It's Wheeled Litter Season in the Tetons: TCSAR Responds to Injured Trail Users

On Sunday, June 22, a 35-year-old local male was trail running by himself in Phillips Canyon when he went down with a knee injury. At 2:10 p.m., he placed a call to 911 after determining that he was unable to walk and would need help getting out of the backcountry. 

TCSAR volunteers transport an injured trail runner down Phillips Canyon on Sunday, June 22. Photo: TCSAR

Teton County Search & Rescue responded with a team of volunteers on foot. The volunteers accessed the canyon from the trailhead on Fish Creek Road, and found the patient 2 miles up the trail.

The team assessed his injuries, and packaged him for transport in the wheeled litter. The volunteers then brought him down the trail to a waiting ambulance, completing the mission in 2 hours, 50 minutes.

The rescue on June 22 was the third time in just more than a week that TCSAR has used the wheeled litter to bring injured trail users out of the Teton backcountry. Photo: TCSAR

This was TCSAR’s third wheeled litter rescue in about a week. On June 14, volunteers placed an injured female hiker in the wheeled litter for a 1.3-mile transport out of Teton Canyon. Then on June 19, the team had the wheeled litter in action again about 1.2 miles up Spring Creek, south of Alta, to help an injured dirt biker get out of the backcountry.

Same Trail, Different Day: TCSAR Responds to Parallel Trail For Injured Mountain Biker

For the second time in four days, Teton County Search & Rescue was called out to help an injured mountain biker on the Parallel Trail on Teton Pass. This time, on Tuesday, May 27, the patient was a 39-year-old local male who washed out on his bike while navigating a berm turn after a jump. The patient sustained a severe lower leg injury in the process. He called 911 at about 4:37 p.m., which initiated an emergency response.

TCSAR volunteers help an injured mountain biker on the Parallel Trail on May 27, 2025: Photo courtesy: Patrick Cunningham

TCSAR volunteers responded to the Old Pass Road and a truck pull-out above the trail on Hwy. 22. Volunteers arrived on foot and provided treatment in the field to alleviate pain and discomfort. The team then packaged the patient in the wheeled litter and transported him down the trail to a waiting ambulance from Jackson Hole Fire/EMS.

Thanks for being such a great patient! Photo courtesy: Patrick Cunningham

TCSAR Gets Called For First Mountain Bike Rescue of the Summer

On Friday, May 23, a 16-year-old local male sustained injuries when he crashed his mountain bike on the Parallel Trail. Parallel is a downhill-specific bike trail with several jumps, some of which have mandatory gaps.

TCSAR transports an injured mountain biker to the base of the Old Pass Road on May 23, 2025. Photo: TCSAR

At approximately 1 p.m., an emergency call was placed to 911, and dispatch paged Teton County Search & Rescue. Volunteers drove a truck to the Old Pass Road, while other volunteers responded to a brake-check pullout above the trail on Hwy 22. 

Approaching the scene on foot, volunteers reached the patient at about 1:30 p.m. They assessed his injuries and packaged him in the wheeled litter. The team then transported the patient in the wheeled litter for about a half mile down Parallel to a waiting ambulance at the Old Pass Road trailhead. Thanks to the help from Jackson Hole Fire/EMS for the coordinated response to this incident.

This is the first mountain bike rescue of the summer season for Teton County Search & Rescue.