Injured Hiker Thanks Trinity County Rescue Volunteers After Canyon Creek Evacuation

Maris shares a laugh with Trinity County Search and Rescue volunteers while awaiting evacuation.

A hiker with a badly injured leg is recovering after volunteers with Trinity County Search and Rescue helped get her off a remote wilderness trail earlier this month.

The Trinity County Sheriff’s Office said the call came in Sunday, June 7, from an injured hiker on the Canyon Creek Trail in the Trinity Alps Wilderness, about four to six miles from the trailhead. The hiker could not walk out on her own.

Search and rescue volunteers were activated and hiked in to reach her. Once on scene, they began treating her injuries and called for an air ambulance. A California Highway Patrol helicopter crew performed a hoist rescue, lifting her out and flying her to a local hospital.

The hiker, Stella Maris, later sent the Sheriff’s Office an update along with photos taken during the rescue, and gave permission for her message to be shared publicly. She wrote that she had a shattered ankle, a dislocation, and multiple breaks and fractures in her lower leg, and spent more than seven hours on the mountain in pain before help arrived.

“It was only through your experienced and expert care that I was able to get help and relief as quickly and carefully as I did,” she wrote. “You shared personal stories to keep me distracted, laughing and hopeful. You were direct and compassionate in your plans of action. You treated my dog like she was your own.”

Maris said rescuers also stayed behind to help her partner and their dog make it back to the trailhead after she was flown out.

“Despite being as ‘prepared’ as we could, nothing could replace your presence, skills, attitude and care,” she wrote.

The Sheriff’s Office thanked the California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Forest Service for their help with the rescue.