A Real Mountain Wilderness Rescue

After our conference was over yesterday, a colleague of mine, Glen Gray, from Los Angeles, and I drove up to the park and took a nice 3-hour hike up to the postcard lakes.  The rangers advised us that the trail was open to Nymph Lake, but getting to Dream Lake would be more difficult, since there was still a lot of snow covering the trail higher up..  They then warned us NOT to go past Dream Lake, since the trail up to Emerald Lake was still under slippery slushy snow and ice.

We made it to Nymph without problem (considering it's uphill!).  We pushed on, across occasional snow banks and berms, slipping and sliding, using my hiking staff, holding on to the rock walls on the ledges, etc. 

About 90% of the way to Dream Lake, we were surprised to encounter the search-and-rescue team coming down, carrying a stretcher-type of contraption, with a person strapped inside.  Obviously, someone had not heeded the warning, and had slipped and fallen and gotten hurt.  The person was apparently not in danger of dying, but was being carried down inside the rescue contraption.  The device had a single wheel to support the weight of the victim, while the team held it level. 

Since the lower 1/2 mile of trail consists of a lot of wood and rock stair-type steps, I imagine the poor victim was bounced around a whole lot on that single wheel before they got  back to the trailhead.

Anyway, the encounter provided a little excitement.  It's also good to know that there's a large cadre of well-trained, well-equipped, well-conditioned fit young people available to stabilize your condition, secure you, and carry you out by hand if you become completely debilitated out in the wilderness.