A pair of 30 year-old (apparently professional students from UW) hiked into the caldera at Crater Lake on Sunday and got stuck down there. They could've taken the trail that leads down to the dock, but nope, they decided to bushwhack it - which is illegal, but hey.
On Monday about 8 a.m., a Jackson County search and rescue helicopter arrived and rescued the hikers. One had head, chest and limb injuries after falling the last 250 feet of the 1,100 foot descent. The other hiker suffered minor hypothermia after spending the night in the cold.
Both got a couple of citations, and the guy who fell was airlifted to a hospital in Bend. They're also probably looking at some serious cash expenditures, what with all the helicopters and everything; one was sent out to find them, then another was sent to get them when conditions improved the next day, and then of course a third flew that guy to the hospital.
Hope mommy and daddy have a lot of money.
