A falling tree in Olympic National Forest in Washington state killed two older women hiking there this month.
Victims Kathryn Pickard, 76, and Christine Mutchler, 70, were on the Lena Lake Trail at around noon Jan. 15 when a large, dead evergreen tree broke, fell and struck them.
A third hiker accompanying them was not struck and went uninjured.
Pickard was pronounced dead at the scene.
Mutchler was airlifted to a hospital with “multiple broken extremities and a possible head injury,” the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday, and died on the way.
Kathy Todd, 74, the third hiker, told the Kitsap Sun, “We heard a big crack that I’ll never forget. I ran as fast as I could, and I’m sure they did too.”
Other hikers who arrived on the scene helped Ms. Todd call for help. The sheriff’s office got Navy Air Station Whidbey Island to provide air support for Mutchler. She died minutes before the helicopter landed, Mutchler’s sister Paula Smith told the Sun.
