A blind hiker and his guide dog were rescued from an Oregon trail on Monday after being stranded for days due to heat exhaustion, the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Northwest said Wednesday.
The 55-year-old hiker and his guide dog began their hike with a friend in the Rogue Wilderness area on Wednesday, July 3, and on Saturday, July 6, he began to show signs of heat exhaustion while on the Rogue River Trail. Due to the lack of cell service in the area the hiker's friend left him food and water and continued on toward Gold Beach to call 911, which took a day.
The Josephine County Sheriff's Office said two deputies set out early Monday morning to hike six miles to reach the stranded hiker.
"They found him alive and well but too exhausted to hike themselves out," the sheriff's office said. "Due to the remoteness of the location, an extraction plan was needed."
The sheriff's office, Oregon Department of Emergency Management, and the federal Bureau of Land Management developed a rescue plan, and called in the Coast Guard to assist with a helicopter crew.
"The man could not walk and the terrain was too rough for a wheel litter," the Coast Guard said. A video shared by the Coast Guard shows the helicopter crew dropping a rescue swimmer to prepare the man and his guide dog, who were then hoisted to safety. They were transported to awaiting EMS at Grants Pass Airport.
The helicopter could not fit the deputies, however, and they "were forced to hike back out in the over 100-degree weather while encountering several rattlesnakes along the trail," the sheriff's office said.
"As a side note, the hiker was very experienced, but at the end of the day, the extreme heat got to him," the sheriff's office said. "In fact, it was so hot, that his expensive hiking boots were slowly disintegrating as he was hiking along the hot rocks. Please make sure you are prepared when heading out to explore our beautiful wilderness areas!"
-With reporting from TMX.
