Carrying Jim off the Pacific Crest Trail

Carrying Jim off the Pacific Crest TrailBy Howard Koster

Late one recent morning, Phoenix (Rianne) and I were making our way through the North Cascade mountains toward the Canadian border when we came across a small tent set up in a marshy area directly next to the trail.
Outside the tent were a backpack and a pair of hiking boots.Approaching, we called out: “Hi there, everything okay?”Receiving no response, I peeked into the tent and gave the body in the sleeping bag a gentle shake, while repeating the question.
A bleary eyed, grey haired head peaked out from the bag, but he gave no answer.
After several more attempts, we learned that the head belonged to Jim and that he had caught a chill.

https://www.pcta.org/2018/carrying-j...EtMSWF0ghCgXV8

Well done by all. And very lucky for Jim that Howard and Rianne stopped to check on him initially.

And a great, tear jerking, ending to the story:)

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And we realized with a smile, that this was a story that would be told by many people from many places, forever connected by the fact that on that one particular day, we all did what was necessary; we all carried Jim.***P.S. Following the evacuation, we hiked down to Holden where we met Jim’s wife and exchanged contact details with her. She let us know that Jim was nearly back to his old self.

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That is a great story but it really had me wondering (not second guessing) if sending someone ahead for help would be a better approach in a case like this.

They may have had to take him down the mountain to a safe landing area for the helicopter.

Awesome story.

:clap:clap:clap:clap:clap
Beautiful!

The term "Trail Angels" for real comes to mind.

Big admiration for their caring enough to check out something anomalous, and their resourceful work done in rescuing this fellow. Well done!

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Originally Posted by Rain Man

The term "Trail Angels" for real comes to mind.

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Guardian Trail Angels were there to wake him up at the right time.

What a great example of hikers helping each other out! An amazing story and very heartwarming.

Really awesome particularly that they carried him. Also helpful they had a thermometer.

I wonder whether it was an insulin reaction or hypoglycemia (maybe the same, not sure).

One thing to check for when giving first aid is a medical bracelet, which they may have done. They did ask him some medical questions but Jim didn't share the part about being diabetic. Maybe he was newly diagnosed and just started managing it or just too out of it to state it without it being a specific question.