VERLOT — The U.S. Forest Service says it hopes to install a land-line telephone closer to the Big Four Ice Caves in order to cut emergency response times.
The Daily Herald of Everett reports that right now cellphones are mostly useless up in Big Four Mountain and it is a 1.1-mile run to the parking lot and then a 14.5 mile drive to the Forest Service ranger station.
The Forest Service hopes to shorten the driving distance by installing a phone to make 911 calls from Camp Silverton.
The trail to the hiking destination closed after July 6 when rock and ice fell, killing 34-year-old Annalisa Santana and injuring five others.
Thousands of people take the 1-mile hike to view the snow and ice formation about 70 miles northeast of Seattle.
