Jefferson Search and Rescue, a team of all volunteers, rescued a man who fell nearly 30 feet down the difficult Lake Constance trail on Sept. 21, suffering multiple broken bones.

Aaron Brengle, from Seattle, was hiking with his fiancée, Caitlin Ford, when, according to Ford, he leaned against a tree that uprooted and slid down the rock face of the trail.

“He fell 15 feet before making contact with the ground, and then slid another 10,” wrote Ford in a Facebook post. “I found him face down with his backpack ripped from his body several yards away, and the first aid kit bag ripped to shreds with no supplies in sight.”

She performed an initial assessment in which Ford found that Brengle was breathing, but not conscious. She could not tell if he had any broken bones, but there were no obvious internal injuries.

After situating Brengle the best she could, Ford ran down the trail and stole a bike that was left at the trailhead, so she could get to her car as fast as possible and get into range to call 911. According to Ford, he fell at around 3:30 p.m.

The bike she stole belonged to local alpinist Erik Kingfisher, who was out for a climb on his birthday. Descending, he encountered Brengle, who was lying to the side of the trail.

“It’s a really steep, sketchy, scrambly, difficult and dangerous route,” he said of the Lake Constance trail. “You have to go very slowly and and hold onto branches and roots in some parts.”

Kingfisher, certified in first aid and wilderness rescue, immediately began taking Brengle’s vitals and talking to him.

“I assumed he was a solo hiker and I was the only one who had seen him,” Kingfisher said. Brengle was unconscious and breathing with difficulty at first, Kingfisher said. He adjusted him into the recovery position, which eased up his breathing. Talking to him, he noticed Brengle responding slightly.

Meanwhile, by around 5 p.m., Ford got into cell phone service range and called 911. Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office contacted their volunteer search and rescue team, said Sheriff Joe Nole, who arrived at Brengle’s location at 7:30 p.m. From the scene, they contacted Whidbey Island Naval Air Station’s search and rescue helicopter team, who were able to hoist Brengle from the woody mountainside.

“The fact that they could pick him up through deep forest was a miracle,” Kingfisher said. “It would’ve taken 24 hours and 30 or more people to get him out from that spot without a helicopter.”

Brengle was flown to Harborview Medical Center. According to Ford’s post, doctors found he had fractured facial bones, a broken jaw, a broken shoulder blade, fractured vertebrae in his back, four broken ribs, a fractured wrist and was still unconscious.

“We will most likely be white-knuckling it through this week,” she wrote on Facebook.

Ford expressed gratitude for the Search and Rescue team, who acted so quickly, as well as for Kingfisher.

“There was a hiker behind me coming down from the lake,” she wrote. “I had stolen his bike I later found out. He came across Aaron and stayed with him for 30 minutes. Took vitals. Wrote notes of his condition. Got him in the recovery position. Then rejoiced when he realized his bike had been stolen - because he assumed that meant someone had been with Aaron and was using it to get to help faster.”

“Even though he assumed that, he RAN” to the driveable section of the road “after already having an exhausting day, and being inconvenienced by not having his bike,” Ford wrote. “Then he tracked down the Sheriff’s Office in Brinnon where I was to check on the progress. He was the last person to leave.”

For Kingfisher, the incident highlighted the importance of first aid training.

“I hope this doesn’t scare anyone away from hiking,” he said. “But I feel like I was prepared to encounter that because of the training I had… I hope this encourages people to take some first aid training.”

According to Sheriff Joe Nole, the Jefferson Search and Rescue team is always looking for more volunteers.

“We couldn’t do what we do without them,” he said. “We’re really fortunate to have such a good group of volunteers that we trust.”

There has not been an update on Brengle’s condition yet.

According to Ford, they were both experienced hikers.

“We were not inexperienced,” she wrote. “It wasn’t preventable. It would have been different had he been alone… Be prepared in nature, she always has the last say.”