Jackson, Wyo. — Teton County Search & Rescue volunteers responded to three calls between July 7-8, making for a busy few days that covered nearly their entire service area.

Just before noon on Friday, July 7, a local woman in her 50s was hiking with her dog on the History trail when she came down with a lower leg injury. TCSAR responded with a team driving the RZR (a utility terrain vehicle) up the Old Pass Road. The volunteers located the patient, splinted the injury, transported her in the wheeled litter back to the RZR, and drove her down the Old Pass Road to her vehicle. The team completed the mission in 2 hours and 30 minutes.

TCSAR uses the wheeled litter to help transport an injured patient out of Teton Canyon, on the west side of the Tetons. Photo: TCSAR

At 7 a.m. on Saturday morning, July 8, the team received a call regarding a cyclist having a medical issue at Mosquito Lake off the Union Pass Road. TCSAR volunteers responded by driving a SAR truck towing the RZR on a trailer to the north access of Union Pass Road. They then drove the RZR down the dirt road to Mosquito Lake, where they met the patient and his riding partner, who were both visiting from out of state. The team then drove the men, with their bikes loaded on a bike rack attached to the RZR, out of the backcountry and back to Jackson for higher medical care. Due to the remoteness of Mosquito Lake and the long drive, this mission wrapped up in 8 hours, 32 minutes.

As that rescue call played out on Saturday, TCSAR received a call at 12:25 p.m. from the west side of the Tetons. This concerned a visiting man in his mid-60s who had sustained a lower leg injury while hiking on the North Teton trail of Table Mountain. The man’s companions were able to provide initial treatment but required further assistance from TCSAR to get out of the backcountry. Volunteers drove to the trailhead and entered the backcountry on foot carrying the wheeled litter. Once on scene, they packaged the man in the litter and wheeled him out about a mile to the trailhead. The mission took 5 hours and 5 minutes to complete.