California rescuers descended on the Sierra Nevada mountains last week to rescue a hiker who suddenly lost feeling in his legs after being attacked by a mysterious assailant.
The woman had stopped to get water from a stream along Taboos Pass in the park at around 6.30pm when she felt a sting that she thought might have been from a spider bite.
“She then lost feeling in the skin of her feet and was unable to continue her descent,” Inyo County Search and Rescue officials said. He said in a statement.
The unidentified woman called for help after her phone battery ran out. She gave her coordinates just before her phone died.
Inyo County Search and Rescue pushed a stretcher on wheels the 1.75 miles between the trailhead and the stranded hiker, but arrived only a quarter mile short of the victim because the road was too rough.
The team hid the rubbish and moved forward, finding the paralyzed woman. They “secured the woman with a rope and slowly walked her down a difficult section of the trail.”
The entire rescue operation took more than five hours.
Days after the terrifying encounter, medical personnel determined the bite was not from a spider, and wasn’t even a bite at all.
“Rescue crews believe the individual who required rescue was stung by a nettle that was on an overgrown path,” Lindsay Stein with the county sheriff’s office told The Washington Post.
Hikers trying to avoid the snow on Mather Pass accidentally walked through a thicket of nettles on the Taboos Pass trail, which is not regularly maintained and is only accessible to high-clearance vehicles.
Nettle leaves and young stems contain stinging hairs that contain formic acid and other irritants that can cause irritation if they pierce the skin. According to Britannica.
Upon contact, these needle-like hairs inject stinging acid into the skin, causing a burning, tingling, and itchy rash.
Fortunately, symptoms usually don’t last more than 24 hours, and the sheriff’s office confirmed the hiker appears to be making a good recovery.
