An Instagram kerfuffle developed in recent weeks over whether a hiker was charged $70,000 for a helicopter rescue two years ago from the Mist Trail in Yosemite National Park.
Quick answer: She wasn’t.
But like so much of what’s on social media, separating fact from fiction is a bit of a chore.
This much is known: On June 21, 2024, a hiker identified as Grace was on the Mist Trail with a group called Hobbit Hikers when she was feeling nauseous and beginning to black out.
Yosemite Search and Rescue (YOSAR) arrived and treated her with IV fluids. Unable to make a two-mile hike back to the trailhead, she was extracted with a helicopter hoist.
Grace recovered quickly and continued to camp and hike with the group that week.
So far, so good.
Then, a fake account on Instagram claimed Grace was charged $70,000 for the rescue.
For the record, the National Park Service says it doesn’t do that.
“The National Park Service does not charge visitors for search and rescue operations,” NPS said in a statement to the Mariposa Gazette.
“However, visitors may incur costs associated with an incident that are separate from the rescue itself, such as medical treatment or ambulance or air ambulance transportation provided by outside medical providers,” the NPS statement said.
NPS said it could not comment on the specific circumstances of the case circulating online.
An air ambulance “life flight” to a trauma center will typically cost $50,000, the cost of which is usually paid for in part by an insurance provider.
Chelsea McCurdy, the operator of Hobbit Hikers, a body positive recreation and travel group, told Outside magazine that nobody in her group had to pay for the rescue.
“The video claiming there was a $70,000 bills was made by a fake news account using a screen recording of my original video,” McCurdy told the magazine, which originally reported on the controversy last week.
But the episode also revealed an uglier issue of body shaming.
Hundreds of people on Instagram criticized the woman for even attempting the arduous hike while being overweight.
That provoked a backlash from others who accused those making the comments, mostly men, of body shaming.
Several of the other female plus-size hikers who participated in the Hobbit Hikers trip two years ago finished the hike. Grace also had a medical condition that complicated her story.
Medical experts say heat stroke can occur with people of any weight, age and health condition. How acclimatized someone is to heat as well as prescription and illicit drugs can also be a factor.
There are 60,000 cases of heat stroke every year in the U.S. and about 1,220 deaths can be directly attributed to the heat, according to the American Medical Association.
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