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Lisa's Great Fall and Sprawl
Adventure
( Wednesday June 11, 2008)
I decided to send one big email
because I had a great adventure of a backpack trip and
wanted to share it all at once. My friends June (special
ed. teacher), Linda (teacher), Karen (nurse) and Kenny
(June's 12 yr old son) and I decided to take a hike down
the Lost Coast Trail in Humbolt county. Curtis,
June's husband was our shuttle driver once we got to the
end of the trail. He had a camp trailer he brought
to camp in. We got up at 3a.m. and hit the road by
about 4:15 a.m. to head up to the trail head. We
started our hike at about 1:15.
It was quite a technical
trail with some loose sand, some soft sand, rocks,
big and small, little creek crossings, some hillside
skinny trails with rolling hills and some cliffs
too. But mainly lots and lots of wind at our
backs & side. We were glad we were going
south!! Not into the wind! With the
backpacks on we had to be paying attention at all
times. After about 4 hours of hiking we were
starting to get tired. The gusty winds were
really scary on the hillside trail with the cliff
and crashing waves directly below. Just
past a big section of hopping rocks and crossing a
creek I was choosing my steps VERY carefully as I
knew one wobbly rock could be devastating to the
ankles!
Just after that we climbed a
bit to a grassy, weedy rolling hillside that wound
around above the edge of the crashing coastline
straight below. The wind was whipping our
backpacks pretty good so we knew we better brace
ourselves with each step. We went thru a nice
little wind-break of a cove and over a little creek.
Then back out to the rolling hills and little cliff
trails, but just a steep slope rather than cliff.
Just then June caught a gust of wind and down she
went! We all just had a jaw-drop shock because
we couldn't help her at all! But luckily her
quick instinct caused her to sprawl which stopped
her from rolling down the hill to complete disaster.
As she lay there on the edge of the possibility to
continue her roll I quickly grabbed her walking pole
and told her to grab on. That made it possible
to pull her up to safety with just a few scrapes and
stickers. We continued on with the new safety
tip of "forget stop-drop-and roll....it is now "fall
and sprawl!"
It was about 5:00 and just a
couple turns later when we came around a picturesque
rolling hillside with the beautiful waves beyond and
the sight of a trail of us hikers winding along the
path so I stopped to snap a picture with my cell
phone. It was a little too far away so I tried
to scamper down the trail to get a little closer
shot of my friends when suddenly my tired ankles
came to teeter on a steep side slope of the trail
and my ankle gave out and rolled out to the side
with a disturbing 'CRACK' sound. talk about
PAIN!!! I shouted out to the gang and they
came running. We got it elevated and found
some gauze in the first aid kit that we used as an
ace bandage and wrapped it up. It was
definitely great to have the expertise of nurse
Karen there with her calm spirit and professional
knowledge! Linda found some ibuprofen which
was SUCH a major relief! Linda and June made
the brutal hike straight up the mountain and called
911 on the cell phone. They were connected to
the wrong county at first so it took half an hour on
the phone and many repeated explanations to finally
get the people to understand our exact location.
The phone finally died so we just had to sit and
wait and hope for the best. Karen and Kenny
kept me company and we shot weeds at each other
while we waited. Within a couple hours or so a
strong young rescuer, Jeff, from Petrolia arrived
with a walkie-talkie and a team of 3 others with
quads within radio range. The quads could only
get to about 3/4 mile up the coast from us.
Soon another rescuer (Carson) arrived on foot.
They assessed the situation and called for a
helicopter. Jeff was excited about that as his
girlfriend would be coming in the chopper.
Unfortunately, that chopper was on a fire call, so
they had to send the coast guard helicopter.
We saw it go by us and had to wait another 45
minutes or so before it worked it's way up the
coastline back to us. Meanwhile, we made our
way down the trail to the old cabin nearby that had
a wide level spot near it.
The strong rescuers lifted me
over a bobbed wire fence to the wide area they
scoped out for the rescue.) The helicopter
hovered above as a basket was lowered down and my
handsome strong rescuers carried me over and placed
me in the basket to be lifted to safety. We
waved our good-byes. From there they joined my
fellow hikers on an adventure of their own... riding
on quads in the dark back to base camp where Curtis
was waiting. They arrived back at camp at
around midnight. The whole town awaiting their
arrival for the action of the day in Petrolia,
California. Fire trucks, rescue personnel and
townspeople alike.
Meanwhile, up in the
helicopter I sat in the basket wondering where in
the world we would end up. When we originally
called for a helicopter we had decided my ankle
probably wasn't broken since I could wiggle my toes.
The little local helicopter could have dropped me
off at our campground where Curtis was. But
the coast guard chopper couldn't do that, and the
weather had taken a turn for the worse with higher
winds. So they discussed where to take me on
their little helmet mikes, but I couldn't hear a
thing with the loud chopper. All I knew is we
kept flying and flying and flying. I started
really stressing because somebody would eventually
have to find me to take me home! One of the
good-looking helicopter rescuers took my picture
with the other rescuer. Don't they make any
ugly emergency rescuers??? I sure haven't
found one yet! There were 4 rescuers in the
helicopter. We finally landed in McKinleyville
to a waiting ambulance. The ambulance guy, Tommy and
driver Seneca looked over my ankle and said x-rays
were a must. So then I loaded into the
ambulance and off to Mad River Community Hospital we
went for x-rays. At the time, I didn't really know
where I was. I borrowed the hospital phone
since my cell had been dead since the 911 call.
I left a sad message on Curtis' phone that I would
be staying the night and would call with a specific
location in the morning. I gave the phone
back. Then a nice older gentleman in the hospital
with his wife, who had been in a car accident
earlier, and was getting checked out, offered me his
cell phone and a ride to the near-by motel when we
all checked out. Man, was I grateful for that!
After determining there was no break in my ankle I
made the trip to the motel with the nice couple. He
helped me into the lobby with my backpack. The next
morning (well, a bit after noon) my loyal faithful
gang arrived to pick me up. We started our "plan B"
vacation trip home with a stop at the redwoods and
the cheese factory along the way. Originally,
when asking the helicopter crew how long it would
take my friends to find me, I thought it would take
them 3 or 4 hours up. But it was only about an
hour and 45 minutes. (Only?!) They were
such great sports with no complaints. True
friends. Their trip was an adventure in
itself. Between all of us, we each had our mishaps
on this trip. Except Kenny, who was the all-around
hero always ready to help with my pack.
Karen twisted her ankle during
the night trip back, Linda got sick in the car on
the trip home (no mess, 'tho, thank goodness), my
ankle ordeal, and June's face plant. Yikes!
Linda is sending me video of the rescue so if you
have a computer that can handle it let me know.
It's a pretty big file, being 2 minutes long.
It's dark, but you can still see the basket being
lifted into the helicopter with it's bright lights.
(Unfortunately the video was accidentally erased.)
Here's a
news article about
the Coast Guard rescue.
I'm truly thankful for all who
got me home safely
Lisa
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