Woman Hiker Pinned Inside Narrow Canyon Crevice, Friend Saves Life by Going for Help
As I write this article, I have just returned from a weekend of camping with my son. We had a great time, but I also have enough nicks, scratches, bug bites and sun exposure to remind me of something: Nature doesn’t play nice.
According to KSL-TV, a group of hikers recently learned that truth in a painful manner. On April 28, seven people decided to go hiking near Boulder, Utah.
They ended up around Leprechaun Canyon, an area that SummitPost.org describes as “technical slot canyons of the Colorado plateau.” In other words, it’s tough hiking for even the most prepared groups.
However, this group wasn’t prepared — at all. They ranged from 20 years old to 60 years old.
It’s hard to imagine that the area could accommodate such a breadth of ages with beginner hiking skills. And the specific canyon they ended up in, a slot canyon named Sandthrax, proved particularly challenging.
How challenging? Well, sections of it actually require rappelling in order to continue forward, and the group simply wasn’t ready for it.
“They were not prepared at all for this kind of a hike,” Denise Dastrup, Garfield County sheriff’s spokeswoman, said. “Very amateur in hiking.
“Probably shouldn’t have been in this canyon. Probably should have studied it out a little more.”
That lack of study led to a crisis. A woman in the group actually ended up getting stuck in the slot canyon, a narrow kind of canyon that EarthTrekkers.com says was “formed from water rushing through rock,” which resulted in “a narrow canyon with very high walls.”
When the woman got stuck, she ended up trapping the other hikers behind her. Fortunately, one member of her group somehow managed to make his way past her.
Deseret News reported that the man made it out of the canyon and to a nearby highway. From there, he flagged down a car, which took him to Hanksville, Utah.
By 9 p.m., search and rescue crews from multiple counties had mobilized. A Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter also appeared on the scene.
Thankfully, first responders finally managed to free the woman. The helicopter evacuated her to Moab Regional Hospital, where she was treated for hypothermia and some relatively minor injuries.
KSTU reported that the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said, “The helicopter then went back to the area to assist on getting the rest of the party out. No other injuries were reported.”
Authorities hope that news of the incident will help deter other amateur hikers from getting in over their heads. The Garfield County Sheriff’s Office urged the public to be “over prepared for any situation that could arise.”
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