Two airlifted from Carbonado after offroading pickup truck crashes in Mt. Rainier Park

A male driver and female passenger were seriously injured Sunday night when their pickup truck crashed into a tree and slid down an embankment near Evans Creek ORV Park, according to a Pierce County Sheriff’s report.

Police dispatch received a call around 9:30 p.m. on May 30 about an accident near the 38900 block of State Route 165, about two miles into the western border of Mt. Rainier National Park.

The 1982 Toyota pickup hit a tree while driving on National Forest Road 7930, slid down an embankment and hit another tree, police said. There was no indication that the vehicle flipped.

An ambulance drove the driver and passenger 13 miles north to Carbonado Elementary School, a nearly 45-minute drive. Both victims were airlifted from there to the nearest hospital, according to the report, which public information officer Darren Moss said was incomplete.

He added that emergency medics took blood in case of intoxication, which is not uncommon in these circumstances.

At the hospital, the driver told police he was trying to follow a curve in the road when the truck slipped and hit the first tree.

In 2012, a similar accident near Evans Creek ORV Park proved fatal: An Auburn man in his 20s died when the vehicle he was in flipped more than two dozen times down an embankment. A second man walked to Carbonado for help, according to police reports.

This story was originally published May 31, 2021 at 3:37 PM.