Troopers fly three stranded hikers out of Hatcher Pass

Three hikers stranded near Hatcher Pass were flown out by helicopter on Monday after weather and high water left them unable to walk out on their own, the Alaska Wildlife Troopers said.

Troopers received the report on August 17 and responded by air, locating the three and flying them to Willow Airport. The hikers declined medical care and were driven back to their vehicles.

It is at least the third rescue in the Hatcher Pass area this summer. Trooper dispatches record a multi-agency response on August 6, when Alaska State Troopers, State Parks, Palmer Rescue and Mat-Su Borough EMS carried an incapacitated hiker off Reed Lakes Trail to a waiting ambulance. On July 10, Alaska Wildlife Troopers from the Palmer post reached a hiker from New York on the same trail after he fell and sustained a head injury, then flew him to a hospital aboard a Department of Public Safety helicopter.

The National Weather Service issued flood watches for Hatcher Pass and the Susitna Valley in late July, warning that already elevated creeks and streams respond fast to rain.

The account of all three rescues comes from trooper dispatches, which name no trooper and quote no one.