Oregon US Coast Guard Team Assists in Olympic National Forest Rescue - Video

Published 02/17/26 at 5:55 p.m.
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection Staff

(Olympic National Forest, Washington) - A US Coast Guard helicopter from the Oregon coast came to the rescue of a group of inland hikers essentially a whole state away at the northern edges of Washington. Sunday night saw a Coast Guard MH-60T Jayhawk crew from Air Station Astoria assisting Mason County rescuers after two hikers were injured in an avalanche chute on Mount Ellinor.

Coast Guard watchstanders received a request for support after the Mason County Special Operations Team reached the pair but could not safely evacuate them on foot due to steep, unstable terrain. The hikers - a 51-year-old with abdominal injuries from a fall and a 16-year-old who hurt their knee while trying to help - were stranded in the chute as daylight was fading rapidly.

An MH-60T aircrew arrived shortly before 9 p.m., hoisted both patients, and transported them to Olympia Regional Airport, where emergency medical personnel were waiting.

Mason County Search and Rescue, the Mason County Sheriff’s Office, and Olympic Mountain Rescue also responded to the incident.

The video shows rescuers securing one of the group, wrapping them up in blankets and rope inside the rescue basket. The next scene is wind-whipped trees moving due to the helicopter and that basket weaving to and fro in the wind by the pure physics of pendulum-like action. It's nail-biting to just imagine yourself in that erratic basket.

The first two scenes were in infrared, and the final minute of the clip is a normal camera, footage that again shows the basket being hoisted in the air and wandering from side to side. At this point, however, it's much smoother riding up.

One of the more recent US Coast Guard rescues was back in September, where the central Oregon coast waters were the scene of a white-knuckled retrieval. A commercial fisherman was rescued that morning after his vessel capsized in rough surf near the entrance to the Alesa River, just south of Waldport.

Responding to the scene were a 47-foot motor lifeboat crew from Station Yaquina Bay in Newport, along with an MH-65E Dolphin helicopter crew from Air Station North Bend. A rescue swimmer was deployed and successfully hoisted the fisherman from the water.

A particularly intense scene occurred at Port Orford last month when a ship ran aground at Paradise State Park. Heavy surf and a serious undertow prevented most of the crew from jumping off, and they required a USCG helicopter to pull them off.

Also taken off the ship by a pulley system were two dogs. S. Oregon Coast Fire Captain Describes Harrowing Rescue at Stranded Ship Near Port Orford - Incoming tides, high waves and a ship that was rocking violently

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