I heard the helicopter, but I busied my focus on the green on top of the light grey bark of a desert peach bush—a sign of spring. The trail was filled with hikers, mountain bikers and trail runners enjoying the sunshine and warm weather. Soon, I thought, the hillside here along the Evans Canyon Loop trail would be pink with flowers.
I craved silence to enjoy this subtle beauty, which is normally granted in this spot, just under the landmark “N” on the hillside at Rancho San Rafael Regional Park. However, the pap-pap-pap-pap of the mechanized beast grew louder, and I could ignore its presence no longer.
I turned to watch the helicopter circle a few times, then land along the double-track trail—wide enough for an ATV or two bikes riding abreast, but narrow for an aircraft. A team of first responders jumped from the helicopter and met with a group of EMTs already at the scene, and they disappeared down a trail that meets with Evans Creek. Soon, they carried a person out from the trail on a stretcher and loaded them into the helicopter…