Backcountry team rescues injured local woman who spent night in wilderness after ATV crash

POCATELLO — The Bannock County Sheriff’s Office backcountry team recently rescued a 50-year-old local woman from the Gibson Jack area following an ATV accident.

Sgt. Nick Zweigart, a member of the backcountry rescue team, said the incident occurred early Tuesday morning and involved multiple different tools and techniques.

The incident began to unfold around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday when the family of the woman contacted authorities to report that she had not returned from her ride after departing around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Zweigart said.

“Before calling law enforcement, her family went up to the Gibson Jack trailhead where her ride began and located her truck and trailer,” Zweigart said. “They walked around on foot around the trail up there in an attempt to locate their loved one but they couldn’t find her so they called us.”

Zweigart said the sheriff’s office then deployed its search and rescue team along with the backcountry rescue group in an attempt to locate the woman. The searchers came equipped with e-bikes, an ATV and a side-by-side off-road vehicle, sticking mostly to the designated trails due to the lack of visibility because it was dark outside, Zweigart said.

“After that we had Portneuf Air Medical fly around the area for about an hour-and-a-half or so and they couldn’t find her either,” Zweigart said. “It was starting to get light outside, so we went back up to the main route she would have taken and see if we could see down the sides of some of the steep terrain.”

Zweigart said it was around 7:30 a.m. Tuesday morning when one of the backcountry rescue members who was on an e-bike stopped for a second at the top of a ravine to take a quick break and could hear the sound of a faint female voice.

“They could hear her but could not see her from the trail,” he said. “They hiked down and she was approximately 100 feet down this steep part of the mountain off the main trail. She was concealed by this thick brush and nobody could see her.”

Zweigart said the woman was conscious and breathing but was in a considerable amount of pain. To make matters worse, it started raining and thundering, making the conditions for rescue even more difficult.

“Our backcountry team ultimately uses some ropes and their skills to get her packed out safely,” Zweigart said. “They were able to get her up on the main trailhead and get her loaded up into a waiting ambulance.”

The woman was then transported to Portneuf Medical Center to receive treatment for injuries that were not life-threatening, Zweigart added.

An update on the woman’s condition was not available Thursday but Zweigart said she is expected to survive the ordeal.

Zweigart said this is the backcountry’s fourth call for rescue since the group became active this May.

“This backcountry crew has specific skill sets for rescues in the mountains, like this particular rescue where we needed to utilize ropes and other equipment to get down into tight spaces,” he said. “The e-bikes have been a great resource to get us onto single tracks that ATVs or other off-road vehicles can’t typically get to.”

He continued, “This is an all-volunteer team that is dedicated to helping the community and providing an additional resource for assistance. It’s a pretty good thing.”