[Elvis]

Part 1 from 6-9-07 Pieces fell into place today so I thought I'd try to scoot down and get to the Pilchuck Lookout, since I didn't succeed earlier this month. Arrived at the TH about 6:40pm to find an ambulance in the parking lot with three people milling around. A friendly bearded fellow came over to greet me... mistaking me for 'the first SAR person to show up'. Hmmmm.... I explained that unfortunately that wasn't me, but inquired about what was going on. Turns out a 12 yr old male on some kind of group outing with chaperones slipped, slid and fell down a steep snow slope some short distance and was unable to walk out on his own. So... SAR was called and they were waiting for the volunteers to arrive. Beat my way through the flies and mosquitos, wishing I had brought my bug juice. As Layback mentioned, they weren't bad if you kept moving... but once you stop, the organized attack begins. In addition to being annoying, they flubbed up more photos than you can imagine. Here is a sampling:

Bugger5

Bugger3

Bugger1

Bugger2

Bugger6

With a little luck, I did manage some photos without those little buggers:

Plant Growth

Pilchuck scenery

Pilchuck scenery

Rainier from Pilchuck

SAR Rescue on Pilchuck

On the way back down I stopped to chat with one of the people at one of the SAR checkpoints... suggested he check out this site. Also, I realized that I didn't actually unpack the bug juice from my outing last weekend... so a quick check in the pack proved that I did have it all along. After sharing with SAR checkpoint guy, I applied some on myself but it only helped a bit. I'm estimating there were at least 30 SAR volunteers that I passed on my return to the trailhead. Hopefully the rest of the rescue went smoothly and quickly and hopefully he'll make a quick recovery. ~E