North Bend, Wash. — Eastside Fire and Rescue medics loaded the man into a waiting airlift. He was alert and talking but badly hurt. He, his 16-month-old son, two other adults and a female hiker not in their party were a mile and a quarter in on the popular Twin Falls trail, near North Bend.
A family friend told investigators they heard a loud crack, and a massive tree came down on them.
"It was a rotten cedar," said King County Sheriff's deputy Dan Anderson.
He said the cedar tree was about 100 feet tall. It fell on a woman in her 30s. It hit the man, also in his 30s, and the toddler he was carrying about 20 feet.
Eyewitnesses sprang into action.
"Additional hikers on the trail, some good Samaritans, and they ran the child up to the trailhead where we had Medic One staging," Anderson said. "And we were able to get that child en route to Harborview immediately."
Other hikers were pressed into service, too, as rescuers scrambled to get enough resources. Hiker David Klein helped move some supplies to the scene.
"It was right at the corner of a switchback," said Klein. "And it landed on the trail and then farther down the hill as well. A lot of things rolled down the hill, a lot of uprooted vegetation."
The man arrived at Harborview some two and a half hours later. His son was already here. Both are critically wounded.
But the accident did not deter other hikers.
"Anything can keep you from going out to do this kind of stuff," said hiker Steph Lecovin. "But we don't want to live in fear. We want to enjoy the outdoors."
The woman suffered serious injuries. But like the father and son, she is expected to live.