Rescue Calls From The Enchantments Area Already Multiplying As Summer Nears

Although summer is still a few days from officially getting underway, rescue crews in Chelan County have already been active responding to calls for assistance in the area of Colchuck Lake this month.

The Chelan County Sheriff's Office says its personnel have responded to three separate calls of people in distress in the Enchantments since the second week of June.

The first was on June 7, when twelve volunteers with Chelan County Volunteer Search & Rescue and Chelan County Mountain Rescue assisted a 28-year-old woman from Whistler, British Columbia, Canada who'd suffered an ankle injury about three miles from the Colchuck Lake trailhead.

The Sheriff's Office received the call at around 7:45 p.m. and rescue teams reached the woman at around 1 a.m. the following day before carrying her out using a wheeled litter back to the trailhead by 5 a.m.

The second rescue took place two days later on June 9, when two deputies responded to reports of a disoriented hiker near the Snow Lakes trailhead.

The call came in at around 10 p.m. and the deputies arrived to learn a group of six teenage hikers from the Portland, Ore. area who'd all recently graduated high school reported a member of their party had suddenly ran back up the trail during their descent due to a possible medical emergency.

Deputies located the teen a short distance up the trail where they say he was found suffering from exhaustion. He was evaluated and medically cleared to continue a short time later.

The final incident occurred on June 14, when members of Chelan County Search & Rescue coordinated the retrieval of a 30-year-old female who'd broken her ankle while hiking near Colchuck Lake.

The call was received at around 12:30 p.m. and crews used a helicopter from the Sheriff's Office's Air Support Unit to transport to woman to a waiting ambulance at the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery.

In addition to the rescue responses, Sheriff's officials also say they've recently received two calls related to overdue hikers and climbers in the same vicinity, along with a four-member party who called to report they were all cold and wet and uncertain if they could continue. All of these instances resulted in the parties eventually making it out on their own.

The Sheriff's Office says it responded to a total of 31 calls for service in the Enchantments area last year, including one involving a fatality. Sheriff's officials say almost all of the calls they receive for service in this locale are from out-of-area visitors who are ill-prepared for hiking and other activities.

They are reminding all recreationists to always be well prepared, both physically and with the necessary equipment, when visiting the Enchantments.