Deschutes Co. SAR rescues injured hiker near Tumalo Falls

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue volunteers came to the aid Saturday of a Bend woman who fell off a log and suffered an injury while hiking in the Tumalo Falls area.

Deschutes County 911 dispatchers got a broken cell call around 11:15 a.m. from a hiker in the area in regards to Alida Turner, 54, of Bend, who had fallen a short distance off a log on the North Fork Trail and was injured and no longer able to walk, about two miles from the trailhead, said sheriff’s Deputy Russell Stanage, assistant SAR coordinator.

Cell service in the area is poor, he said, and little other information was known at the time.

A sheriff’s deputy and nine volunteers were activated and responded to Turner’s location. The first volunteers reached her about 1 p.m., Stanage said.

Volunteers stabilized Turner and transported her by wheeled litter back to the Tumalo Falls Trailhead, where they arrived around 3:40 p.m. She was taken to Bend by two friends to seek further medical treatment, the deputy said.