A 36-year-old Eastern Washington woman lost her vision and collapsed along the Enchantments trail after her blood sugar suddenly crashed, and nine strangers who happened to be hiking nearby ended up building her a makeshift stretcher out of hiking poles, bivy sacks and rope to get her off the mountain. The rescue stretched into the night, ending with a helicopter flight and a reunion with her husband at a landing site below.
A Sudden Collapse on the Trail
The woman had already hiked the Enchantments four times since August, making this her fifth trip through the 18-mile route of jagged peaks and alpine lakes inside the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest, according to The Seattle Times. This time, she experienced an unexpected drop in blood sugar and falling blood pressure mid-hike. She has hypoglycemia, the Times reports, and told the paper the symptoms came on suddenly — she could not see when she tried to walk and sat down by the trail. She was on the ground for roughly 20 to 30 minutes before the group of nine hikers found her.
The hikers had started their day at the western trailhead at 9 a.m., planning to finish the route by 6 p.m., and were 11 miles in when they lost the main trail, per the same account. That detour put them in position to spot the woman in distress. The group gave her salt and water before sending an SOS using a satellite communication device, then waited more than 15 minutes without a response.
Building a Stretcher From What They Had
With no immediate word back, the hikers decided to move. Justin Timothy, a firefighter certified in rope rescue, instructed the group to construct a stretcher from hiking poles, bivies and ropes, and the nine hikers carried the woman downhill on the improvised rig, the Times reports. Rescuers eventually made contact about an hour into the group's descent and asked them to wait for first responders at the top, but the hikers pressed on toward Snow Lake instead, worried medics would not reach them quickly enough in the cold.
The woman eventually recovered enough to stand and walked the final three miles to Snow Lake on her own, according to the same report. A helicopter then transported her to a safe landing site, where Chelan County sheriff's deputies and medics met her — along with her husband, who was waiting there. The hikers themselves did not reach paved ground until shortly before midnight.
Students Who Happened to Be Prepared
Among the nine hikers were Whitworth University students Solomon Ward, a 20-year-old from British Columbia, Nathan Elfers, a 19-year-old from Sumner, and Noah Mitton, a 20-year-old from Puyallup, the Times reports. Justin Timothy's father, Mark Timothy, had been the group's track coach at Cascade Christian High School in Puyallup. Ward told the paper the group seemed unusually prepared for the situation they stumbled into.
A Trail With a Pattern of Emergencies
The rescue adds to a long list of distress calls from the Enchantments and nearby Colchuck Lake this year. The Chelan County Sheriff's Office deployed resources to 31 distress calls in that area in 2025, according to ncwlife.com, while a separate accounting from the Chelan County Sheriff's annual report, cited by kpq.com, put the figure at 32 of 58 total search-and-rescue calls that year. Search-and-rescue teams also assisted with five fatality searches in 2025, per that same report.
Other incidents this year underscore how quickly conditions can turn. On June 7, a 28-year-old woman from Whistler, British Columbia, injured her ankle on the Colchuck Lake Trail and needed 12 volunteer rescuers to evacuate her, according to the Leavenworth Echo. Two days later, a hiker became disoriented after nearly completing the full Enchantments through-hike in a single day, with officials believing exhaustion was a factor. A 30-year-old woman with an ankle injury at Colchuck Lake was flown to the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery and then transferred to Cascade Medical on June 14, the Echo reported.
In June 2025, a Seattle woman fell and injured her shoulder in the Enchantments and had to be evacuated by helicopter near Perfection Lake after she was unable to walk out, according to kpq.com. The most severe recent case came in September, when a 45-year-old Oklahoma City woman died while thru-hiking the Enchantments during a sudden snowstorm. Chelan County Mountain Rescue personnel reached her and her husband at about 3:30 a.m., finding the woman dead and the husband suffering from severe hypothermia, komonews.com reported.
What Officials and Experts Recommend
Chelan County sheriff's deputies recommend that hikers who need search and rescue simply stay put rather than continue moving. Jerid Sutherland said the best choice for stranded hikers is to wait for rescuers and to position themselves somewhere a helicopter can land. Sutherland also recommended carrying a satellite communicator such as a Garmin inReach, rather than relying on calling or texting 911 in areas where cell service is unavailable or unreliable.
Jessi Loerch, a magazine editor and spokesperson for the Washington Trails Association, advised hikers to check trail conditions before setting out, especially in colder weather, and to carry the 10 essentials — navigation, hydration, nutrition, rain gear and insulation, a fire starter, a first aid kit, basic tools, light, sun protection and shelter. Loerch said solo hikers in particular should tell someone their planned route and expected return time and should respect their own physical limits, adding that solo hiking is not the time to push boundaries. More broadly, hikers who encounter someone in danger should first ensure their own safety before helping, and anyone facing danger or conditions that make them nervous should be willing to turn back.
The Enchantments draws more than 100,000 visitors each year to a route that gains more than 4,000 feet of elevation, with Aasgard Pass marking its highest point and most difficult stretch. For the woman rescued this time, the ordeal has not scared her off the trail. She told the Times she has recovered from the incident, plans to return to the Enchantments in spring, hopes to one day bring her children there, and will carry an emergency beacon on future hikes and trail runs.
