The plan was to do the Alpine Lakes High Route starting at West Fork and finishing at East Fork. We hiked in late Thursday night and camped at Trout Lake. We got up early Friday morning, took a morning swim (water temp of 64°), ate and packed out towards Copper Lake. I was glad to be doing the climb early in the day since a lot of this section is in direct sunlight. We did encounter that large tree down across the trail. It took a minute to figure out how to get over it, but someone has chopped some foot holds into it so it's not too bad. And it only covers one switch back now - the upper section has been cleared.
We were hot and sticky after the climb so we stopped for a break at Copper Lake and took another swim (water temp of 64°). Then we made the next climb to Big Heart Lake. Of course we had to take another swim (water temp 62°). After fueling up and filtering more water, we continued up the ridge since our objective for the day was to make it to Chetwoot Lake. The trail is still pretty good in this area for maybe up to half a mile, but it starts to get kind of rough after that. It took us much longer to hike with the boulders to climb around and with the steeper-at-times incline. About a mile from Big Heart, just past Atrium Peak, we were skirting around a large boulder by stepping on some other rocks. I made it around fine, but my friend slipped off and landed wrong on her right foot. It was maybe only a 3-foot drop to the ground, but with a heavy pack on, it was enough to break her leg.
She was quickly in a lot of pain so I used my Garmin inReach to call for SAR. We were connected to the King County Sheriff's office and they were ultimately able to get a Navy helicopter from Whidbey island to come get her. We only had to wait about 3 hours for them to arrive. While we waited, I crudely splinted her leg as best I could. A group of 3 hikers (all with WFR training) came upon us shortly after the fall and were able to help us get her into a more comfortable spot while we waited (initially we thought we might have to spend the night out there).
It was about 6pm when the SAR team arrived and it took about 30 minutes from them to do their assessments, get her some pain meds, and lift her via litter into the chopper. Once she was on her way to Harborview, I hiked back down to Big Heart and camped for the night. I've never hiked more carefully than on that mile back to the lake. As soon as it was light the next day, I hiked out to the trailhead as fast as I could, only taking breaks to let uphill hikers go by.
It was a very challenging experience, but it truly couldn't have gone any better, with having help from experienced hikers, and the quick arrival of the SAR team. Words cannot express the gratitude I have for the sheriff's office, the Navy SAR team, and our fellow hikers.
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