At 4:15pm on October 7, 2018, Taos Search and Rescue activated their team to join a large-scale ongoing rescue at the Trampas trailhead of the Carson National Forest, southeast of Trampas, New Mexico. Two subjects were seriously injured and required a 6-mile evacuation to the trailhead via a litter.

The two subjects were camping near Trampas Lakes at 11,000 feet. In the very early morning, a tree fell onto their tent. Both subjects sustained serious injuries.

TSAR members Kenton, Nate and Karlis arrived at incident base at 6:20pm. At this point, Fire and EMS teams had been providing medical care and were evacuating the subjects down to the trailhead. TSAR’s initial responders were tasked, along with three members of Atalaya SAR, with hiking up trail to assist the Fire and EMS teams in the litter evacuation. They departed incident base as Team 5 at approximately 6:45pm. Arriving later from TSAR were members Roy and Brady, who also headed up trail to assist in the litter evacuation, and Gary, who assisted at incident base.

Team 5 reached the subjects and Fire/EMS teams at 8:48pm. More SAR teams arrived from further down-trail, and two new teams were formed: one for each subject. Both subjects were placed into wheeled litters for the approximately 3 mile evacuation back down-trail.

The evacuation down-trail was a difficult process, as it had long gone completely dark and the trail was rocky and crossed several small streams. Incredible professionalism and teamwork was displayed by the many agencies involved in this rescue.

At approximately 12:30 am, both litters reached the trailhead and both subjects were immediately turned over to waiting ambulances. Both subjects are expected to recover from their injuries.

This mission involved the work of dozens of first responders (volunteer and non-volunteer), and many, many different agencies from across the state of New Mexico. Litter evacuations, especially of this length, are extremely strenuous and every last responder and resource was appreciated.

Disclaimer: Mission Reports from Taos Search and Rescue are written from our perspective and from the accounts of our responders, and may lack detail about the entirety of the search and rescue response. Media are encouraged to contact the New Mexico State Police. For comments, corrections or questions about this report, please email info@sar-taos.org.