SEATTLE — The Coast Guard rescued a missing hiker from a ravine late Sunday near Six Mile trail in the southeast area of Olympic National Park. Rescued was Jerren Fisher, 26. Fisher entered the park on Sept. 8 and was missing for a week.
An Olympic National Park search and rescue team located the man at about 4:35 p.m. on Sunday. They had verbal contact with him but could not access the area due to the steepness of the ravine. The party contacted Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles at 5:10 p.m. requesting air rescue assistance.
Air Station Port Angeles contacted watchstanders at the 13th Coast Guard District command center in Seattle to alert them to the situation and launched an MH-65 Dolphin rescue helicopter crew to the scene.
Once in the vicinity, it took the aircrew about 30 minutes to locate the search party. The hiker used a flashlight to vector the helicopter into the area.
Due to fuel constraints and the complexity of the hoist, another aircrew aboard a Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter from Air Station Astoria was also dispatched to the scene.
The Astoria aircrew took over from Port Angeles at 7:20 p.m. and deployed their rescue swimmer into the ravine.
The Coast Guard aircrew hoisted Fisher from the ravine at about 8 p.m. and took him to Olympia Regional Airport.
The crew landed at 8:30 p.m. and the hiker was transferred to awaiting EMS in stable condition.
“Thanks to the National Park Service rescue teams who located the stranded hiker and were able to direct our aircrews to achieve a safe rescue,” said Lt. Cmdr. Colin Boyle, 13th District command center chief. “The Coast Guard urges hikers and mariners venturing into remote areas to have a plan for reliable communication to reach first responders if necessary.”