Mission accomplished,

with bruises to prove it

After discovering and destroying a pot-growing operation Saturday near Dog Mountain, Wash., nine Skamania County sheriff's deputies became separated and disoriented in unforgiving terrain.

Six of them eventually managed to work their way back out, albeit by a different route than the one they took going in. The other three opted to stay put and await help.

I serve as a reserve team leader with Multnomah County Search and Rescue, so it wasn't a total surprise when my pager went off early Sunday, prematurely interrupting a good night's sleep. By 8:45, I was donning an orange shirt for a day in the field.

My comrades and I set out for the Columbia River Gorge in a pair of vehicles - a Ford Excursion SUV and a Ford F-450 truck towing a command trailer. At the staging area, we pulled our rigs in next to 10 others from various police, fire and rescue agencies.

The terrain had been described to us as tough and rugged, and it was all of that. To my team, it seemed close to impassable.

Ours is a ground-based unit, so we have limited experience with climbing equipment.

Nonetheless, four of our 11 members donned harnesses over their orange shirts and green 5.11 military spec trousers. The harnesses were lined with locking carabiners, rescue 8s and Prusik loops.

The first obstacle was the largest waterfall we would encounter the entire day we spent in the field.

Two ladders and a brief sprawl over a rock face brought us to a landing zone. This landing zone was just above the point where news cameras shot footage of a metal litter with two rescuers dangling from the sides.

We met up with other teams at the third waterfall and helped provide the manpower to carry a heat-exhausted deputy down the creek to safety on a litter.

Deep in that rocky, wet and dangerous terrain, we had to deploy some very tricky and technical gear. But in collaboration with mountain rescue units, we helped get him out.

I found myself splashing around in waist-deep water, trying to make sure I didn't take a tumble and go over a waterfall.

After we got our litter-bound victim down to waiting medical crews, I waited for my turn to follow on a belayed rappel line. I strapped my Black Diamond ATC to a locking carabiner and bounced my way down to the bottom of the waterfall.

I have bruises on my legs attesting to the difficulty of the task. But I took great satisfaction at the end of the day in being able to say "mission accomplished" and mean it.

Lauren L. Dillard

Summer Reporting Intern

503-472-5114, Ext. 229

ldillard@newsregister.com