[fffej50]

I have lurked here for years usually posting something snide/snarky when I see a trip report covering familiar ground.... I found myself without a functioning knee for no apparent reason last Saturday with a very long steep day ahead of me I am 70 years old and my left knee has been replaced and it's been great but I was going nowhere anytime soon and the idea of being carried down that hill side can't be imagined.(+it was going to rain)... this is a big big thank you to the Navy search and rescue who flew out of Oak Harbor and the two Erics who were camped nearby and happened to be wilderness first responders. They climbed Snowking got cell service and the next thing I know I was hoisted up and taken to the ranger station in Marblemount where a sweetheart of Skagit county sheriff drove me to a hospital in Burlington.... jeff

[Kim Brown]

Wow, quite a story! How did you get communication going? I'm curious to know.

[fffej50]

it was pure coincidence, they were camped at the next tarn over (where Foist reported the smoldering fire now out... but 100 feet of blackened earth) my hiking partner went over to chat with them before heading down to get help.

[Kim Brown]

Jeff I don't know if you're a praying kinda man. If not I'll send up some thanks. Hell, I guess I will, anyway. Yours is the 2nd guardian angel-in-the-mountains I have heard this week!

[Bernardo]

Glad you are ok. What's the prognosis?

[Damian]

Well it took this to get ya to quit lurking and join in I guess. Glad all's well and I hope they figure this thing out.

[Bedivere]

Sorry to read about this. I hope you enjoy a speedy recovery! I'm very curious about your impressions of the helicopter ride. From the outside looking in, it looks like it has the potential to either be the most exhilarating and enjoyable part of the whole experience or a terrifying and uncomfortable ordeal.

[fffej50]

the ride was a treat, but I was embarrassed/humbled that I needed the help, I wasn't wrecked like the guy they hauled out earlier that day who had fallen off of Formidable with multiple fractures.... x-rays revealed bone spurs on the inside of my patella that aggravated the Itb band (sp) my left leg is a scarred mess that has been broken in 5 places including a compound fib/tib fracture .... but that was nearly 40 years ago while riding a motorcycle .... I've since done bunches of tough off trail meanders without a problem (Bacon Berdeen Blum, the Bailey, Ptarmigan traverse etc.) by the way there's 4 dead guy ales stashed in the last stream about 75 feet up from the road before you have to park ....

[moonspots]

[Foist]

Wow, I can't believe you managed the Kindy Ridge trail at 70 on the way in (and with a bum knee)! Very impressed. Not sure I'll be able to manage it at 40 (which is next year). That is too bad about the smoldering hole. So those campsites just to the south, are they toast?

[fffej50]

yeah, i'm old but this was the 5th time I've been there over the years.... it's a beautiful place as you know... and I have a very short attention span.... (it's not that hard)Bacon/ Berdeen was hard. The campsites are fine but that fire smoldered/burned all the way down that hill under the sub alpine spruce/fir without igniting the trees, hard to believe.

[Bedivere]

Thanks for responding! Sounds like it's arthroscopy time. Hopefully they can get in there and smooth things out and have you back on the trail by spring.