A hiker has sustained serious injuries after inadvertently triggering a landslide during an off-trail adventure near Ainsworth State Park in the scenic Columbia River Gorge. The incident unfolded late Thursday afternoon, as reported by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. The man, in his mid-30s, attempted to cross a creek nearly a mile from marked trails when the earth betrayed his footing, sending him down with a cascade of rocks and debris.
Injured and unable to climb out under his own power, trapped under sizable rocks, the hiker managed to contact emergency services at 3:51 p.m., as per the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office. Roughly an hour and a half later, members of the highly trained Green Hornets team from the sheriff’s office reached the individual. Even as the man knew his whereabouts, the staff of the City of Portland’s Bureau of Emergency Communications was engaged in the critical task of pinpointing his cell phone location, enhancing the efficacy of the response efforts.
The complexities of the off-trail location thrust the need for a comprehensive rescue operation involving the sheriff’s specialized Green Hornets squad, and to reinforce the effort, a collaborative assemblage of skilled entities entered the fray. Entities such as the Hood River Crag Rats, Portland Mountain Rescue, Cascade Locks Fire Department, American Medical Response, Inc., and, there too, the MCSO Search and Rescue Team stood in solidarity with the mission…