On Thursday, June 5, rescuers in Southern Colorado boarded a helicopter and flew high into the Sangre de Cristo range of the Rocky Mountains.

They plucked a hiker off the southwest flanks of 14,055-foot Mount Lindsey, one of three Colorado fourteeners clustered at the southern edge of the range.

According to an (AVSAR), the hiker, who has not been identified, “had fallen several hundred feet after a boulder gave way鈥� while ascending the mountain鈥檚 northwest ridge, one of the two standard routes to the summit.

The rescue attempt was mobilized shortly after noon, and a search and rescue helicopter managed to reach the fallen climber at 1:20 P.M. Rescuers had extracted the injured climber by 1:40, and determined that 鈥渢ransfer to a local hospital by EMS would be appropriate due to the nature of the injuries.鈥�

Mount Lindsey, located north of the town of Fort Garland is one of the southernmost Colorado fourteeners. It is also one of a handful of the famed peaks that sits on private land. While much of Mount Lindsey鈥檚 approach trail is within the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness, the ridge and summit itself are part of billionaire Louis Moore Bacon鈥檚 Trinchera-Blanca Ranch, the largest privately owned ranch in Colorado.

Citing liability concerns, Bacon closed access to Lindsey in 2021, and did not reopen it to hikers until this March, after extensive lobbying from a nonprofit, Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, and a 2024 change to Colorado’s Recreational Use Statute, which reduced the liability burden on landowners who allow public recreational access on their property.

Climbers hoping to ascend Lindsey target the peak from the northwest, either via a gully leading up the north face, or by scrambling along the crest of the northwest ridge. Both routes are identical until the final approach to the summit, and are rated Class III.

This means that, although not usually protected via a rope or any other climbing gear, the routes do involve some basic scrambling, and any mistake can be consequential. The northwest ridge route, in particular, entails high exposure and requires navigating a considerable quantity of loose rock.

One commenter on the AVSAR post, Joe Bartoletti, said he met the injured climber on the peak. 鈥淚 talked to him on his way down around 12,600/12,700 ft, he was ambulatory and it seemed like he would be able to continue on for a while,鈥� Bartoletti wrote. 鈥淚 went on towards the summit and figured I鈥檇 see him again on my way down if he weren鈥檛 able to continue on. Saw the helicopter fly in a while later and figured he was getting extricated.鈥�

While far less popular than well-known Colorado summits like Longs Peak and Pikes Peak, which can see as many as 15,000 to 25,000 hikers per year, Mount Lindsey has historically welcomed more hikers鈥攂etween 1,000 and 3,000 annually鈥攖han most of the other peaks in the Sangre de Cristo range.

This is due to its minimally technical route and relatively short trail: a little over eight miles round trip, with 3,500 feet of elevation gain. The mountain is often used by budding peakbaggers as a way to dip toes in the water before attempting the harder peaks in the range, such as those in the Blanca or Crestone group.

Per the stipulations of Mount Lindsey鈥檚 re-opening, all parties are required to sign an before any hike. There is also a sign with a QR code leading to the waiver at the trailhead, so hikers can sign their waiver on arrival, depending on cell reception. While hiking is allowed, other recreational activities, such as hunting, camping, motorized vehicles or wheeled transport, and aerial drones, are all restricted. The waiver also restricts climbers to either on the northwest ridge or gully route.

鈥淧lease remember that the restored climbing access to Mount Lindsey is a privilege that can be withdrawn if people do not follow the rules,鈥� wrote the Colorado Fourteener Initiative . 鈥淏eing responsible climbers will help maintain access. Violating the rules certainly will send a poor signal, and may result in the peak being closed again.鈥�

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If the Grand Canyon National Park rescue helicopter doesn’t have a frequent flyer program, it should now.

During a seven-day stretch in late May, lifesaving personnel flew into the canyon aboard a helicopter to perform lifesaving missions. The incidents they responded to ranged from a hiker with a lower leg injury at mile 35 of the Colorado River, to a person suffering from heat-related illness on one of the canyon鈥檚 main corridor trails.

According to Meghan Smith, the park鈥檚 preventive search and rescue supervisor, medical evacuations by helicopter are typical in the Grand Canyon during the busy summer tourist season, and in some stretches the SAR team can average between one and two a day.

But 13 in seven days is on the high end, and Smith believes there’s a reason for the uptick: construction on听the Grand Canyon’s Transcanyon water pipeline.

鈥淐onstruction on our pipeline has closed key sections of main trails that people would otherwise use as routes in and out of the canyon,鈥� Smith told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 rerouting people into areas they don鈥檛 normally go, which is causing problems for us.鈥�

Built in the sixties, the Transcanyon Waterline stretches 12.5 miles across the canyon and delivers drinking water from a spring on the North Rim to the hotels, visitor centers, and lodges on the South Rim. But the pipeline regularly breaks or requires maintenance, and since 2010 i approximately 85 different repairs.

In 2023 crews began a four-year, $200 million construction project to replace the pipe, and in the fall of 2024 that project shuttered several of the park’s most popular trails. The closure includes the River Trail, an essential link on the canyon floor that connects the Bright Angel Trail to both the North and South Kaibab trails. The River Trail is slated to reopen in October of 2025.

Hikers must now follow a detour onto the Tonto Trail, which is longer and more treacherous than the normal route.

鈥淚t adds another 4.5 miles of distance on a trail with no shade and no water, where temperatures regularly exceed 110 degrees Fahrenheit,鈥� said Smith. 鈥淥thers are skipping the detour and simply sticking to the South Kaibab, which is extremely strenuous and also lacks shade and water.鈥�

According to Smith, the majority of the recent helicopter rescues involved hikers who underestimated the added difficulty of the detour and then suffered symptoms of exhaustion, heat illness, or dehydration.

An to the Grand Canyon National Park website June 3 states, 鈥淗ikers should be prepared with adequate water, sun protection, and a realistic assessment of their physical abilities. Attempting these routes during the heat of the day (10 A.M. to 4 P.M.) is strongly discouraged.鈥�

It also states 鈥淭hese detour routes are not recommended in the extreme heat of the summer.鈥�

Smith said that performing rescues along the detour also poses dangers for Grand Canyon SAR personnel. Hikers along the detour听are difficult to reach, especially after dark when the park helicopter is not available.

During medevac incidents on May 29, 30, and 31, respectively, the SAR team had to reach hikers in remote听areas where a helicopter could not safely land. In each incident, Grand Canyon SAR members performed a dangerous maneuver known as a “hover exit,” which involves jumping out of the helicopter as it hovers several feet above the ground.

In each rescue, SAR personnel then loaded the patients into a metal litter connected to the helicopter via a rope鈥攁 technique known as “short-hauling.” The helicopter then took off with the litter dangling beneath and flew the hikers听to safety.

鈥淭he risk in all three of these rescues was incredibly high,鈥� Smith told 国产吃瓜黑料. 鈥淥ne little thing goes wrong and everybody on scene is going to die.鈥�

Smith encourages anyone planning to hike into the Grand Canyon this summer to be extremely cautious about heat, to stay off the trails between 10 A.M. and 4 P.M., and to bring enough water. Hikers should prepare to travel in the dark with a good headlamps and extra batteries, she added.

鈥淧eople constantly underestimate the difficulty of our trails and the extent of the heat,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淲hen it鈥檚 90 degrees Fahrenheit at the rim, it can be 120 degrees听at Phantom Ranch at the bottom. The hike down doesn鈥檛 feel so bad. But the hike back up is a different story.”

Smith suggests all hikers, even those embarking on short adventures, leave a time buffer听for delays and logistical complications. 鈥淭hat way, people aren鈥檛 feeling pressured to push ahead in exposed areas during the hottest part of the day, which is the exact recipe for making themselves heat sick,” she said.

Also, hikers shouldn’t rely on a helicopter rescue. Smith told 国产吃瓜黑料 that rescue is never guaranteed. 鈥淪taff are triaging often multiple calls at one time and have to respond to those most in need,” she said.

She added, 鈥淲e have also suffered a high number of visitors demanding rescue or being rude to dispatchers or command personnel who are trying to help, but not in the way or time frame those in need would like.鈥�

The current trail closures are posted on the park鈥檚 website. Seven temporary signs are also in place at key points on the trails, notifying hikers of detours and advising on heat, shade, and water availability. Guests who have concerns about their itinerary should stop in the Backcountry Information Center in the Grand Canyon village, or speak听a ranger along their hike.

The post 13 Hikers Needed to be Rescued in the Grand Canyon in One Week. Here鈥檚 Why. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Over Memorial Day weekend, search-and-rescue groups in three different states responded to reports of hikers plummeting over waterfalls. The incidents鈥攊n California, Virginia, and Utah, respectively鈥攔esulted in three serious injuries and one death.

The first accident occurred on May 25, in Butte County, California. A hiker was wandering in a remote area near Pugla when they slipped and over a cascade and into the rocky pool below. First responders hoisted the victim out by helicopter, leaving them dangling at the end of a 150-foot rope from the aircraft鈥檚 belly, before landing and transferring them to an ambulance.

The next day, on May 26, two hikers climbed over a guardrail near Virginia鈥檚 Crabtree Falls to snap a photo and slipped. One of the pair before she managed to grab hold of a rock. She held herself in place until deputies from the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office arrived. In this instance, rescuers were not able to call a helicopter in time; they used a 30-foot dog leash to haul the survivor out. The other hiker fell more than 150 feet and did not survive.

That same day, near Layton, Utah, a 64-year-old man was hiking beside Adams Canyon鈥檚 Lower Falls when he lost his footing and plummeted 20 feet. that he sustained a head injury and broke his femur and kneecap. A nurse who happened to be hiking nearby provided first aid until rescuers from the Davis County Sheriff鈥檚 Office arrived. They ultimately extracted the patient via long-line helicopter rescue. He is .

 

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While hiking and scrambling near waterfalls is perilous any time of year, these three incidents serve as a reminder that rainy spring weather and rapid snowmelt can contribute to particularly dangerous conditions. Higher currents can mean more spray, increasing the radius of wet and slick stones surrounding a cascade. The streams above and below the waterfall also run higher and faster in the spring, making crossings far more dangerous than they might be later in the summer when flow rates have leveled out.

“It doesn’t look like it’d be slippery, when you realize it is, it’s too late,” Wintergreen Fire and EMS Chief Curtis Sheets told ABC News after the Crabtree Falls incident. Davis County Search and Rescue echoed the warning in their own : 鈥淭oday鈥檚 incident is a reminder to stay safe while hiking near rushing water and steep terrain.鈥�

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Two hikers in California are lucky to be alive after one of them fell 100 feet down a sheer cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

The incident occurred on Saturday, March 22 on a remote stretch of California’s famed , a rugged 53-mile hiking route along the Pacific Coast in Humboldt County. published by the U.S. Coast Guard, firefighters in nearby Shelter Cove, California received a call on Saturday afternoon of a stranded hiker on a bluff overlooking the ocean.

Rescuers were dispatched by a boat and jet ski and found one of the hikers “barely holding on” to a vertical cliffside approximately 60 feet above another band of cliffs. The hiker was clinging to the washed out slope with his hiking poles, the update said. He hiker had fallen more than 100 feet down the slope and had suffered a dislocated shoulder and cuts and bruises.

“The hiker was unable to move up or down, making it unsafe for rescuers to access him by land,” the post said.

The fire crews called the local requesting help, and the agency sent a rescue helicopter and crew. But the mission to locate and save the hiker was anything but easy. Due to the lack of wind and the limited power of the helicopter, crews had to jettison fuel, position the aircraft above the precipice, and then lower a rescuer 160 feet on a cable.

The hiker was “bleeding and injured” when the rescuer found him, but safety personnel were able to get him aboard the helicopter听and transport him to an medical station in the town of Shelter Cove. The helicopter crew then returned and plucked the second hiker from the the top of the cliffs and carried him to safety.

“Both hoists required intense crew coordination due to the loose cliffside, dead trees, and limited power,” the Facebook post said.

Rescuers reminded hikers of the numerous hazards facing them along the Lost Coast Trail. The hazardous trek is a major draw for hikers across California and the United States, as it traverses one of the state’s last remaining stretches of untouched shoreline. The trail boasts views of lush redwood forests, scenic overlooks of the Pacific Ocean, and black sand beaches.

The steep cliffs and crumbling precipices are too treacherous for roads or development. But the dramatic topography also creates hazards for hikers.

Erosion and deadfall often block the trail, and some sections of the hike take trekkers across narrow beaches that are frequently washed over by waves. Hikers must be wary of tides when traversing these sections鈥攁t high tide, the ocean simply washes up to the cliffs and prevents anyone from getting across.

In 2022, a rogue “sneaker” wave crashed into the beach and ; rescuers eventually saved one but the other drowned. In 2024, a group of teenagers from a nearby summer camp and hypothermic along the trail.

The post Rescuers Saved a Lost Coast Hiker from the Side of a 100-Foot Cliff appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

Hawaii is blessed with some of the most cinematic hiking trails on the planet. I live part-time on Maui and still find myself spellbound by vistas of plunging waterfalls cleaving to jungle blanketed mountainsides and rugged coastal cliffs spilling down to the sapphire sea. I also know how the technicolor scenery, combined with the heady, plumeria-scented air and the islands鈥� laidback aloha vibes can lull hikers into a false sense of security. What could possibly go wrong on a hike in this incredibly beautiful paradise free of threats like bears, snakes, or poison ivy?

I consider myself a seasoned hiker. My other home is in Boulder, Colorado, and over the years, I鈥檝e bagged a handful of the state鈥檚 iconic fourteeners (14,000-foot peaks). The monotone, high-alpine terrain always feels daunting and motivates me to prepare meticulously ahead of a hike.

I鈥檝e come to learn, Hawaii鈥檚 trails demand the same respect and precautions. Would I ever tackle Mount Sanitas, my go-to local Boulder hike, in a flimsy pair of Havainas? Never. But I was foolish enough to leave my trail shoes in the car and embark on Maui鈥檚 , a 5.5-mile route on ancient lava flows, in flip-flops, because everyone wears flip flops in Hawaii, I rationalized. The straps snapped just after mile four and I was forced to slog back to the parking lot barefoot along jagged, sun-scorched black rock. I鈥檝e never made that mistake again.

国产吃瓜黑料 editor Mary Turner has hiked all over the West but was humbled by some of the treks on Kauai. 鈥淎 friend called one trail spicy, but I wasn鈥檛 worried,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淏ut it was hot and humid and sticky and the vegetation was so thick you could have easily walked right through it and off the side of a cliff. And at the end of the trail, you had to scale a rock face with a very frayed rope. The guy in front of us said it wasn鈥檛 safe and turned around. We did the same, and I thought, geez, hiking in Hawaii is for real.鈥�

You might be an experienced hiker on mainland America, but Hawaii鈥檚 humidity, knife-edge ridges, dense jungle, and muddy rainforests present unique perils, says Ethan Pearson-Pomerantz, president of . It only takes a wrong step or two to become disoriented and lost, injured, or worse, dead.

Hawaii doesn鈥檛 have a state-level search and rescue (SAR) coordinator. Wilderness SAR is handled at a county level, falls under the responsibility of the fire department, and they are only mandated to search for 72 hours when someone is reported missing. O鈥檃hu, Kauai, and Maui all have volunteer SAR teams as well. The lack of an overarching umbrella organization makes it difficult to accurately track the exact number of rescues per year, but government officials have estimated that about 1,000 hikers are rescued across the state annually.

Cautionary Tales

Ocean rescues are more prevalent in Hawaii, but hiking mishaps have generated a glut of coverage in both and over the years.

Last month, a 49-year-old man while hiking up a 60-foot waterfall on Maui, and one day later a California couple in their sixties听 after sustaining multiple injuries attempting to hike Oahu鈥檚 off-limits Sacred Falls Trail. The month prior, an unidentified hiker rang in 2025 while . He needed to be airlifted by a rescue team around sunrise.

In December 2024, 32-year-old Alaskan visitor Lauren Cameron on Kauai鈥檚 North Shore while hiking the , which has called one of the most dangerous hikes in America. Officials believe she was swept out to sea. A 30-year-old California man needed to be airlifted to safety last September after suffering from injuries in a . On Hawaii Island, two hikers got lost without food and water during a last January on Mauna Loa鈥攖he largest active volcano in the world. They had to stay overnight in a shelter and were extracted by a rescue helicopter the following day. The hikers were fined for not having a permit and ignoring the summit closure posted by Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. These accounts are just from 2024.

Despite the steady stream of headlines about dead hikers, fatal falls, and accidents on Hawaii鈥檚 trails, visitors are still ignoring rules and safety precautions.

One of the most of late hit national news in January 2023, when Ian Snyder, a 34-year-old travel blogger and hiking enthusiast from California, was stranded for three days at the base of a waterfall after surviving a 1,000-foot fall while illegally hiking . Snyder, who suffered a broken arm and other injuries, admitted to reporters that he wasn’t as prepared as he should have been for the hike and shouldn’t have gone it alone. He also shared that he followed an online map which took him to a closed trail. A few weeks after his recovery, he at the request of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, as a cautionary tale to other visitors.

Hawaii鈥檚 Terrain and Climate Pose Distinct Challenges

On the mainland, a 22-mile out-and-back hike with 1,600 feet of elevation gain, typically wouldn鈥檛 daunt me. But the Kalalau Trail, a bucket-list trek with zero cell service that hugs Kauai鈥檚 storied Na Pali coastline, isn鈥檛 just another hike. CNN has called it one of the , with hazards including falling rocks, flash floods, shore breaks, and cliffs on the trail. I鈥檝e attempted it five times without success and have no regrets about turning around due to raging water crossings, treacherously slippery conditions, and in another case, simply fatigue. Others haven鈥檛 been as lucky. In 2022, 46 people needed to be rescued from the harrowing route and in 2014, 121 people needed rescue over the course of a few days.

鈥淧eople drastically underestimate and underprepare for the challenges of a trail like Kalalau,鈥� says Sarah Laouxz, of . 鈥淭hey see the pretty photos and want to be there, but they don鈥檛 take into account the physicality of getting there and back.鈥�

They also underestimate easier trails. Take the , an iconic 1.6-mile roundtrip hike located minutes from Waikiki in O鈥檃hu. Pearson-Pomerantz estimates the Honolulu Fire Department makes more rescues a year on that trail simply because hikers aren鈥檛 prepared. 鈥淗iking Diamond Head is a classic thing for tourists to do,鈥� he says. 鈥淵ou get spam musubi, hike Diamond Head, get a shave ice, and that鈥檚 your day. Maybe because of its proximity to the city, people attempt it in high heels, without water or sun protection.鈥� The trail is steep and uneven and climbs 560 feet. People often become dehydrated or roll an ankle, he says. When vacation brain sets in, visitors start looking through their camera lens instead of at the path in front of them. At least once a month his team has volunteer 鈥渢rail angels鈥� patrol the route with water, snacks, and sunblock. 鈥淗eat is the biggest threat to hikers and a bad sunburn is probably our most common injury,鈥� he says.

Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park chief ranger Jack Corrao says its search and rescue incidents consistently increase when there are active volcano eruptions. In 2023, the park had in the summit of Kilauea volcano and 13 search and rescues. Five of those were lost hikers near the eruption viewing site at Keanakakoi off old Crater Rim Drive. 鈥淭he park is open 24 hours a day, and the best eruption viewing is usually after dark,鈥� he says. 鈥淲hen people become separated after dark, the odds of them getting lost increase. We urge visitors to plan ahead, bring head lamps or flashlights, to stay on trail and out of closed areas.鈥�

Dense vegetation can also throw hikers off track. 鈥淭he trees and the trails have a way of enveloping hikers and blocking the horizon, so that seeing the ocean or other points of reference become impossible, disorienting people,鈥� says Amanda Hess, the director of public education at O’ahu Search and Rescue. Thick foliage can also conceal potential dangers. Chalsie Honu Quel, a volunteer with Kauai Search and Rescue, notes that the terrain of Waimea Canyon has been vastly altered since Hurricane Iniki toppled many native trees in 1992. 鈥淣ow the trails are overgrown with invasive species that make it easy to slip into a gulch or ravine.鈥�

Chris Berquist, founder of Maui-based Search Tech Advisory Team, cautions that thick ginger patches hang off ledges, acting like false edges on many trails. 鈥淧eople step on them and it鈥檚 like a trap door,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he bottom gives out, they start to slip, and often their footing is irrecoverable.鈥�

Social media posts of people cliff jumping into the ocean or diving off waterfalls have created the illusion that the islands are a controlled amusement park. Injuries frequently occur when people leap with no knowledge of the water depth or without considering how they鈥檒l get back to land. 鈥淎 lot of hikes lead to what look like beautiful jumping places, such as Queen鈥檚 Bath, an ocean pool in Kauai,鈥� says Berquist. 鈥淏ut due to the steepness of the cliffs or looseness of rocks, a lot of adventurers can鈥檛 scramble back up.鈥�

Weather Can Change on a Dime

Island weather is rarely uniform and frequently changes throughout the day. If it鈥檚 rainy on Maui鈥檚 north shore, it鈥檚 almost guaranteed to be dry and sunny on the south shore. And a calm, clear morning can turn into a windy, sprinkly afternoon. The resorts tend to be in areas that see 350 days of sun a year, says Chris Stankis, the public information officer for the . Yet, many hikes are in areas that see a fair quantity of rain on an almost daily basis,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd as you go further inland and upslope, the chance you might encounter rain, muddy, slippery terrain, and flash flooding increases.鈥�

It may seem like summer at your hotel, but you should still pack layers, especially if you鈥檙e planning to hike the 13,000-plus foot summit of Mauna Loa in Hawai鈥檌 Volcanoes National Park or the 10,000-plus foot summit Haleakala National Park on Maui, where conditions can bring weather ranging from hail to snow. Nick Clemons, chief of interpretation, education, and volunteers at Haleakala National Park, says the park averages two rescues a week and they often involve medical issues arising from altitude, dehydration, over-exertion, and hypo and hyperthermia.

Flash floods pose one of the biggest dangers to hikers. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e our avalanche,鈥� says Berquist. 鈥淥nce you鈥檙e in one, there鈥檚 little chance of escaping. There鈥檚 a lot of debris. I鈥檝e seen victims stripped naked. The water gets violent.鈥� Heavy rains and flooding bring precarious conditions to the islands鈥� beloved waterfalls. Berquist notes that many falls border the coast or drain into a slot canyon. If you鈥檙e standing near a slippery edge and a gush of water comes rushing at you, you鈥檙e likely going to be shot into the ocean or canyon, he warns.

Many of Hawaii鈥檚 Most Popular Trails Are Actually Illegal to Hike

The SAR volunteers I spoke with agreed, the majority of rescues take place on illegal-to-hike trails. Many of the most Instagrammed hiking areas, such as Narnia, a collection of waterfalls within the Hilo Forest Reserve on the Big Island, are . But the pull of social media often blinds visitors to closure and trespassing signs. 鈥溾�楧o it for the gram,鈥� is a real thing,鈥� says Berquist. 鈥淚 think Instagram kills more people than coconuts in Hawaii. A lot of times when a tourist falls off a cliff or slips we find them with their phone next to them, the camera app still open.鈥�

It doesn鈥檛 help that many guidebooks, travel blogs, and social media posts provide detailed instructions on how to access these illegal trails. And, as was the case with Snyder, hikers often follow GPS tools that direct them to non-sanctioned trails, which aren鈥檛 inspected or repaired and most likely, won鈥檛 have signs warning hikers of dangerous conditions.

In 2006, two women fell some 300 feet to their deaths while trekking to Opaekaa Falls in Kauai. They had followed an unmarked trail featured in some Hawaii guidebooks. In most states, if you injure yourself on public lands, the onus is on you. But in Hawaii, the state can be held liable for injuries occurring on public lands if it fails to maintain a reasonable level of safety. In this case, the state was ordered to pay $15.4 million to the victims鈥� families. The trail remains closed.

In 1999, eight people were killed and nearly three dozen were injured from a rockslide at Sacred Falls State Park on O鈥檃hu, where the recent rescue took place. There were signs, but a judge ruled they did not warn with the intensity of urgency of the falling rock hazard the state paid $8.6 million to the families of the deceased hikers. The park has remained closed since the incident, but that seeking the ultimate social media post. In 2022, someone hung an illegal swing at the base of the falls, which has since been removed.

Off-limits signs have been in place at the Stairway to Heaven, an infamous hike on O鈥檃hu also known as the Haiku Stairs, since 1987. Yet posting a photo from the hike鈥檚 Edenic summit, which is reached by climbing 3,922 slick steel steps, has become a social media badge of honor. Fines of up to $1,000 and the threat of arrest haven鈥檛 discouraged hikers. Between 2010 and 2022, 118 people had to be rescued, according to the Honolulu Fire Department. The city is now in the process of to prevent illegal use once and for all.

In an effort to further dissuade reckless hikers, state legislators in Hawaii are currently that would authorize the state to seek reimbursement from hikers who need rescue after venturing onto closed trails. Considering a helicopter rescue costs between $1,000 to $2,500, I鈥檇 say it鈥檚 a good incentive to follow the rules.

8 Ways to Stay Safe When Hiking in Hawaii

I asked members of the islands鈥� search and rescue teams to share their tips for staying safe on the trails. Here鈥檚 their advice:

• No matter the length of the hike, pack plenty of water, food, sunscreen, a flashlight, and a cellphone battery.
• Do not hike in flip flops. Wear proper footwear and sun-protective attire.
• Don鈥檛 hike alone.
• Create a hiking plan that includes your intended route and estimated return time. Leave one copy with a friend, family member, or neighbor, and another in your car.
• Do not hike closed or unmarked trails. Check the latest trail conditions and closures via a trusted source like , the State of Hawai鈥榠 Trail and Access Program.
• Check the weather with multiple sources like the Weather Channel, AccuWeather, and Weather Underground.
• Get an early start. Hess recommends getting on the trail no later than 9 A.M.
• Don鈥檛 do it for the ‘gram. When you鈥檙e looking through your phone rather than paying attention to your footing, you can easily end up in harms way.

What to Do If You Become Lost

Berquist played an instrumental role in finding , a hiker who got lost for 17 days in Maui鈥檚 Makawao Forest Reserve in 2019. He joined the search as a volunteer and within days was heading up the efforts. After she was found, Eller鈥檚 father helped Berquist fund the Search Tech Advisory Team, his 100-plus volunteer organization that works throughout the islands using the latest technology, like drone satellite photography. Here are his tips for getting found:

1. Don鈥檛 panic. Pause and take some deep breaths. O鈥檃hu Search and Rescue created a demonstrating how to do the 4-7-8 breathing method to calm yourself.
2. Keep moving. 鈥淓veryone says stay where you are if you are lost, but I only recommend people do that when they know they are 15 or fewer steps off the trail,鈥� he says. 鈥淧eople that participate in their own rescue are more likely to be found.鈥� If you are medically injured, it may be pertinent to stay in place, but try to make yourself noticeable and make noise.
3. Make yourself visible. If you think you are more than 15 steps off trail, move to an openly visible area, like a high elevation clearing or stream-bed that can be seen from the sky. Make a massive ‘SOS’ or light a fire to create smoke.
4. Shelter in smart places. Don鈥檛 hunker down and hide from the elements in a place people won鈥檛 see you. If you do seek shelter, display your backpack out front and make an arrow pointing to where you are, he says.

鈥淗awaii tries too hard to feel nice with its messaging to visitors,鈥� says Berquist. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not all mai tais and leis. The message needs to feel sharp: the lava rock and coral will slice you, the selfies and cliff jumps will kill you.鈥� So, in other words, don鈥檛 underestimate the power of nature. Be careful and prepared, don鈥檛 hike where you鈥檙e not supposed to, know what you鈥檙e getting into, and skip the selfies.

Jen Murphy is a regular contributor to 国产吃瓜黑料 and usually covers travel-advice topics. She has made the regretful mistake of hiking in flip-flops on lava rock in Hawaii and always packs for all seasons any time she hikes in Haleakala National Park on Maui. She has recently written about how to travel solo, how to make the most of your first-ever Costa Rica trip, and how to get a vacation refund when the weather sucks.听

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Every week I read half a dozen听reports on search-and-rescue missions to save lost skiers, errant rock climbers, and the occasional stranded dog. Often these stories are sad tales of adventurers suffering injuries or losing their lives. But every so often, I come across a rescue story that makes me slap my forehead in amazement.

That was my reaction when I read about the fortuitous fate of a man named Julian Hernandez and his 12-year-old son. The two went missing this past Sunday, February 16, while hiking in , which is located just outside Saint George, Utah. The sun went down, temperatures began to plummet, and the two began to fear for their lives. And that’s when fate, or a miracle, or dumb luck stepped in.

While searching for shelter in a darkened ravine, they stumbled across a green backpack just sitting there on a rock ledge. They opened the pack to find a wilderness survival kit that would make Ranger Rick proud: Pop-Tarts, Clif Bars, a jug of water, an emergency tent, and first-aid supplies.

The gear helped the two to stay warm, fed, and hydrated overnight. Eventually rescuers equipped with night vision goggle hoisted them into a helicopter and flew them to safety. They were out in the elements for about 22 hours.

鈥淭he moment we found the backpack鈥攊t was lovely,鈥� Julian Hernandez told TV . 鈥淲e found some food in there so that kept us pretty well. It kept us pretty well into the morning.鈥�

Hernandez’ quotes made me laugh. I envisioned a scene from the Netflix survival show Outlast where a half-starved contestant finds a cache of food and survival gear dropped into the wilderness by producers. Lovely, indeed.

I love this story from . A father-son duo got stranded overnight hiking in Southern Utah recently and found a backpack stocked with survival supplies. Turns out a teen had lost it 45 days ago and it’s being credited for saving them.

鈥� Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir)

Now here’s the forehead-slapping part of the story: the lucky backpack had belonged to another hiker who had been rescued in the same spot more than a month ago.

On January 4, a 15-year-old boy named Levi Dittmanm from nearby Ivins, Utah, went for a hike in Snow Canyon with his green backpack. Like Hernandez, Dittman got lost and stuck in the ravine. He spent the night in the canyon, and at some point during the ordeal he tossed his backpack onto an adjacent ledge, but he was unable to climb up and retrieve it.

Eventually a SAR volunteer located Dittmann and brought to safety, but his survival backpack remained in the canyon. Nobody knew that, 45 days later, this pack would help a lost father and son weather a cold and lonely night.

“I鈥檓 really glad that it could help people, because that鈥檚 what the pack was intended for,鈥� Dittman .

It turns out Dittmann had spent several months collecting survival supplies and cramming them into his backpack prior to the hike. Losing it was a total bummer, he told media. “I kinda just had to leave it there, which was a bit frustrating because I think at the time it was 200 to 300 bucks worth of stuff,鈥� Levi Dittmann told ABC4. Apparently the SAR team gave听Dittmann back his pack.

Are there survival lessons to be learned from this story? It’s tough to say. I’ve hiked in Snow Canyon State Park a few times, and I’d never thought you could get lost on the well-marked trail system.听 But once the sun goes down, even familiar territory can become alien. I don’t believe any seasoned SAR volunteer would recommend tossing backpacks filled with Pop-Tarts into random gullies or canyons.

Perhaps the best conclusion from this one is that the will always help in the wilderness, no matter if they belong to you or someone else.

Of course, no story with this amount of serendipitous coincidence could exist without someone offering a different takeaway. Levi Dittman’s mom, Gretchen Dittmann, is convinced that there was a higher power at play. She called the ordeal a “miracle.”

“You really have to have faith that God鈥檚 working. Sometimes he鈥檚 using a backpack that sat for a month and a half for some guy that needed help in that moment,鈥� she told ABC4.

Her explanation works for me.

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On January 22, 2025, I hiked to the top of the Chief, a 2,303-foot granite monolith in Squamish, British Columbia for what I thought would be a casual BASE jump. I鈥檝e done it over 100 times. It鈥檚 one of those jumps where you take off, open, fly to the parking lot, and land. There鈥檚 only one tricky spot: a corner ledge about 30 meters to the left after you jump鈥攖hat鈥檚 the main hazard to worry about. You don鈥檛 want to make a 90-degree turn into that corner.

After two months of traveling and BASE jumping in Patagonia, these would be my first jumps back in British Columbia. The day that I was leaving Chile, I packed my BASE rig in a rush. It was a messy pack job, and I was distracted on the phone with another jumper.

The wind calmed, but with the cross-breeze blowing I thought I should static line鈥攖hat’s the type of BASE jump where you tie the line that opens your parachute to an anchor on the rock so the action of jumping opens your chute. A static line is a safe way to jump for a windy day or a low jump.

I remembered that this was the pack job from Patagonia and made up my mind. I suggested my friend and I do a two-way jump, where we both leave the cliff at the same time. Since my parachute would open immediately as I jumped, the two of us wouldn鈥檛 collide.

We counted down, and, one after the other, we took off. My parachute opened in a 180-degree line twist to the left, and suddenly I was facing the cliff. Because of the twist, any input into the parachute with my control lines was useless.

I don’t know what ultimately went wrong. I assume it was some combination of my hasty pack job and the cross breeze. Maybe I’ll never know.

I reached for my lines but didn鈥檛 have time to look up because the wall was so close. I tried to fight it, but there was nothing to fight. I smashed into the wall with my whole body. The rest happened in five seconds. I smashed into the wall, trying to fight the parachute to fix my lines because I had some clearing air-wise. The parachute continued collapsing as I slid down the wall. Then the chute caught air again and I smashed into the wall once more. The crashing and sliding went on for a few seconds as I waited for the final impact. In those moments I knew I was ready to die or get really badly hurt. There was nothing below me but hundreds of meters of air.

Then my parachute caught a tree. I was left hanging鈥攁ir below me, air around me, nowhere to grab, nowhere to step. My first thought after the chaos died down and I caught my breath was, What am I hanging onto and how long is this going to take? I was in a panic for the next 20 minutes because I didn鈥檛 know if my tangled chute was going to hold. I called my boyfriend鈥攈e鈥檚 a jumper as well鈥攁nd said he needed to call 911 and get the search and rescue process going. I didn鈥檛 know how long I was going to be hanging, I might have gone at any moment.

I heard people above me screaming, and they probably had called for a rescue as well. Within five minutes, I saw cops and firemen below, but they couldn鈥檛 get to me from above. I waited鈥攄angling on the line.

I鈥檝e been part of rescues like this before with other jumpers and I knew that it was going to take a long time. I tried to assess my body. I had hurt my knee crashing into the wall and it was swelling up. My next problem was suspension trauma鈥攅xtended periods in a harness can restrict your blood flow and cause an injury鈥攂ecause I was fully hanging on one leg. I didn鈥檛 want to move an inch, because I was scared that if I moved, my parachute could give in and I would fall. I tried to look up at the parachute, but I couldn鈥檛 see what it was hanging on. I tried to look at the ledge below me, which was about 100 meters down, and I thought that at least I would have a very clean death if I fell.

After half an hour, my leg started going numb. I knew I had to take the weight off it to get blood flowing. After that much time, I felt better about the stability of whatever I was hanging on, so I pulled up on my risers to put the weight on my arms for a few seconds and immediately felt the blood rush into my leg. Some friends came up to rescue me with ropes on their own, but they decided to wait because they didn鈥檛 want to throw a rope that messed with the parachute and could cause me to fall.

It was the longest four hours of my life.

I was just trying to keep my mind occupied counting to 60 slowly ten times, trying to count minutes. Ten minutes of counting was 30 minutes in real time. Words came into my head, something like With the power in my mind I am pushing forward. I probably repeated that line a thousand times. I have no idea where it came from.

I thought of Toma啪 Humar, the great Slovenian alpinist and soloist who had a very bad, very famous rescue on Nanga Parbat that took six days. He was wet, cold, and stuck in a snow cave at 21,000 feet. My situation wasn鈥檛 even that bad, and he survived with the power of his mind. That鈥檚 all I could think of.

Two hours in, my body started to shut down. I just wanted to conserve the energy I needed. I was running out, and then all of a sudden I heard this voice: James, one of the SAR team members.

鈥淗ey Alenka, I know your dad.鈥� He was a few meters away from me. The moment he clipped me in, I felt everything I didn鈥檛 feel before. I felt cold. I felt my knee really hurting to the point where I was screaming. I just felt everything. I felt safe.

Alenka Mali walked away from her crash with nothing but a bruised knee. She told听国产吃瓜黑料 that she doesn’t know why she is still alive, but that she believes there must be a reason. 鈥擡d.

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Search and rescue crews in Las Vegas continue to have a busy start to 2025.

On Wednesday, February 6, members of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s search and rescue squad saved a woman who had fallen from a climbing area in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

According to a , the woman, who was not named, had fallen while climbing near the White Rock Hills hiking and climbing area. She landed in a boulder field and was unable to hike out.

“The victim fell while climbing and was unable to move due to a back injury,” read a statement from the department.

White Rock Hills is located in a remote corner of the park, approximately 6 miles past the park entrance, down a dirt road. The area is ringed by a four-mile trail that takes climbers to several different climbing routes.

Rangers from the Bureau of Land Management hiked in to the area and made contact with the victim, but they were unable to bring her to safety on foot. Officials decided to send an emergency helicopter to the area. According to the release, three search and rescue officials flew in on the helicopter and helped the ground crews move her to a suitable extraction point.

Dramatic photos showed the helicopter removing the injured climber. According to the release, she was taken to a ground ambulance.

The rescue was the third major lifesaving mission in Red Rock Canyon this year involving rock climbers. On Saturday, January 18, crews responded to near the Pine Creek area of the park.

One rescue involved four climbers who became stranded on the “Cat in the Hat” climbing route after their ropes became entwined. The four were preparing to rappel the route when the incident happened, and they retreated to a ledge. One of the climbers, Joe De Luca, was able to call rescuers from his cell phone.

As De Luca was waiting for rescue crews to reach his party, he witnessed the other incident 100 or so yards away. A climber named Micah Manalese, 30, fell from a route and hit the rocks approximately 130 feet below.

鈥淚t was evident to me that the chance of life was zero, or at least very low, if we didn鈥檛 do something quickly,鈥� De Luca told Climbing.

De Luca called rescuers after the fall occurred, but they were unable to save Manalese.

Her partner, Robert Hiett, for听Climbing.听

“With her training, she somehow still managed to squeeze in time with her family and friends. She could do it all,” Hiett wrote.

Red Rock Canyon is one of the most popular outdoor destinations in the Southwestern U.S., and climbers and hikers flock to the destination in the winter and early spring, before temperatures begin to soar in late April. The canyon’s famed Navajo Sandstone formations are traversed by several dozen climbing routes.

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Tanner Bean stepped over the cliff edge and rappelled down a slope of crumbling rock, as other members of Colorado’s Mesa County Search and Rescue team watched him descend.

After lowering 300 feet, Bean reached a ledge no bigger than a dinner table, jutting from the sheer precipice several hundred feet above the valley floor.

That’s where Bean found Tiny the dog.

“She looked at me like ‘oh my god, oh my god, a human!'” Bean told 国产吃瓜黑料.听“She started wagging her tail and running back and forth. She just seemed so excited.”

Bean, 40, was ecstatic but also worried by the reaction.

“I was like ‘No no no, please don’t fall off this cliff, not now!” Bean added.

It had taken Bean and his SAR teammates six hours to reach Tiny on this cliff edge in a remote corner of the state, several miles outside of the community of Collbran. The group had set out early on the morning of January 2 after receiving an SOS call from Tiny’s owner, a local hunter. The previous day, Tiny, a 20-pound hunting hound, had been tracking a mountain lion across a series of peaks when she had descended the cliff face and become stranded on the ledge. She couldn’t ascend the loose rock, and trying to navigate the descent would be fatal.

SAR officials said that Tiny was wearing a GPS tracker on her collar, which showed her approximate location within the dizzying terrain. Tiny’s owner could see the stranded dog from below with his eyes.听Night fell, and the owner realized that Tiny would have to spend the evening on the precipice. The following morning, he called rescuers.

Mesa Search and Rescue, which is based out of Grand Junction, oversees a huge swath of Colorado’s western quarter, and its area of operation includes popular hiking and biking trails outside of Fruita, the Colorado National Monument, and a stretch of the Colorado River that’s beloved by river runners. During the spring and summer, the team fields numerous calls from hikers, cyclists, and boaters.

“Most of our calls are lost hikers or swiftwater rescues,” said Nick Ingalls, 30, one of the other rescuers. “But we will get maybe two or three dog calls each year.”

Fifteen SAR members met at a trailhead near Collbran that morning. Due to the tricky terrain, the group split into two groups to see if they could find the best route to the top of the cliff. The hike in took far longer than they anticipated, as the teams had to trudge through knee-deep snow drifts and navigate tight gullies and washes.

“We were hiking over these ridges that felt like they were made of Frosted Flakes,” Bean said. “You’d take a few steps up and then slide back down.”

It was nearly 4 P.M. when Bean and Ingalls finally located the bluffs above Tiny. Several miles away, SAR members set up a spotting lens to watch the operation unfold. After fixing anchors, Bean descended the cliff, found Tiny, attached her to a specialty dog harness, and lifted her to safety.

Ingalls said that Tiny’s enthusiasm quickly wore off once she got to the top of the mountain. The pads of her feet were bloody and scarred, and she seemed exhausted.

“She acted a lot like a human patient who had been out in the elements,” he said. “So happy at first, and then after the adrenaline wears off, she just laid down.”

They gave Tiny water, but nobody in the rescuing party had brought dog food. Ingalls said he had a single bar of cell service and he texted a friend who is a veterinarian to ask whether the food they had in their packs was safe to feed a dog. In the end, they opened a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli and meat sauce and spooned some out for Tiny. She gulped the meal down.

“I’ve never seen a dog happier to eat human food,” Ingalls said.

But the rescue mission wasn’t over yet鈥攖he team still had to get Tiny back to their vehicles. At first, Tiny walked beside the rescuers, but she quickly sat down with fatigue. So Bean, Ingalls, and the other SAR team members took turns carrying the 20-pound dog as they rappelled down cliffs, climbed through dense brush, and trudged through snow drifts. After several hours, Tiny’s owner met them on the trail with his horses, and they finished the journey on horseback. It took them four hours to return to their vehicles.

It was dark when Bean and Ingalls finally reached their vehicles and completed the rescue. The total time for the mission was 13 hours鈥攁 grueling day of long hikes, technical climbing, and route-finding in the backcountry. Rescue missions for stranded humans often take a fraction of the time鈥攁nd this one had been to save a 20-pound pooch. But neither Ingalls nor Bean complained about the outing when I spoke to them on a video call in late January.

Bean told me he’d “100 percent” go through the ordeal to save Tiny again. Ingalls agreed.

“I think we try to always try to have empathy and to put ourselves in their situation,” Ingalls said. “Whether it’s a human or a dog, they’re having the worst day of their life, and we get a chance to help them.”

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Search and rescue crews in rural Vermont are praising a small electronic tracking device for helping them save two people in the backcountry.

On Saturday, December 7, Drew Clymer, the deputy chief of听 received a call from a local woman who said her husband and eight-year-old son hadn’t returned from a backcountry ski outing. The sun had gone down and temperatures were plummeting, so Clymer radioed other members of the team to launch a rescue operation.

The region where the two had gone missing is called the听Bruce Trail, which is located adjacent to Stowe Mountain Resort. A recent storm had dumped nearly a foot of fresh powder on the area.

“Everybody knows the听Bruce,” Clymer said. “Back there you’re a long way from home if something goes wrong.”

The woman then told Clymer that her son was carrying a device called a , a GPS tracking tag made for children. The device, which is about the size of a thumb drive, connects to a smartphone app that shows the location of the device on a map.

Clymer asked the woman to meet him at the Bruce Trail parking lot with her phone. When Clymer opened the Jiobit app, he could see the boy’s exact location on a detailed map, several miles from the trailhead. Clymer and other rescuers zipped into the backcountry on an ATV and听found the missing duo within 15 minutes of departing. Stowe Mountain Rescue has not released the names of the rescued individuals.

“This was the easiest rescue I’ve ever been a part of,” he said.

Neither the father nor the boy had headlamps or extra clothing. They had planned to ski down the trail, but a broken binding forced them to walk. When SAR crews reached them, the father was bootpacking听through deep snow while towing his son behind.

Clymer said the small device was “pivotal” for helping the two avert disaster.

“We were back at the trailhead with them in under 25 minutes,” said Clymer. “Coming from someone who spends most of his professional life searching for missing people, this thing was revelatory.”

Had crews been forced to search for the duo in the dark, Clymber believes they would have eventually located the two. But it would have taken several hours to find them in the dark, since neither the father or boy were carrying headlamps.

Similar to the Apple AirTag and other electronic tracking devices, the Jiobit shares location via cellular data, WiFi signals, and bluetooth. But the Jiobit also has GPS capabilities, which allow it to function in the backcountry where there’s no cellular signal.

The Jiobit is hardly the only device to boast these capabilities鈥擳ack GPS, Gabb Watch, and SecuLife S4 all use GPS signals as well.

On its website, the product is described as “waterproof, durable, discreet, and provides accurate real-time tracking at any distance.”听 It’s听designed specifically to track kids, and comes with a locking device that cannot be disabled.

Clymber, who is also the search and rescue coordinator for the Vermont Department of Public Safety, said he plans to recommend GPS trackers to parents and also caregivers of the elderly. A sizable percentage of the SAR rescues in Stowe, he said, are for elderly people who suffer from dementia or Alzheimers. GPS tags, he said, could dramatically reduce the time it takes to locate them.

“It’s not a silver bullet,” he said. “But at least it gives you some peace of mind.”

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