CUSTER, S.D. – A 10-year-old boy was seriously hurt after a fall in Custer State Park Sunday afternoon.
Custer County authorities say they were paged to the Sunday Gulch Trail System below Sylvan Lake just before 5:00 p.m. for a report of a young boy who had fallen about 12 feet off some rocks. The report said he had hit his head in the fall.
Upon arrival search and rescue responded on foot from the trailhead with a wheeled litter basket, prepared for a hand carryout since ATVs and UTVs are of little use in Sunday Gulch due to the terrain. Paramedics had reached the location and were treating the boy who was being held by his mother. His father had climbed out of Sunday Gulch in order to make the 911 call as there is little or no cell service in that area.
The boy was secured in the litter and carried up the steep, rocky trail to a waiting ambulance, which transported him to a Black Hills Life Flight helicopter at the intersection of Highway’s 87 and 89 near Sylvan Lake.
The boy was then airlifted to Monument Health Hospital Rapid City. His condition was not known.
