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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT BLACKBERRY EDITION Friday, August 4, 2006 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Sequoia-Kings Canyon NPs Search In Progress For Missing Hiker A search is currently in progress for a missing hiker in the northernmost section of Kings Canyon National Park. The missing woman was last seen by her companion on the afternoon of Monday, July 31st, when she went swimming near their camp during a multi-day backpacking trip. The woman's companion searched the area, then hiked late into the evening until he found a location where his cell phone had service. He called someone at Florence Lake who in turn contacted the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. The National Park Service was notified at 10:30 p.m. on Monday night. Search teams from the park and the Fresno County Sheriff's Office arrived on scene early Tuesday morning. A full-scale search involving three helicopters, dog teams, hikers, horses, and swift-water trained personnel is ongoing. At this time, the search is focused in and along the steep, narrow, river canyons of the San Joaquin River along the John Muir Trail. The search is being coordinated by the two agencies, with the Fresno Sheriff's Office taking primary responsibility for areas in the Sierra National Forest. [Alexandra Picavet, Public Affairs Officer] Grand Canyon NP Storms Cause Trail Damage In Park Storms that passed over the Grand Canyon area last Monday and Tuesday evenings caused damage to the River Trail, which connects the popular Bright Angel and Kaibab Trails. Although the trail is still open to hikers, a two-mile section was eroded, exposing power and water lines. As a result, overnight mule trips to Phantom Ranch, run by Xanterra South Rim, will be cancelled through at least Saturday, August 5th, or until the trail is safe for mule travel. One-day mule trips from the Bright Angel trailhead to Plateau Point, also operated by Xanterra, are still available. The trail damage was discovered after aerial flights on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. The area known as the Sand Dunes, which is located approximately seven miles below the rim on the River Trail, was the most severely affected by the storms. Approximately 1800 linear feet of trail was eroded and other sections of the River Trail covered by debris. Trail crew members will replace nine to twelve inches of soil over the exposed lines and replace fill material where water has eroded the trail. They will also be removing debris that has washed onto several sections of the River Trail. Repair work is expected to take seven to fourteen days to complete. [Maureen Oltrogge, Public Affairs Officer] Grand Teton NP Rescue Of Seriously Injured Climber Rangers evacuated a seriously injured climber from Garnet Canyon early on the morning of July 31st. D.V., 52, of Plano, Texas, had severely injured his left ankle the previous day while descending the Garnet Canyon moraine, just below the fixed rope near the Lower Saddle at an elevation of approximately 11,000 feet. D.V. had reached the summit of the Grand Teton earlier that day with a group of climbers led by Exum Mountain Guides. A climber in the area ascended to the Lower Saddle and reported the accident to a ranger who was on patrol there at about 3:30 p.m. The ranger provided emergency medical assistance and began helping D.V. descend. Another ranger, also on patrol in the vicinity, descended to the scene, bringing a litter and other rescue equipment. The rescue party placed D.V. in the litter and carried him down to the Garnet Canyon Meadows - a descent of over 2,000 feet over difficult terrain. Two other Exum guides came upon the party and provided assistance. Several climbers from private parties and three off-duty park employees also helped with the descent to the Meadows. Rangers decided that flying D.V. from Garnet Canyon Meadows was a safer option for both the rangers and the patient than attempting to transport him in a rescue litter through the large boulder field below the Meadows area. Strong, erratic and gusty winds prevented rangers from utilizing the interagency contract helicopter Sunday night, but calm weather on Monday morning made it possible for the helicopter rescue operation to proceed. The helicopter flew to a landing zone in the Garnet Canyon Meadows, picked up D.V., and flew him to Lupine Meadows. He was then taken to St. John's Medical Center in Jackson. [Jackie Skaggs, Public Affairs Officer] Yosemite NP Rescue Of Injured Hiker Yosemite dispatch received a report of a woman with a head injury near the Porcupine Creek trailhead at 6:30 p.m. on July 28th. The injury resulted from a ground level fall that had occurred at 2 p.m. The woman soon started having headaches and became dizzy. Members of the hiking party, including two medical doctors, asked other visitors to call 911. Rangers from the Mather District responded along with the Tuolumne SAR team. After rangers arrived on scene, the woman began seizing and became unresponsive. The litter team ran two miles, fully loaded with gear, in order to expedite a wheeled litter carryout to a waiting ambulance. Due to paramedic interventions at the scene, the woman began to become responsive again. She was taken to a waiting medical helicopter for immediate transport to a trauma center in Modesto. [Christopher Kuvlesky, Park Ranger/IC] Dinosaur NM Multiple Same-Day Medical Responses On the evening of Saturday, July 22nd, dispatchers in Moffat County received a satellite telephone call from rafters on the Green River within the park. They reported that one of their number had broken his ribs, asked for an ambulance, and said that they'd raft him the next day from Pot Creek to Echo Park, a distance of ten miles, and meet the ambulance at noon. On Sunday morning, a volunteer ambulance crew from Maybell arrived at the park and made its way down a steep single-lane dirt road to rendezvous with the Echo Park ranger. At about the same time, the Deerlodge ranger, stationed at the put-in on the Yampa River, received a call from a group on the Green River that reported that a man in their group had bruised his chest and needed a ranger evacuation from Echo Park. The Echo Park ranger was notified of this second injury. By 2 p.m. the temperature at Echo Park was 107 degrees and no rafters had arrived. The Deerlodge ranger then received a call from yet another group of rafters, who told him that they were six miles upriver, had cancelled their contract with the company that was to shuttle their cars, and didn't know where their vehicles could be found. At 4:30 p.m., the commercial company believed to be transporting the man with the broken ribs showed up at Echo Park - but with no injured rafters and no knowledge of any injury. The Maybell ambulance, which had by then been at the park for more than six hours, was accordingly released. At about this time, the park received a call reporting that a 50-year-old woman had collapsed and was unconscious and suffering seizures at Winnie's Grotto, four miles below Lodore in the Green River canyon. The park provided coordinates to a beach below Winnie's to a LifeAlert helicopter from Grand Junction, which flew to the site and picked up the woman. As this was going on, the injured rafter arrived at Echo Park. He was suffering from either bruised or broken ribs plus multiple abrasions. Investigation revealed that he was the one and only injured party and that the reports of the rafter with the broken ribs and the rafter with chest bruises referred to the same man. The group had pinned a boat at Disaster Falls, but had finally extricated it. The injured man was the only experienced rafter in the group. He was driven to his vehicle at the Split Mountain boat ramp, but an hour-long search had to then be conducted to find his car keys. All visitors departed and staff were released at 10 p.m. [Kathy Krisko, Assistant Chief Ranger] OTHER NEWS Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter: Pinnacles - Report on the success of a 23-year-long effort to screen out feral hogs from the core area of the park Kenai Fjords - Mike Tetreau is leaving the NPS. * * * * * Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA. --- ### --- |