[UPDATE 8/15] Rescuers Dispatched to Report of 17-Year-Old Female Hiking With Rattlesnake Bite

Dispatch sent Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue, Petrolia Fire, and a helicopter to Spanish Flats, which is south of Petrolia and north of Shelter Cove along the ocean, because of a report of a hiker with a rattlesnake bite.

Reportedly, the 17-year-old girl is with a large group of hikers. They, including the girl, are all hiking along the Lost Coast Trail to meet with rescuers at Spanish Flats.

UPDATE 2:55 p.m.: Updated location for the bitten girl to meet up with rescuers is the Smith Etter Road. Honeydew Fire has also been asked to respond.

A crew member of the medical response air team requested information on the availability of “antivenom at St. Joe’s…That’s our plan to transport the patient to St. Joe’s,” he said.

UPDATE 3:27 p.m.: One group of rescuers is reporting that they are unable to locate the girl and her companions.
UPDATE 5:07 p.m.: The fog rolled in so the chopper had to leave. [Note: Cal Fire says the chopper left due to needing fuel and didn’t return due to high winds.] The young woman has not yet been located.

UPDATE 7 p.m.: The patient just came into Jerold Phelps Hospital, according to dispatch. All resources were canceled.

UPDATE: According to unofficial reports, we’ve heard the young woman is okay.

UPDATE 8/15: Rattlesnake Bite Victim Received no Venom, Says Sheriff’s Office

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Stormy
Guest
Stormy
6 years ago

None of them knows what to do? Seriously? Our tax dollars now at work. Ugh.

Buck
Guest
Buck
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

People dont tend to carry anti venom in their back pocket ya know.

8 snales this year
Guest
8 snales this year
6 years ago
Reply to  Buck

You cant buy it. I tried. And The hospitals don’t keep it on hand either. I was told that our rattlesnakes are less poisonous. Not that I believed them..

zoltan
Guest
zoltan
6 years ago
Reply to  Buck

It is too expensive for that.

😊
Guest
😊
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

There’s not much you can do without anti-venom but try and remain calm. I think its a good use of tax dollars.

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  😊

And stay in shade with a good supply of water.

zoltan
Guest
zoltan
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon Forrest

Panic causes death.normally non lethal ,without treatment.ive been around many bitten dogs that survive in sinaloa .a very poor region.

Dan Fuller
Guest
Dan Fuller
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Tax dollars at work my ASS these brave men & women are ALL VOLUNTEER they do NOT make a damned dime from a call!!! They give their free time & sometimes work time as well to go rescue people in need of it for WTF ever reason!!!! Anymore ignorant comments??? I’ll save the expletive since it would just get deleted anyway!!! ;-\

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

Facts don’t matter, Truth does not matter to conservative automatons. Get it?

jj
Guest
jj
6 years ago

that’s helpful.

zoltan
Guest
zoltan
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

Antivenom needn’t be expensive.like epipens,etc.snakes caught and sold for medical,in mexico.a big one brings $100 in capital.minimum wage ,food,beer,meth.no one there milks snakes.rattler federally protected,with horned toad in mexico.

Bridge jumper
Guest
Bridge jumper
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

I’m sure that helicopter was donated

Betty Bolton
Guest
Betty Bolton
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

👍🏽

picchu
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Pretty easy to sit on your butt and criticize. And volunteers aren’t on tax dollars. Many who moan about that don’t even pay taxes.

Lost Croat Outburst
Guest
Lost Croat Outburst
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

Who said that no one knows what to do? Anybody else notice that no matter what the situation is, we have to get a brain-rot comment about tax dollars at work regardless of the facts, such as volunteer rescuers or LEOs or USCG using tax dollars to help our endangered citizens.

I guess Fox News and the Republican negative drum beat destroys people’s brains like meth or alcohol. We see the result now after years of conservative hardliners spewing hate, loathing and lies. Sad. Very sad.

Ullr Rover
Guest
Ullr Rover
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

I can think of a very long list of ways the government wastes tax dollars; search and rescue is not one of them, and the more they do it the better they get at it.

Next time bring a marine radio too...
Guest
Next time bring a marine radio too...
6 years ago
Reply to  Stormy

What do you mean “no one knows what to do”? What do you want to do- from your sofa in Eureka?
The Hikers communicated via a third party, which never works out so well. Then they high tailed it out o there ( I’m guessing she was one of the 90% of snake bites that don’t get invenomated) The worst thing was the party left without following up with anybody ( they may not have realized that they were taken seriously, and that word of there potential emergency got out) That helicopter must be looking for something else? They must have driven past the ambulance waiting for them at Mattole station! The Incident Commander thought to put calls out to local hospitals, and sure enough they had just walked into Phelps in G-ville. The Kings Range is a big place to find a person, especially if they ain’t helping.

Omnomnonimous
Guest
Omnomnonimous
6 years ago

Dang, I did not think there were rattlesnakes that close to the coast. But I guess they have nights a lot warmer along that south facing stretch of the Lost Coast than we get north of the cape.

I hope for a quick extraction and swift and complete recovery for this poor young lady.

Dan Fuller
Guest
Dan Fuller
6 years ago
Reply to  Omnomnonimous

The fires inland are likely responsible, in part, at the very least, for Rattlers being so close to the coast!!!!

LL
Guest
LL
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

That’s an interesting observation.

Steve
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  LL

He’s mental…he’s special.

Seriously
Guest
Seriously
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

There’s always rattle snakes on the lost coast. Also fires don’t give snakes wings to fly fifty miles from a fire

Steve
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

Yeah Dan [edit],they can feel the heat from the Ruth complex and they all decided to go to the coast to chill out…Idiot.

RefFan
Guest
RefFan
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

Fires don’t play into it. There has always been rattlesnakes along the LCT, the sand is warm & there are an abundance of mice in the driftwood.

Next time bring a marine radio too...
Guest
Next time bring a marine radio too...
6 years ago
Reply to  Dan Fuller

[edit] Did you stop to reflect about the notion of all the snakes in Eastern Humboldt somehow migrating over the last month all the way to the coast?! or the annual fires at Spanish Flat? (1st night camping spot on your way South: first chance to make a mistake) There are more Rattlers on the coast than on the west side of the Mattole River. There have been multiple sitings, and bites from rattle snakes on the lost coast over the years. If you havn’t gotten out of the Humboldt bay region recently, let me tell you: the sun is shining, it’s summer out here!

Riddley Walker
Guest
Riddley Walker
6 years ago
Reply to  Omnomnonimous

Rattlers are actually fairly common along the Lost Coast. I’ve hiked that trail probably a dozen times over the years and have seen them frequently. Last time, about three years ago, I sat on a rock at Randall Creek camp and immediately heard the buzz. Jumped up pretty quick.

Big louie
Guest
Big louie
6 years ago
Reply to  Omnomnonimous

If there is water there are snakes unfortunately most of our coastal vipers walk on two legs instead of crawling on ther belly still thay are related so watch out

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

I hope someone with the group knows what to do.God Bless

Susan machi
Guest
6 years ago

Stay out of the driftwood, that is where they hang.

smokin moses
Guest
smokin moses
6 years ago

as a avid snake enthusiasts I am updated on snakebite protocol and the only thing you can do is remain calm and get to a hospital as soon as possible where they will treat you with crofab, a generic antivenin used for all north american pit vipers. all the old recommendations of tourniquet, and cutting and sucking out the venom have been proven to do more harm than good. There are few if any deaths from the Northern Pacific rattlesnake she was bitten by. best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Seamus
Guest
Seamus
6 years ago
Reply to  smokin moses

Totally accurate advice.

Pinkasso
Guest
Pinkasso
6 years ago
Reply to  Seamus

$2,800 per vial need 4+ so $11,200 just for wholesale cost of anti venom. Hospital will charge that alone just to pump it in you.

LL
Guest
LL
6 years ago

Well she should be at least getting a piggy back ride and not hiking and I’m sure the closest antivenom is in Redding. It doesn’t have a long shelf life and is expensive to keep on hand.

Steve
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  LL

‘LL isn’t Willits or Ukiah closer lots of snakes down that ways.

LL
Guest
LL
6 years ago
Reply to  Steve

IDK which is closer Steve. I do know Redding hospitals have it and that trauma patients are frequently flown from our area to the Redding area.

Nikki
Guest
Nikki
6 years ago

Not a bad idea to have a snake bite kit with you when you hike….. People around here seem to get into trouble hiking…. Never hike alone and always tell someone where you might be…. Safety first….

Anon Forrest
Guest
Anon Forrest
6 years ago
Reply to  Nikki

If it’s a kit with a knife, tourniquet and suction bulb, you might want to reconsider that choice. The chances of introducing bacteria into the wounds are far greater than recovering any toxin.
Cell phone for help, sit in the shade, drink a lot of water, and wait.
Expect a lot of swelling if the bite was “wet” (as in delivering poison.) Loosen the clothing to accommodate it.
My Doc says that 9 out of 10 bites are “dry.” Snakes in a defensive mode, and not hunting, don’t want to use their ammunition unless it’s absolutely necessary. (Hasseling or hurting them qualifies as necessary).
The puncture wounds of a bite however, can easily introduce Staph infections. The same applies with those “kits.”

laura
Guest
laura
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon Forrest

true. nature wisdom.

Shak
Guest
Shak
6 years ago
Reply to  Anon Forrest

Great information to know, AF. Thanks for this.

Neurocks
Guest
Neurocks
6 years ago

Tons of rattlers on the sand and bluffs all through the LCT. They love to warm up in the driftwood piles & warm sand. We buried a friends dog out by Big Flat after he was bitten a few years ago. He had no chance, and it was sad to see. But thankful that he took the bite instead of one of us. That snake was killed, cooked and eaten that night.

Also, snake bite kits are basically pointless. There’s nothing in one of those that will help you out in a situation like this. Waste of money and pack space.

Rich
Guest
Rich
6 years ago
Reply to  Neurocks

Sorry to hear about the dog but was the snake BBQ some sort of eye for an eye justice for the dog and/or it’s humans? Being a surfer, I get the emotion but almost every account of a shark attack victim feel that the shark was just doing what sharks do.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago

Take benadryl if nothing else it will help calm people down and keep your heart drom racing to fast .

Shake Well
Guest
Shake Well
6 years ago

Please don’t go hiking with a rattlesnake bite. You just hold back the whole group when you can’t keep up. Stay home instead. Better yet, go see a doctor!

Dan Fuller
Guest
Dan Fuller
6 years ago
Reply to  Shake Well

Stay HOME???? With a Snake bite, are you totally out of what little mind you may have??? You did have one excellent suggestion you mentioned only in passing!!! GET TO a DOCTOR or a HOSPITAL, ASAP!!!!!

Annette
Guest
Annette
6 years ago
Reply to  Shake Well

Please tell me you are joking with this comment? You can’t really think that this girl was bitten by a rattle snake, and then decided to go hiking with her friends? Your advice, although true, is absolutely ridiculous. You’d have to be a complete moron to go on a hike after being bitten. It sounds like you may be confused on the situation here. This girl was already hiking with her friends, and while they were hiking a snake but her. So now her and her friends are trying to get the girl to a rescue crew, so she can be taken to a hospital.

Ben
Guest
Ben
6 years ago

Rattlers are quite common on the coastal trail.. I have seen them and heard many stories.. Hope she finds help soon..

Rumbustious
Guest
Rumbustious
6 years ago

Rattlesnakes can decide how much venom to inject. Sometimes they may inject none at all. Young rattlesnakes are the worst, they tend to shoot their whole supply. Older ones have learned to control the amount so they don’t run out. Takes time & energy to build up new supply. Leaned this from a herpetologist who worked with rattlesnakes a lot and who had been bitten several times over the years. Two bites had no effect at all. Another nearly killed him.

lost
Guest
lost
6 years ago

Bacteria is the worst part usually.

road weary
Guest
road weary
6 years ago

J Phelps Hospital does not stock rattle snake antivenom. Last time I checked Redwood had enough to get started and then be resupplied by St. Joseph’s. This is unfortunately due to the very high price of antivenom.

Pablo
Guest
Pablo
6 years ago

There is some stupid people in this world and some of them left comment on this page[edit]

G-MAS
Guest
G-MAS
6 years ago

Theres so many snakes here it’s crazy. We used to have to leave the swimming hole up in panther gap because of all the snakes,it was hot and they wanted the water too!!I’m scared to death of them.i leave them alone and they leave me alone.lol

Shak
Guest
Shak
6 years ago

It’s good to hear she’s okay!

River Rat
Guest
River Rat
6 years ago

In the good old days, a friend ( hopefully ) would slice the wound and suck out the ” pizone” and hope the person didn’t get bit in the butt. Ha Ha

hmm
Guest
hmm
6 years ago

I hiked the lost coast from both, ends many times. I always stay near the shore. When you go away from the beach, you find rattlesnakes (lots of them ) berry vines and poison oak.

The legend
Guest
The legend
6 years ago

Ive only seen three rattle tail snakes in all the years ive lived in this area one i whipped with a 2×4 until he was good and dead the other two i whipped with a 12′ long fiberglass cb antennae, i believe they call those antennae a “whip” no fun intended.
Now in south carolina my buddy and i saw a coral snake laying in the road injured we stopped to investigate i grabbed the nearest stick and slung the snake at my buddy since he was wearing cut off shorts and sandals, the snake got close enough to put the fear of god in him,