Crushed in the Backcountry: Inside a Harrowing Midnight Salmon River Rescue

Just after midnight on July 18, a 100-foot-tall tree fell onto a campsite along Idaho’s Salmon River, crushing a camper in his tent. A helicopter crew battled dense smoke and nighttime conditions, successfully rescuing and transporting the rafter in a race against time.

Officials have not released the rafter’s name, age, or condition. In an interview with Outside, Rob Cherot, a helicopter pilot with the responding agency, Two Bear Air, said the rafter suffered multiple fractures and was significantly injured.

“It was a humongous tree. You couldn’t wrap your arms around it—it had to be a 100-foot-tall tree,” Cherot told Outside. “It wasn’t really windy; it just tipped over out of the blue.” Cherot said he’s seen trees fall on firefighters battling wildland fires, but one to fall seemingly randomly on a person camping is, what he called, “a freak accident.”

The odds of being killed by a fallen tree are slim, but not zero. In 2024, Outside detailed the story of Finn Bastian, a 28-year-old from Germany who was struck by a tree while hiking along the Pacific Crest Trail. Bastian died of his injuries. Two weeks before his accident, another tree struck and killed Beth Skelley, 56, as she slept in her tent on the Colorado Trail. Falling timber killed a hiker on the Appalachian Trail in 2015 and again in 2018. Two kids died in Yosemite Valley, California, when a limb from an oak tree fell onto their tent, also in 2015.

Cherot, 54, is based in Northwestern Montana and has been flying for Two Bear Air for eight years. He’s also a paramedic who flies for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks on his days off. According to Cherot, a group of about 20 rafters was camping roughly 30 miles upstream from the remote Mackay Bar Ranch. As the victim slept, a tree unexpectedly fell on his tent, trapping and injuring the camper sleeping inside.

Dispatchers received a call just before midnight, and the rescue crew flew from Montana to nearby Idaho, arriving at the campsite around 2:30 A.M.

“They were up there a good long way, so it’s super dark in there, and there’s some forest fires nearby. It was very smoky, and the visibility was horrible,” Cherot said.

By the time Cherot and his crew arrived at the camp, the group had already lifted the tree off of their fellow camper. The man suffered multiple fractures, Cherot added. The Two Bear Air helicopter crew then transferred the patient to a Life Flight crew from Lewiston, Idaho.

The group’s quick-thinking and backcountry survival skills likely saved the man’s life, Cherot said. First, they were able to provide dispatch with an exact location and description the man’s injuries. According to Cherot, emergency satellite messages often pass through multiple dispatch centers or call centers before reaching the flight crew, and communication can quickly become murky. The initial dispatch details described just a group of rafters trapped under a log with breathing difficulties, which crews initially interpreted as a possible near-drowning.

“We left Kalispell thinking we were going to go pick up somebody who had almost drowned. We had no idea they had successfully rafted and were hanging out in camp, going to bed, when the incident occurred,” Cherot said. Using a satellite device to send an SOS and pinpoint exact GPS coordinates saved rescue crews critical time searching in the dark.

The campers also helped guide the helicopter by forming “human circle” on the ground and pointing their headlamps to mark where the pilot should land. Switching on the strobe light function further assisted the pilot in spotting their location with night vision goggles.

“The strobe is huge because we were flying down the river and there are several other camps with lights near there. That was brilliant,” Cherot said.

In a Facebook post, Two Bear Air said a rescue specialist assessed and provided initial stabilizing treatment before hoisting the victim and transporting them to the nearby Elk City Airport. Authorities turned the man over to Life Flight Network for continuing treatment and transport.

“We wish him a speedy recovery,” the rescue agency wrote.