Search and Rescue assist woman in distress in The Subway

ZION NATIONAL PARK – Search and Rescue crews located and assisted a woman reported to be in possible cardiac arrest Sunday night in The Subway canyoneering area of Zion National Park.

Zion Search and Rescue crew and ambulance service from Washington County responded to the call for help that came in at 9:30 p.m. Sunday. The team found the 30-year-old woman about 1 mile from the trailhead in very difficult terrain, Alyssa Baltrus with the National Park Service said.

She was conscious and alert though lethargic.

The woman had hiked with a companion from the top of the canyon down – a difficult 9.5 mile hike by Park Service description – and only had 1. 5 quarts of water. She had not eaten since morning.

The SAR crew members rehydrated the woman, Baltrus said, and made plans to stay with her overnight and then bring her out of the area in the morning.

But the woman decided she was OK to continue and was able to get up the steep 500 foot 1/2 mile incline, Baltrus said, from which point Search and Rescue loaded her into a litter and carried her the last 1/2 mile out.

The woman declined ambulance transport and left with her friends.

According to the National Park Service webpage on The Subway, the hike from the top down is a strenuous 9.5-mile hike that requires rappelling skills, 60 feet of rope, and extensive route-finding experience. The route also requires swimming through several deep pools of very cold debris-filled water.

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