Two women were hurt in separate falling incidents Saturday
in Grand County, including one that had volunteers with Grand County Search and
Rescue rafting at night.
According to a news release, a search and rescue team was
called into action around 10 a.m. Saturday when a 55-year-old woman slipped
about 12 feet into Jim Creek near the waterfall and hit her head on a log.
The woman suffered a twisted ankle, elbow pain and a bump on
her head. She had wrapped her ankle and started walking back down the trail
where she met up with two rescue team members and paramedics driving up on
ATVs. Other rescue team members had gotten a litter ready to go, but the woman
was brought back to the trailhead so it wasn’t needed, and everyone was safely
off the trail by noon.
Shortly after that call, the Grand County Search and Rescue
took another at about 4 p.m. following an accident near the Colorado River
between Pumphouse and Radium in Gore Canyon.
According to the release, a young woman had fallen about 15
feet in a rocky ravine near Mary’s Wall, and two sheriff’s deputies and a BLM ranger
went in from above the ravine on hiking trails to try to find her. At the same
time, two local rafters were recruited to bring in volunteers with search and
rescue from the river.
Altogether, five volunteers and two EMS paramedics launched
from Pumphouse and headed downriver. From the river, they had a short but
difficult hike up the ravine to the base of a rock cliff where the woman had
fallen.
Once there, paramedics attended to the woman’s injuries and
put her on a litter. A rope belay system was then set up to bring the litter
down the ravine slowly, and everyone took turns carrying the woman on litter to
the rafts.
As expected, the team lost radio communication as soon as
the rafts got on the river, and most of the rescue mission had to be monitored
by a drone from the sheriff’s office. The drone was also helpful lighting the
way to the Radium boat ramp, as the team rafted out in the dark.
Everyone was safely on shore by 8:30 p.m., and the rescue
team is thankful for the rafters who helped out.
The woman and her friends were reportedly hiking off trail
with tubes to get to the river, and she appeared to be wearing flip-flops. In
the release, the rescue team reminded people to always have proper footwear
when hiking, avoid hiking off trail and stick to established river put-ins.