On Thursday, April 24th, eight members of a boating group attempted to hike out of the Ponca Wilderness after they wrapped three canoes and a raft around trees on the Buffalo River during a period of high water. Just before 2 p.m., Jeff Cox, a member of the group, slipped on a steep scree slope and injured his ankle. Another member of the group ran down the Buffalo River trail to the Steel Creek campground for help. The campground host in turn notified rangers by radio. After interviewing the reporting party, a ranger/ EMT determined Cox’s location and reached him around 4:30 p.m. The park’s SAR team was activated shortly after the initial call and followed the flagged route, arriving at 5:45 p.m. Cox was evaluated and determined to have suffered a fracture of his left ankle with full dislocation. He was evacuated in a wheeled litter through a mile and a quarter of wilderness, then driven another two miles over four-wheel-drive roads to a waiting ambulance. Six separate low angle belays were rigged to facilitate the evacuation. Hospital staff confirmed a fractured fibula and ankle dislocation. Eleven members of the park’s SAR team, two EMT’s from North Arkansas Regional Medical Center, and a ranger from Ozark Scenic Riverway participated in the two-hour carryout.
