Hiker plummets 100 feet off California coast, desperately clings to life above ocean rocks

Fire and seashore defender teams successful Humboldt County staged a laborious rescue cognition Saturday aft a hiker who strayed disconnected California’s Lost Coast Trail plummeted 100 feet down a rugged cliff and had to cling to a 60-foot bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The hiker was “barely holding on” with hiking poles for much than an hour, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay.

The hiker and a companion had wandered disconnected the distant 53-mile hiking way that follows the bluish California coastline of redwoods and achromatic soil beaches connected the day of March 22 erstwhile 1 of them fell 100 feet.

Bleeding from injuries and with a dislocated shoulder, the hiker utilized poles to cling to an astir vertical cliff, dangling perilously implicit a formation of gravel, rocks and boulders.

The different hiker, who was not hurt, was stranded above.

Shelter Cove Fire Chief Nick Pape said the hikers ventured astir 400 yards disconnected the sign-posted Lost Coast Trail onto a overmuch narrower cervid oregon carnivore trail.

“They were decidedly successful an off-trail country and a unsafe spot,” Pape said. “It benignant of looks similar a hiking trail. However, it’s not — and that way leads to a precise unsafe information of the cliffs supra the beach.”’

Initially, Pape said, the hiker astatine the apical of the cliff was holding connected to his person by the hiking rod and couldn’t clasp him anymore.

“He slipped down and was precise fortunate to get caught, due to the fact that it was a batch worse autumn conscionable beneath him,” Pape added, noting that the bluff went from a steep landslide to a sheer, wholly vertical cliff, with a 60-foot driblet to boulders below. “He would person been earnestly injured, if not killed.”

The rescue cognition was launched conscionable aft 2:20 p.m. erstwhile the Shelter Cove Fire Department got a telephone that the hiker was stranded adjacent Miller Flat successful the King Range National Conservation Area

Due to the treacherous terrain and the area’s way grounds of challenging rescues, the work serviceman instantly requested chopper enactment from the U.S. Coast Guard Sector and deployed a rescue vessel and pitchy skis with 4 rescue swimmers, the occurrence section said successful a statement.

Once the pitchy skis squad located the hikers stranded 75 to 100 feet supra the formation connected a adjacent vertical cliff, Pape said they sent a rescue swimmer from the pitchy skis to the formation and recovered it was excessively unsafe to nonstop the swimmer up to assistance them.

“At 1 constituent the hiker did effort and shift, and they slid down different foot,” Pape said. “That’s wherever our rescue swimmers conscionable started yelling astatine them to not determination and hold for the helicopter.”

The rescue cognition was further challenged by upwind conditions and constricted substance supplies.

“Both hoists required aggravated unit coordination owed to the escaped cliffside, dormant trees, and constricted power,” U.S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay said. “With nary winds and constricted power, the unit had to marque speedy decisions regarding substance and diligent delivery.”

After 3:30 p.m., a seashore defender chopper rescue squad arrived connected scene.

Video footage posted by the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Humboldt Bay showed a chopper flying on the steep coastline and, coordinating with rescuers connected the ground, locating some hikers on the steep cliffside.

“I deliberation I tin get successful without excessively overmuch rotor clearance issues,” 1 subordinate of the unit said.

“Roger,” different said arsenic a unit member, wearing a helmet and an orangish and yellowish jacket, held connected to a cablegram and jumped retired of the helicopter.

After the rescuer reached the injured and bleeding hiker, they waved backmost to the unit above.

Then they hoisted the hiker connected committee the helicopter, flew them to onshore for a aesculapian appraisal by an EMS squad astatine Shelter Cove Airport, and past went backmost to the cliff to rescue the 2nd hiker from a cervid trail.

“With deteriorating upwind to the northbound and lone 15 minutes of substance remaining, the unit was forced to unopen down astatine the airdrome successful Shelter Cove,” the U.S. Coast Guard said successful a statement.

A unit from Cal Fire drove for 4 hours on winding roads connected Shelter Cove to supply the chopper squad with gasoline truthful they could instrumentality backmost to base, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

In total, the occurrence section said, six antithetic agencies — including a premix of paid and unpaid crews — worked connected the rescue, drafting connected millions of dollars of grooming and specialized equipment.

Pape said his squad has conducted betwixt 40 and 50 rescues connected the King Range conception of the formation since helium joined the section successful 2011. In the past 5 years, they person seen a surge of 911 calls and rescues arsenic much radical person discovered the Lost Coast since the pandemic. The northbound information of the Lost Coast way has go peculiarly popular, helium said, arsenic it’s a comparatively level way with small elevation gain, dissimilar parts of the Pacific Crest Trail, and astir of it is connected the beach.

“However, you’re exposed the full magnitude of this way to the coastal conditions, truthful wind, rain, tides, animals, each that benignant of stuff,” helium said. “You’re decidedly successful a agrarian environment. That’s what a batch of radical similar astir the trail, but erstwhile it comes to rescues, determination is simply a sizeable clip lag to get rescuers into that area.”

The spot wherever the hikers got into trouble, Pape said, was 8 miles distant from the vessel ramp wherever rescuers launched their pitchy skis. There was nary casual hiking for rescuers by land, helium added, noting that during atrocious upwind the helicopters can’t get successful to assistance and onshore rescues sometimes took arsenic agelong arsenic 16 hours.

Pape urged hikers to instrumentality clip to hole earlier hitting the Lost Coast Trail.

“This is 1 of the astir beauteous hikes successful California,” helium said. “We privation radical to travel bask it, but beryllium prepared. It is decidedly not a beginner hike. You person to bash your owed diligence and survey and hole a way and person a backup plan.”