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| Hiking | 4.50 Miles |
1,330 AEG |
| | Hiking | 4.50 Miles | | | |
| 1,330 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Went for what I planned to be a quick hike up to the thumb and back to get some exercise and check on the wild flowers. The Mexican Gold Poppies were well represented with many patches on the south facing hillsides. The Lupine were just starting to show. Stopped a lot to take photos and chat with people, had a snack at the Thumb and started back down taking my time.
About halfway back a lady that was passing me said a woman had broken her ankle near the Thumb and 911 had been called. I stopped at a viewpoint planning to take some photos of what I thought would be a helicopter rescue. The first emergency team to show up were 3 EMTs with their medical gear hiking up the trail the 2+ miles to the Thumb. They were soon followed by another team of 4 with the equipment for taking the injured person down the trail. Then the rescue helicopter showed up and after flying around the Thumb a couple of times they decided to fly her out to the empty horse trailer parking lot at the trailhead. About that time another team of 3 guys from the Phoenix Police came up the trail. Seemed like manpower overkill but I think they were just being prepared for any contingency. Since the trail extraction crew and the three Phoenix policemen were not needed after the decision to fly her out was made, they came back down the trail accompanying another injured hiker along the way who was able to walk. Finally, the woman with the broken ankle was hauled up to the hovering helicopter and dropped off in the parking lot for transfer to an ambulance. All this took about 1.5 hours so my quick hike ended up taking about 4 hours. |
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Route Editor
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