TCSAR Rescues Lost Hiker During Midnight Mission

On Thursday, August 27, Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers were called out for a midnight mission.

Just before 10 p.m. on Thursday, TCSAR received an emergency call from a family member concerned that their 19-year-old son was lost in the dark after trying to hike up Cream Puff Peak, a 9,639-foot mountain in the Hoback Canyon.

TCSAR volunteers ascend the trail of Cream Puff Peak in search of a lost hiker. Cream Puff Peak is known for a trail network that can at at times difficult to follow even in the daytime. Photo: Teton County Search & Rescue

The subject was visiting family who work in the area during the summer and had been hiking by himself when he lost the trail. The subject called his dad to say that he had been turned around and didn’t know which way to go, which prompted the family to notify emergency personnel. Eventually, the lost hiker’s phone died. He did not have a headlamp or food and had run out of water.

In response, TCSAR sent a team of five volunteers into the field. They began hiking up the trail from the Poison Creek trailhead at 12:30 a.m. The team shouted into the darkness and were able to make voice contact with the subject. However, as the team ascended the mountain the subject’s replies grew softer and intermittent. TCSAR then dispatched another two volunteers into the field at 1:45 a.m. This second team started at the same trailhead but approached off-trail up a ravine to the existing trail on a ridge.

The first team eventually found the subject, who was uninjured but cold, tired and hungry. The volunteers provided him with extra layers, food, and water before they began hiking down the trail together. They all made it back to the trailhead at 3:15 a.m., where the subject’s father picked him up for a ride home.

One takeaway from this incident is to keep a close eye on your cell phone battery life. If you see that your phone is about to die during an emergency, send a text to 911 so that first responders can get your location. That cellular ‘handshake’ will give SAR personnel your coordinates on a map, allowing them to find you even after your cell phone dies. And then, of course, stay in your same location until help arrives.

Injured Speed Flyer Prompts Response From TCSAR

Just after 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 7, a 26-year-old local male became injured after crashing during a speed-wing flight south of Jackson.

Unlike a typical paraglider, a speed wing is a small, lightweight flying setup that is intended to be flown at high speeds in close proximity to the ground or other features. In this case, it appeared that the man had crash landed near the bottom of the mountain near Horsethief Canyon.

The wheeled litter is a key piece of equipment for TCSAR during the warmer months in Jackson Hole. In this case, the team used it to transport an injured speed flyer out of the backcountry near Horsethief Canyon on May 7, 2025. Photo: TCSAR

An emergency call was placed, prompting a response from Teton County Search & Rescue. A team of volunteers drove to the base of Horsethief and accessed the patient by foot, about a 10-minute jaunt from the parking lot. The team assessed the man’s condition, placed him in the wheeled litter, and transported him out of the backcountry. A family member then drove the patient to higher medical care.

TCSAR Pulls All-Nighter to Rescue Injured Hunter

At 7:30 p.m. on Friday, September 27, Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers were alerted to an injured hunter on Mount Leidy. The hunter, a 66-year-old man from California, became injured when he fell while walking down the steep north face of Leidy. The man, who was with a group of hunters from Wyoming, was unable to stand up or walk. At the time of the injury, the group was not near their camp and they were not equipped to spend the night out among the elements. Their location was described as being very remote in extremely thick timber.

The group put in an emergency call to 911, which was connected to TCSAR. With the helicopter grounded due to darkness, TCSAR would be in for a ground response—and the mission turned into an all-nighter.

TCSAR assembled a group of nine volunteers who went into the field. They drove a SAR truck towing a RZR side-by-side as far as they could up a Forest Service road. When the truck could go no farther, a team jumped in the RZR to drive up an old logging road that hadn’t been used in years. Multiple downed trees blocked their path. When the RZR became stymied by deadfall and timber, two volunteers made a fast track through the forest to the patient in order to provide initial care and comfort. Meanwhile, the rest of the volunteers hiked in carrying the wheeled litter.

There was so much deadfall it took the volunteers three hours to get the wheeled litter to the patient. At 2:30 a.m., TCSAR placed the patient in the wheeled litter, and carried him through and over deadfall back to the RZR, an effort that took another few hours. The RZR then transported the man to the SAR truck, and the team gave him a ride to St. John’s Health so he could receive higher medical care. 

The volunteers made it back to the SAR hangar at 5:30 a.m., where they prepped the equipment for the next mission, and then headed home to rest.