Injured hiker rescued from short trail near Buena Vista on Saturday

DENVER ( KDVR ) — One of Colorado’s volunteer search and rescue teams was called out again on Saturday, this time to Agnes Vaille Falls near Nathrop, south of Buena Vista.

Chaffee County Search and Rescue North was paged to the trail at about 9:53 a.m. on Saturday for a hiker who had possibly broken their ankle. The reporting party didn’t have a cell signal at the location of the injured hiker, so they hiked back to their location to provide that information to the search and rescue workers.

Rescuers found the person about a mile to a mile and a half from the trailhead. Nine responders, alongside deputies and emergency medical service workers, responded to the mission. At first, the search and rescue workers sought to use ATVs but found the trail too challenging and turned back.

The first search and rescue team member made it to the person at about 11 a.m. The worker requested light technical gear and a vacuum splint to get the hiker back onto the trail.

The volunteers began to manually haul the injured hiker at about 11:50 a.m., with the narrow, steep trail and a stream crossing presenting difficulties to the crew.

It took between one to two hours to get the injured hiker back to the trailhead. But at 1:15 p.m., the person had been transported by ambulance for further medical care and all teams were out of the field.

The team is entirely volunteer, as are all Colorado search and rescue teams.

“We’re people with regular day jobs who go out because it’s the right thing to do,” the Chaffee County Search and Rescue North group posted to Facebook. The group encouraged supporters to donate at the search and rescue group’s website .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.