The Dosses: September 2008

Yesterday, I arrived in Las Vegas, NV. As most of you know, I will be in Nevada for the next nine months inspecting a large construction project on North Shore Road of lake Mead. I actually went to the job site today, and saw the desert that will be my home away from home. It actually reminds me of Ratone Pass in New Mexico. The road curves a lot, and there are a lot of rock hills (I can't quite call them mountains, but they are pretty large).

Today must have been a test drive day or something, because we saw at least 20 Ford GT40's speed by us. They were all race ready, and going 75+ on the 50 mph road.

I also got to visit the Hoover Dam Bypass job site today. You think the Hoover Dam is high off the ground, this bridge is 800 feet above it. I stood on the edge of the bridge, and the river is 3000 feet below!! I was shaking (I am terrified of heights), but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see.

I will be back in Denver tomorrow, and I will be there for one more week before moving here until the project is done. I will post pics from this trip as soon as I can.

My sister's (and our family's) good friend of many years, Amy, recently went hiking with her dad and brother. They had been hiking to the same place before, but nothing like this had ever happened. Read the newspaper article from The Coloradoan:

September 2, 2008

Rescuers come to aid of suddenly ill hiker

BY TREVOR HUGHES
TrevorHughes @coloradoan.com

Editor's note: Coloradoan reporter Trevor Hughes and two companions witnessed portions of Richards' rescue. The following story is based on multiple interviews and personal observations.

Six miles from her car, Amy Richards felt herself growing weak.

Carrying a backpack with several days' worth of food and clothing up the Camp Lake trail in the Rawah Wilderness, she started to feel like she couldn't go on.

And then she fell down.

She got back up, but could barely walk.

"I fell down once, and started getting more tired than I had ever been," said Richards, 22. "I could take about five steps at a time. I could barely walk."

Camp Lake

The 76,000-acre Rawah Wilderness is one of the five original designated wilderness areas in Colorado. Located at the southern end of the Medicine Bow Mountains, the Rawah is named for an American Indian word for "wild place," according to the U.S. Forest Service, which manages the area.

The most popular access to the Rawah Wilderness is off the Poudre Canyon, about 60 miles west of Fort Collins.

From the parking lot, hikers head west into the wilderness, eventually choosing between the West Branch and the Camp Lake trails.

The Rawah is popular with backpackers because it's possible to do a loop of about 20 miles, up and over Grassy Pass, at 11, 200 feet.

Taking the route clockwise, hikers gain altitude slowly. Walking counterclockwise up the Camp Lake trail, hikers gain altitude much faster, then walk much of the way to Camp Lake along an abandoned irrigation ditch.

It was along the Camp Lake trail where Richards fell ill on that Friday evening, July 25.

Supported by her brother and her father, she managed to stumble close to where they had planned to camp for the night and collapsed in the tent.

She barely slept and felt even worse in the morning when they got up to keep going to Camp Lake.

The final mile to the lake on the trail requires going over a small hill, and that weekend, the ground was soaked. The area is crisscrossed by streams and swampy areas and teeming with mosquitoes.

"I fell in a bog. I got a little hypothermic. I couldn't even stand up," said Richards, a CSU senior and lifelong Fort Collins resident.

At that point, her father and brother decided they would go for help. But they didn't want to leave her alone.

Scouts to the rescue

Enter Boy Scout Troop 342 from Lakewood.

The boys and their scoutmasters were fishing at Camp Lake when Richards, her father and her brother finally arrived.

The scouts dropped their fishing poles and built a litter out of tree

branches, tarps and duct tape, Richards said, carrying her down the trail 1.5 miles to a spot both drier and less swarmed by mosquitoes.

"They seemed pretty happy about it. They didn't complain," she said. "They dropped everything and started building a litter."

Her father and brother left to get help Saturday afternoon, and the scouts stayed to watch over her, keeping her warm, if not particularly comfortable.

"I was miserable. I felt like I had the flu," Richards said.

Posse to the rescue

Sunday morning brought the arrival of two riders and three horses from the Larimer County Sheriff's posse.

Richards' father and brother stayed in the trailhead parking lot with emergency workers.

The posse is a volunteer group of reserve and regular deputies who patrol the county on horseback. While most often seen at CSU football games or during the county fair, the posse also helps with search-and-rescue efforts.

And in wilderness areas, where motorized travel is prohibited, horses are the natural choice for evacuations.

But Richards was too ill to ride, even assisted by posse members.

"I couldn't even move at that point. I couldn't even roll onto my side," she said. "That's when they called the helicopter."

Chopper to the rescue

Communicating with a county emergency services worker in the West Branch parking lot, the posse ordered a helicopter to evacuate Richards.

Rescuers contacted the North Colorado Med Evac service, and a chopper headed out.

Leaving the ground, the chopper carried a pilot and two flight nurses plus a full load of fuel.

Arriving over Richards' location about 10,000 feet above sea level, the helicopter's pilot realized that he wouldn't have the power to lift back off with the additional weight.

The pilot flew back to the nearby Rawah Ranch and dropped off one of the flight nurses, then returned for Richards, leaving behind the second flight nurse.

The pilot then dropped Richards off at the ranch, went back for the second flight nurse, collected the other two from the ground, and headed down to Poudre Valley Hospi-tal.

It was Richards' first ride in a helicopter.

Richards spent 17 days in PVH. Her kidneys had shut down, and she needed dialysis.

"They tested for everything under the sun. Nothing. They still don't know what happened to me," she said.

Back to normal

Today, Richards is getting things back on track. She's back at work at her part-time cashier job and back at Colorado State University for her final year as a sociology student.

She's feeling much better but still struggles with weakness and has a little trouble walking.

And she's thankful to all the people who helped with her rescue.

"Everybody was great," Richards said. "The Boy Scouts were great, and the posse was very, very competent. It was handled extremely well by everyone."

Richards said she's excited about getting back into Colorado's backcountry, and her recent experience hasn't de-terred her.

"I'll take it slow. I don't want to get sick again," she said.

"But I'm perfectly willing to do it again."

Richards hikes a trail at Horsetooth Reservoir. (V. Richard Haro/The Coloradoan)

Amy Richards, 22, a senior at CSU majoring in political science and sociology, poses Friday at Horsetooth Reservoir. In July, Richards became ill while backpacking with her father and brother. Boy Scouts, the Larimer County sheriff’s posse and North Colorado Med Evac helped rescue her when she was unable to hike out of the Rawah WIlderness. (V. Richard Haro /The Coloradoan)

Amy, we are so glad you are back in good health! Good luck with your classes this semester!