QUILCENE — Two injured people were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center after they collided on recreational vehicles at Lake Tarboo about 10 miles north of Quilcene.
William Price, 29, and Samantha Neet, 16, were riding in separate groups along a trail when they collided head-on while rounding a blind corner, said Sgt. Ben Stamper of Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Price, of Port Orchard, was riding a motorcycle with one group while Neet, of Chimacum, was riding a four wheel recreational vehicle with a separate group.
Each one was at the front of their group when they were going around a blind corner and collided.
When their vehicles collided, the two were ejected and their bodies also collided, Stamper said.
Price is at Harborview Medical Center where he is listed in serious condition.
Neet was treated and discharged from Harborview.
Both had head injuries.
“We don’t think that they even knew the other group was out riding around out there,” Stamper said.
Stamper added that the two groups were on privately owned timberland.
“These weren’t sanctioned trails or anything,” he said.
“If they had been, some of the brush would have been cleared, so you could see what was coming around that corner.
“This was really a bad-time, bad-place situation.”
The area was extremely remote and the Quilcene and Discovery Bay Fire and Rescue had several vehicles get stuck while trying to reach the victims, said Chief Bob Wilson.
“We had 14 responders, two paramedics and two helicopters helping out,” Wilson said.
“We had to get the sheriff’s four-wheel drive vehicle out there because it was so rough.”
Complicating the issue for helicopters was that Bonneville Power lines run above the area where the collision happened.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office all-terrain vehicle was necessary to get responders to the location, Stamper said.
Neet was taken to Quilcene School where an Air Lift Northwest helicopter took her to Harborview.
Price could not be transported over the rugged terrain because of his injuries, so a Coast Guard HH-65C Dolphin helicopter crew from Coast Guard Group/Air Station Port Angeles launched to the scene and airlifted him to the hospital.
