JSAR was paged around 3:30 Friday afternoon, July 22, for a reported hiker with an ankle fracture on the trail halfway to Lena Lake. The Sheriff’s Office and Brinnon Fire Department also responded to the trailhead. A team of two started up the trail with a wheeled litter around 4:45 shortly after the fire crew, who located the patient and splinted the injured leg. The patient was loaded and started down the trail, met by additional JSAR teams with fresh personnel to assist with the litter. Reaching the trailhead around two hours after the mission started, the patient was transferred to the waiting Brinnon aid car and transported to a front-county landing zone for a medivac flight.
Because it is popular, the Lena Lake Trail is the site of many JSAR missions, including several ankle injuries in the past year and some heat injuries. The trail begins in Mason County but crosses into Jefferson County after a few switchbacks.