We would like to commend all of the agencies and individuals involved in the effort to extract everyone safely from the backcountry around the Pole Creek Fire during the first few days after it was reported.

Our climbing team successfully summited North Sister on Sunday, Sept. 9. We had seen the fire near the summit, and it was not clear exactly where it was located relative to the route we intended to use for our pack out.

We attempted to cautiously hike out to Pole Creek on Sunday evening, but encountered the fire perimeter a mere 30 minutes away from the trailhead. We instead backtracked to Soap Creek to make a new plan.

Although we were a pretty self-sufficient group, we had no outside information at the time about where to safely evacuate. We chose — correctly, it turns out — to head south, away from the fire and toward Park Meadows Trailhead.

We woke the U.S. Forest Service rangers we encountered at Park Meadows at 4 a.m. Monday, and they offered their professional assistance immediately to help us get out to a trailhead in the morning that would allow evacuation back into Sisters. They also provided us what information they could about our cars that were parked at the Pole Creek Trailhead.

We packed out at daybreak to the trailhead, to be met precisely at the appointed time by Deschutes County Search and Rescue volunteers, who evacuated our group to Sisters using two shuttles. Since it wasn’t clear at the time if the fire was going to overrun this trailhead, the Forest Service rangers at the site generously offered our second group the use of a vehicle in the parking area, should an emergency arise, along with instructions on where to evacuate safely.

In Sisters, we checked in at the command center and got information from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office regarding our vehicles at the trailhead. Everyone we encountered was very helpful and sympathetic to our situation. We also found out that we all had messages on our cellphones instructing us where to evacuate, and also to have us all check in with Search and Rescue once we were safe.

Our names could only have been known through our wilderness registration permit, meaning someone had been very thorough in digging through these permits and following up, understanding that there was a slim possibility of getting a message to us in a limited coverage area.

Our cars were delivered to us in a couple of hours, dirty but unharmed, by Search and Rescue volunteers, and we were back on the road to Portland within the hour.

Our team was well-prepared, with food, water, shelter, clothing, stoves, navigational tools and the skills to use them, fitness and great morale. That wasn’t known by the multi-agency task force working on evacuation, however, and they erred on the conservative side. It was great to know that so many out there were concerned with finding us, directing us out safely, and evacuating us.

Every single agency and individual we encountered was friendly, helpful, professional and genuinely concerned for our welfare and safety.

We realize that any account we render of our experiences is bound to miss some agencies that were involved in the background or that we simply didn’t see, so we would like to simply commend all agencies and individuals involved.

Well done!