Rangers and park staff dealt with two bike accident with serious injuries last week. The first incident occurred on Wednesday, May 23rd, and involved a tour leader for a bike company who’d ridden the park road “hundreds of times.” He was looking over his shoulder at the group he was leading when he failed to make a turn at the 8,500-foot level and plummeted over a 12-foot cliff, landing in a field of sharp lava boulders. He sustained severe leg and hip injuries and head lacerations. Many members of the park staff assisted with traffic control and extricating the man from the gorge. He was flown by helicopter to an area hospital. Six days later, rangers responded to another bicycling accident. A 13-year-old boy lost control of his bike, hit road curbing, and landed in rocks. He sustained a deep cut on his knee and minor bruising and lacerations on his side. An ambulance was dispatched, but was turned back since the injuries were not life threatening.
