Deschutes SAR rescues hiker who had fallen ill

About a dozen Deschutes County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team members were called out Wednesday afternoon to help a hiker from Tigard who had fallen ill along the Green Lakes Trail, about 30 miles west of Bend, officials said.

County 911 dispatchers got a call around 3 p.m. from Jessica Sheets, reporting that her hiking partner, Daniel Horn, 24, of Tigard, had become ill and needed medical assistance, said Deputy Jeff Winters, assistant SAR coordinator.

Sheets said the two had been hiking for two days and had covered about 20 miles the previous day.

A cellphone connection enabled officials to determine the hikers’ coordinates, and it showed they were on the Green Lakes Trail, about three miles north of its intersection with the Pole Creek Trail, Winters said.

A team of 13 SAR volunteers hiked in nearly five miles from the Pole Creek trailhead, bringing medical supplies and a lightweight metal liter with a single wheel and tire mounted to the bottom.

The SAR team reached the pair around 6:10 p.m., and Horn was evaluated and treated by SAR medics. He was then secured in the wheeled liter and taken back to the trailhead, where Sisters Fire and Rescue medics were waiting.

The Sisters crews took Horn to St. Charles Bend for further treatment, Winters said.