lookout site at 6,000 feet.
