We had some excitement on the Wind Cave trail today, it was our first experience with a rescue operation in action. Thankfully the rescue did not involve anyone in our group. It all started with a woman who twisted her knee on the way down the trail, I'd guess she still had 3/4 of the hike left so she was quite a ways up there. She made the decision to call for help... little did she know that three hikers just a few minutes behind her were Sheriffs who could most likely have helped her down the mountain. Well, by the looks of things, you would have thought there had been a massive accident involving fiery explosions, multiple wounded and possible hostages. Sirens sounded, a medevac helicopter began circling, then two quick backpack-equipped men were the first to pass us on the trail.
Next came the group with the wheeled gurney... check it out! Could the two first responders and two follow-up gurney guys not handle the job? (not to mention the three Sheriffs already on the scene!)
Following this group were 2 or 3 more groups of rescuers. Seriously, how many people does it take to bring one lady down the mountain?
The parking lot was the grand finale. It was impossible to get a picture of all the emergency vehicles, at least 13 all together! Unbelievable. By chance, our vehicle was one of the only ones not blocked in by the madness.
Don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful to know that in case of an actual emergency, help would be available! We even reasoned that perhaps simple injuries like this one are great opportunities to train for more serious circumstances. But holy smokes... if I had been that lady, I would have died of embarrassment (forget about the knee problem!). After what we witnessed today, we all decided it might be better to slide down the mountain on our bottoms, or hobble hanging onto a friend, or call a husband to bring a wheelbarrow to cart us down... rather than be subjected to a rescue operation of such massive proportions unnecessarily.
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