We've interviewed several survivors of extreme outdoor
experiences and today I'm sharing four of the most intense
you will ever hear. From an individual that was
mauled 3 times by the same grizzly bear over 30 grueling
minutes to someone who knows what it's like to be struck by
lightning in the middle of the mountains.
Also, a girl shares her 911 call from her and her best friend's
extreme fall off of a Cliff that you're going to have to hear
just to believe. To a mother that had to leave
her entire family stranded while she hiked 26 miles in a winter
storm to search for help in the Grand Canyon.
And she did it with no winter gear.
Get ready. This is a survivor's podcast
marathon, and it starts right now.
In June of 2020, hiker Courtney Henderson and her best friend
Gavin Caruso started out on what they thought was going to be an
ordinary hike. Not a cloud in the sky, we
checked. The weather wasn't supposed to
rain. It wasn't supposed to storm.
However, things quickly turned for the worse.
All of a sudden, dark clouds rolled in.
We're kind of stuck up there. Knowing how dangerous it would
be to climb down, they called 911 for help.
My name is Gavin Caruso. Tried hour to try to get up or
down and we can't. Starting to get cold and it's
raining and that's made like the rock really slippery.
So like we can't get down. The 911 dispatcher instructed
them to get lower on the mountainside to make it easier
for a search and rescue, but then they fell.
OK, ma'am, I need you to take a deep breath.
No, no, my friend. He's unconscious.
I'm bleeding. It's an emergency.
OK? What happened?
We fell down the mountain. The following is my in studio
interview with Courtney Henderson where she shares her
amazing yet tragic story of how she fell and made it out alive.
Dude, Courtney thanks for being here.
This, your story is amazing. And when I was reading about it,
I, I, I, I couldn't believe what had happened.
And I think I just want you to tell me what happened in your
words, because what I read and I think what you've got to say are
totally different. There.
Yeah. I mean, you know, all the
stories. There's more to a story than
what the news likes to put out. Super excited to be here and
tell my story. Love telling my story, to be
honest. So I was with my best friend.
I I call him my person. You know, we were together more
often than we weren't. If it was a holiday, that was
pretty much the only time we were not hanging out.
And so COVID hit, we decided, hey, flights are cheap, Let's go
do a little bit of exploring. So we went to Miami.
Then we shot over to LA for his birthday in May.
And then right around Father's Day, he was like, I want to go
surprise my dad in Denver for Father's Day were.
You into hiking prior to this? I was into hiking.
I just hadn't really ever gone that much other than like our
little silly forest preserves down in Illinois.
I've really always been into it, camping and all that other
stuff. We were just like, well, we're
over by the mountains, let's go on a couple hikes.
So we found Bear Peak, El Dorado Canyon.
That's I think that's how they kind of say it out there to put
the put in location. I've heard it called multiple
things. So that's what I'm just going to
call it. And it was going to be an 8
mile, so four in, four out. So you had Did you have a map?
So we were following with all trails.
The first part is pretty easy. So it's like I'll gravel for the
first part just to kind of give you an idea of the easiness of
the trail or the the rate of the trail there.
There were even horse signs like so you're able to take horses up
to a certain point until it started getting a little more
rocky and just switch backs after switch back on an actual
like dirt trail at some point. That day was beautiful, not a
cloud in the sky. We checked the weather multiple
times. Wasn't supposed to rain, wasn't
supposed to storm. You know, we're enjoying the
hike going up there and we, I kept making sure, you know,
like, hey, we're still on trail, 'cause he was, he was the one
that had the trail map and I was the one that was keeping my
battery just, you know, in case anything happened.
Did you have it downloaded too or?
I had All Trails and I had it with me, but we were doing the,
he uses it so that he drains that battery, but we still have
my phone. So there was a couple times
where I was like, hey man, this kind of this kind of looks off
trail. And he was like, yeah, no, we're
on trail like and he would show me.
We had a lot of service actually.
Surprisingly I never. I think I lost service once on
one switch. Yeah, that's pretty rare out
there. Oh yeah, Pretty rare.
But texts were going coming through.
My snaps for my story were loading and all that stuff, so I
knew it wasn't a connection issue really.
And we were on trail. That's what I would assume since
that's what it was showing and that's where we were thinking we
were. According to obviously other the
trees or like the trailhead posts, the markers that people
have put there. All of a sudden the like dark
clouds rolled in. We're kind of stuck up there.
After we scrambled, it had started sprinkling.
There had been no Thunder or anything.
So we were like, you know, it's just some sprinkles since that's
what happens, you know, it's weather.
It'll come and come by and we'll be good, you know?
And then it started to really, really rain.
And then the Front Range is all flat iron.
So once those get wet, it's black ice, essentially.
Were you scrambling up? Like, were you like hands and
knees kind of thing? No, we we were just walking up
like. So the trail, it was still more
of a trail. It was still more of a trail.
That's why I was under the assumption we were on the trail
and he was under the assumption we were on the trail and our map
showed we're on the trail, so. We're on the trail.
Yeah, You know, so storm came through and we kind of like,
hey, we we can't really get up because it ended up, we kind of
like dead ended by this dead tree.
And they had just had a wildfire a couple years in that area
beforehand. So we were in an area not, I
wouldn't say desolate, but it was burnt.
The trees weren't sturdy by any means, and that actually played
a big role in finding a spot to rescue us 'cause they couldn't
tie in anywhere to go down to us.
And so it dead ends and we're like, really the only way up is
a vertical climb and we're not doing that.
That's not happening. And then the only way down,
which is kind of a little like where we had gotten to, we were
doing more like, oh, hands, knees, like up.
And then we would go like up a trail a little bit and then
switch back. And then it would kind of be
like rock, hands, knees, rock, and then switch back to the
trail. Were you getting nervous at this
point? I was, I was.
Gavin actually remained super calm throughout the whole thing,
really. But I think he was trying to
remain more calm for me because I finally was.
I ended up hugging the tree that we were by and I was like, I'm
like, you're calling rescue. I'm not moving.
This is.
Before you fell. This was before I fell.
Yeah. Oh, wow.
So 'cause we had realized that it was way too slippery to get
down the way we had just came. Oh, man.
And I was like, I just held on to.
I was like, you know what? We're not.
We're not experienced enough to want to get ourselves down in
the middle of this. So you, you had reached a point
where you're like, this is as far as we can go.
I need to hold on to this tree 'cause I'm freaking out.
Yeah, and so we had, we had already talked about calling for
rescue 'cause we were like, how are we gonna get down?
Like it's way too slippery. Cause Gavin went to go try to
like see, and I even went to go try and it was just like, we put
our one foot on that boulder and it was pretty much slid out from
under us in a way. So I wasn't gonna turn my back
and, you know, try and make it down.
And so I finally just hugged the tree and was like, you're
calling rescue. We're calling rescue.
I'm not. I'm not gonna go anywhere.
And you had a cell signal at. This point we did, we had a cell
signal the whole time actually. And rescue actually said if we
fell any further, we would have we the way we fell, we fell into
a channel and if we would have fell any further into that
Channel, we would have lost service.
So we were like kind of right on that area.
So we were lucky where we fell, where we were.
Gavin called for rescue. And if I don't know, did you
actually? Did you listen to the?
You listen to the? Podcast.
No, I didn't know. I didn't even know you had
another podcast. I just read your story.
Oh, OK. So.
Yeah, I did the Out Alive backpacker, they actually pulled
that first 911 call. This is going to be Wesley with
the transfer. I have two stranded individuals
on Shadow Canyon. Or is anyone hurt or you just
need help getting down? No, nobody's hurt.
We just need help getting down. We tried for a good hour to try
to get up or down and we can't. OK.
And what is your name? My name is Gavin Caruso.
OK. And where did you start from?
Yeah. And then, like, my friend's kind
of having a panic attack. So.
And now it's starting to get dark and it's raining and we're
at a very high evolution. Yeah, very dangerous position.
And are you dressed for the weather?
No, we're in short sleeves and shorts.
And it's starting to get cold and it's raining.
And that's made, like, the rock really slippery.
So like, we can't get down. And then they're like, OK, well,
we'll send. We're going to send Rescue out
for you, which was Rocky Mountain Rescue Group, and they
had actually started texting me 'cause we gave them our phone
numbers for all the to contact us to help them find us, 'cause
all we had was our coordinates that we were at.
And that was pretty much it. I mean, we could yell and scream
where we were. Flashlights weren't gonna.
So it's dark at this point. It is getting dark, sun is
somewhat setting. So that's also another reason
why we're like, we need to call for rescue because we're like
we're it's going to be dark by the time we get down here.
I get a text from Rocky Mountain rescue Group and they had asked
us if we could get to a lower elevation for them to find us
easier. And we're kind of like.
You're like, I wouldn't have called you if I had thought we
could. Get kind of well, that's what we
were thinking, but we're like, I mean, if that's what they're
asking us to do, I mean we're like, we don't really feel like
we should but and then. You had a gut feeling like we
should stay where we're at, but we're going to do what they're
telling us to do kind of thing. Well, yeah, 'cause I mean, we
trust the experts, they're trying to rescue us.
We're going to help them as much as we can.
Like if that's what they need, then I guess you know, that's
what we're going to do. And so like we 20 or 30 minute
mark, we were like were. You still hanging onto a tree at
this point. I I told him I wasn't going to
let go of the damn tree until rescue showed up.
Were. You kind of at a point right
there where like if you felt you let go of the tree, you were
going to fall or. Were you just you were just like
this? Is my safe zone that was.
Just my, that was just my safe. Like I'm grounded.
I'm here. Like if I hold the tree, the
tree's right here. 30 minute mark.
They weren't, they didn't text us back.
We didn't hear anybody, like we weren't seeing flashlights even
down. So you, you're like, they can't
find us. Yeah, we're we're like, they
legit can't find us. They need us to get to the lower
elevation to find us. So we tried to get that's kind
of where things went and took a turn.
He positions himself and he's like, OK, I'm going to go first
so that if you, if we fall, I can catch you.
Oh. Man, OK.
And so I was like, all right, So I turned around and he's right
there and I feel my foot slip out of it was my right foot.
I remember slipped out off the rock, sorry and damn, and we
fell. I bounced around a couple times
like a tennis ball. I remember hitting my head five
times had like when I, when I was in the free fall, I was
still awake and I, I knew what was going on and so I covered my
head. I was a skater like I skated all
throughout high school and stuff.
So I kind of knew how to fall. All I was thinking of just
protect the noggin and whatever else can be fixed.
I felt myself hit my head and that's kind of like when my body
went limp, but I was still with it.
So like I wasn't able to really come up and protect myself.
And that was when I started bouncing around.
I finally, like, I think I, I think I did end up losing
consciousness. I don't remember losing
consciousness. It's hard to ever say you lost
consciousness 'cause you go to sleep and you come too and
you're like, what happened? What happened?
So, you know, I kind of, it was like a movie in my mind, like
when I woke up, like I wake up and I've got blood just pouring
down my face. I have a couple pictures, like I
took a picture down when I was out in the mountain after rescue
got to us. And just like this half of my
face is just all bloody. I'm actively, I'm actively
bleeding. I'm trying to like quickly do an
assessment. Like, OK, I can wiggle my toes.
I'm obviously moving my hands. I'm good.
Like, I'm OK for now, whatever. Like, yeah, I hurt, but I'll
figure it out. I look and I don't see Gavin.
Did you know that he had fallen with you?
Well, yeah, yeah. I knew he fell with me.
Or I thought he fell with me. I was hoping that he either
tried to grab me and I just fell, or I don't really.
I don't really know. So you.
How did you both fall at the same time?
So where we were, we decided that we it's kind of hard.
So he turned himself to like kind of be on that vertical down
to the next rock. And he's he was 662, I think.
So he could actually step down and I'm this little 5 three.
Yeah. Yeah.
So mine's more of a yeah. You're a little further down.
Yeah. So he he was kind of he was
behind me to like catch me if I did slip out and I, you know, I
right before I fell, I feel him kind of like try to pin me up
against the, the, the mountainside.
And then we just he couldn't hold him gravity.
He couldn't hold me anymore. We fell.
So when I came to, I did my quick assessment, I realized I
don't see Gavin. I see his shoe like 15 feet in
front of me maybe if that. And I'm like, where's the rest
of him? I turn around and he's pretty
much under me, behind me, like I had felt.
He's like laying here and I'm like sitting.
I'm sitting up at this point. So I'm sitting here.
So he's just right behind me out cold and I'm like freaking out
at this point. He had taken my phone and
everything so that it I just had to deal with myself.
No extra weight, no extra things like falling out of my pocket
that I had to worry about while I was trying to make the
maneuver down. So I quickly had to get my phone
out of his pocket to call 911 and be like, hey, we just we
fell. Rescue wanted to wanted us to
get to a lower elevation and we fell. 911, what's the address?
The emergency. This is this is Jeff Comma, the
transfer where she is. OK.
Ma'am. Ma'am, I need you to take a deep
breath. We have a rescue team that's
supposed to try to find. OK.
They they're on their way. They're looking for you right
now. OK?
But you need to. No, no, no, no.
My friend, he's unconscious. I'm bleeding.
It's gonna emergency. Emergency now.
I'm bleeding. I'm gonna die.
OK. What happened?
We fell down the mountain. He's out cold.
I'm on the phone at this point freaking out, you know, I'm
alone, it's getting dark, it's storming.
I mean, lightning is hitting the ground.
Like I've, I saw a couple lightning strikes hit the ground
while waiting for rescue. So, and then probably about an
hour into the call after we fell, I would, I, I should
reiterate, is when it started to clear up, the storm was pushing
through and you know, it was a rainbow came out and all that
stuff. Gavin had started.
He started to come back to I think, 'cause I started like
shit, I, I was like, wake, wake. Up.
Like you have to wake up. I can't carry.
You. And he started, he kind of came
to and he was he, he started snoring like having like the
agonal snoring respirations. And I was on the phone with 911
at the time and I'm telling them like, hey, he's, he's hurt.
I'm hurt. We need to like, can you guys
hurry? Like where are you guys at?
I'm going to bleed out. Where are you bleeding from?
My head. Do you happen?
You're OK. Stop moving, Gavin.
Is he the one unconscious? Yes.
OK. Is he unconscious or is he
understanding what you're saying?
Right now he's trying to move. He won't even respond to me.
Gavin. Gavin, you have to.
You have to calm down. Gavin.
You're going to fall again. Stop.
Had you were you had fallen, are you in a worse place now for
them to get to you? I think actually the next day or
yeah, when they talked to my mom, 'cause my mom flew in that
morning, she, they, they had met her to give a couple things,
like give her my stuff, 'cause they had some things of mine, I
think my hat and my glasses or something.
They had something that they needed to meet somebody at the
hospital to give it to him. My mom actually ran into him.
You know, she thanked them for the rescue and all that.
And he said it was the hardest rescue, the most technical
rescue they've had to do in 10 years.
Wow, do you? Do the markers to tell you where
you're at? Is there anything that stands
out? I mean, I see the in the world.
I, I see like a whole bunch of mountains.
I see the windmill. The windmill.
We are literally on the face of a mountain.
So I think it took about I was on the phone with dispatch for
about 3 hours, I believe. So if I, if I'm remembering
right, since 'cause this happened back in 2020.
So, so I was on the phone with her this like I never, we never
cut out like it was never like, hey, can you hear me?
You hear me now? I was on the phone with her the
whole time. I want to call my mom.
I want to tell her that I love her since it's bleeding a lot
and I'm bleeding a lot. We're gonna bleed out and die,
ma'am. We're gonna die.
I need you to stop thinking like that, OK?
They are on their way. They're going as fast as they
can. I need you to take a deep breath
in through your nose and out through your mouth.
I want you to focus on doing that over and over again, OK?
Deep breath in through your nose, out through your mouth.
He can RIP his shirt and put it on his head to control the
bleeding. OK, give me just a second.
I'm going to try to put my phone down so I can RIP off my shirt
and put it on on his head. OK?
OK. And about the two hour mark, I
saw lights down at the trailhead.
So they had gotten the ambulance and their cars as far as they
could drive it and I told her that.
So I knew that they were on their way.
So they finally, they end up having to come up from the top
to get us, get to us easier. So I'm here in at this is like
8:00 or 9:00 maybe. I think I'm here in Rocky
Mountain Rescue. Does anybody out there let me
know? So I start yelling once I hear
him yelling out for me. They finally realized hey I that
they they see us this. Is the last home stretch.
I promise. I see lights.
I promise. I asked dispatch.
I was like, do you, do you want to stay on the phone with me,
like till they get down here 'cause that was originally the
plan was we're going to stay on the phone until rescue gets to
you. And I was like, well, rescue
knows where we are. Do you want to, do you want me
to like free you up 'cause I don't want to, I don't want to
tie you up or anything. You know, they know where we're
at. I feel comfortable to get off
the phone. She's she stayed on the phone
with me until they ended up down by us.
And that was when I had my my rescuer Josh was his name.
And I remember Josh and Paige. Those are the two, those were
the two kind of head honchos down by us that night.
They didn't have extrication tools to do both of us at the
same time. So it was going to be 1 then the
other. And I was actually on the phone
with dispatch during the time they were searching for us.
I'm telling them that we need a we need a helicopter like, and
she's like, well, we have to wait till rescue gets there.
They have to make that decision. I'm like, no.
I'm telling you, I need a helicopter.
I'm telling you right now that I need the helicopter like he's
going to need a helicopter. I might be fine, but he's going
like somebody is going to need a helicopter out.
You guys, I've I don't think you guys are going to be able to
find us without the helicopter. They actually before they even
met went to the summit. I should add that she had.
She had to release flight out to find us even they had to fly
over us three times I think. Did you hear that?
I saw, I saw and heard I was, I had actually took my phone out
and put my flashlight out and started waving it around and
they took him three passes and I think she, I remember her saying
they still can't find you. So like at this point, like I'm
like I told you, we need a stupid helicopter.
He tried to see if we could get up but I had been in a car
accident 2 years prior and had a neck injury and he wasn't didn't
want to extricate me anymore with me standing up and walking
just because of my prior spinal injury.
So he radios up and is like yeah, we're gonna, they both
need to be extracted. But they were like, hey, we're
gonna work with him first 'cause he is in the worst shape.
And I knew that. And like, he was like, you know,
it's going to be a while until you get out of here.
Oh man. So I think it's, I think they
said 15 hours, 15 hour rescue, 250 volunteer hours.
Oh. My gosh.
Put in that night to get us both out.
I didn't end up in the ER till 5:00 in the morning, four or
five in. The morning How did they get?
You out they did a vacuum splint and then what they did was
litter us, litter us up the vertical 'cause they had to go I
think I think I heard him say they had to go 200 feet
vertically to get us up to a point and then they.
What is a vacuum splint? I don't.
Know what that is kind of it's kind of like a coffin in a way,
but they put it under you around you and then it's like filled up
with air and then they take the air out and you're like sucked
in and stuck so and you don't know what a litter is right the
the backboard, but it's got it's more of a box.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
So they're able to tie things to it, hoist it up easier than a
backboard, a regular back border stretcher would.
I remember him saying that they had to do about a 200 foot
vertical uphaul of us, where then they had to walk another
mile or so to go 100 feet vertically again.
And then I think it was a mile and a half again to where the
helicopter could land. Oh man.
And I mean, it took two times longer than it should have
because it couldn't find a place to tie in.
Like I said, cause of the the fire, the forest fire that
happened a few years before. It's also a big thing.
Make sure you burn your embers out and all that.
I don't, I don't know if it would have changed the outcome,
but if they could have had an easier tie in spot, who knows?
He could be next to me now telling the story too.
You know, I don't really know for sure, but I remember they
finally had gotten him up after a few hours I had right before
they took him up. One of the rescuers was like,
hey, can you talk to him? Like, like calm him down a
little bit. And I think that was their way
of telling me, hey, you might want to just like say goodbye.
It like I didn't really think about it being that.
But now as a first responder, that's kind of the way I would
word it if I if I ever came into a situation like that.
Yeah, tell everybody real quick about your job.
What do you do now? Yeah, I'm an EMT full time right
now. I'm actually testing into try to
get into paramedic school. I want to end up being a flight
medic out of all this, so I want to be up in the helicopter
saving the people that I was. Was that sparked out of this?
Yeah, actually, 'cause I was working at Vans, the shoe store
before all this, not really knowing I was 19, didn't know
what I wanted to do. So that that did actually spark,
spark what I wanted to do. And I've been pursuing that
pretty much ever since I got medically cleared to do work
back to normal 100%. So I saw the helicopter hit.
I'd, I'd actually, the, I had told him, Hey, Gavin, like
they're, they're rescue, they're, they're here to help
us. Like, because he, he doesn't
really like hospitals and stuff like that.
So whenever he's hurt or anything, there are a couple
like when we got into the car accident, he refused medical
treatment and ended up finding out his back was broken.
Yes. So we got into the car accident
together, by the way, a couple years before.
So I was like, hey Gavin, like they're they're they're here to
they're here to help us. We we need the we need the help
we need they need to get us out. And I told him I go, Hey, Gavin.
And he the only time he actually was kind of like lucid.
He like turns up my nickname is Corn.
All my friends call me Corn. I don't know.
I don't really know why I I grew up in Indiana, I guess.
There it is. So I was like, hey, Gavin?
And he, he actually sits up and turns around and looks at me and
goes, what Corn and I, I go, I love you, buddy.
And he goes, I love you too, Korn.
And that was the last, that's the last thing we ever said to
each other. Those were his last words unless
he said something to people up in the rescue.
But from what I know, they got him up the 200 foot hall and he
coded, They got him back, Jesus. And they were able to make him
make it through that mile hike and he coded again.
Sorry. No, you're good.
You take a break. Yeah, she a second.
OK, cool. Do you want?
To grab some tissues or something.
Like that, I'm gonna be back to, I mean, where the hard part when
I had to take the the little break was he made it the, the
mile and a half and then coated again.
And I only, I only know this because they had given us the
report the, the the flight medic gave us to run report.
So the narrative was in there of what happened with him, because
at that point it's, it's a together call for them, I think.
And so the stuff that he had, they had intubated him, worked
him and I, he, they, they called it in the helicopter.
I didn't know. I actually so little fun fact,
when people have head injuries, sometimes they get into a little
brain loop where they constantly ask the same things over and
over again whether or not they just got the question answered
to him. My loop was has anybody called
my mom? Can I call my mom?
Is Gavin OK? And it was it was just
constantly is Gavin OK? Did somebody call my mom OK?
Is Gavin OK though? What?
How's Gavin? What's like, what's Gavin?
And every, every time was, you know, he's in good hands, stuff
like that. I get to the hospital 'cause
they finally extracted me the same way they did with him.
The letter appall walk appall walk helicopter when I was with
the flight medic, he, he give him, he's like, hey, it's gonna
be about 10 minute flight over to Saint Anthony's in Lakewood.
I get to the the hospital, they, they tell me, oh, you, you know,
you're at Saint Anthony's. Anybody you want us to call?
And so I was like, yes, call my mom.
How is Gavin? They still didn't tell me that I
think. What?
What answer were they giving you do?
You remember at the hospital was let's let's figure out what's
going on with you first. Yeah, they didn't want you to.
Wow. So I had called my mom that they
had called my mom 4. So it would have been 5:00 in
the morning, I think 5-6 in the morning over here 'cause they're
an hour behind over in Colorado. And so my mom gets a call four
or five in the morning. She's like, hey, this is Brandy
from Saint Anthony's ER in Lakewood, Co.
We have your daughter here. So she had asked to talk to me
and Brandy came in, gave me the phone.
She's like, what happened? I'm like, we, we fell down a
mountain. Gavin's unresponsive right now.
I don't know what's going on with him.
And my mom was like, we're getting on the first flight.
I'm getting on the first flight out of there out like and like
that was when I was like, oh, I have to go.
They want to take me over to MRI.
So I'll call you later when I know anything more.
Go to my MRI. They they do all their imaging.
I come back and that's when the ER, my ER doctor comes back in
and she, she goes, OK, so I have some good news and bad news and
I'm like, OK, she's like, good news is you only broke your C7,
your spinous press in your C7. You broke your first rib and
you're gonna need, we're gonna need to stitch your head up.
And she goes, now the bad news, your, your companion you're
hiking with. And I mean, she didn't even need
to say it. I knew then and there.
I mean, I knew deep in my gut that he was gone.
But I was trying to keep myself hopeful and in denial until I
heard the word about it or saw it myself.
And that's when she said he didn't make it.
And I look at my nurse, I look at my ER doc and I go, can I be
alone? And they kind of look at each
other super stunned. Like I guess I'm like, leave me
alone. Like let me take this in.
So they, I they left me off for 5 minutes.
I would have to say rightfully so.
Worried, you know, they just broke that news.
Yeah. What's this girl gonna?
Do yeah. And I'm just I just told them to
leave the room. Like I do have trauma from it,
you know, like go get go get the therapy.
Like it's not, it's not something to be taken lightly.
Like I centrally held my best friend while he died.
So I, I go to therapy. It's EMDR is what it's called.
And so it's kind of they put you back where everything happened
in a way, but it's like a safe setting.
So there's been a couple of sessions where we've mimicked
thunderstorms. Oh man, do you think of it now
when you hear thunderstorms? Yeah, I, I do, I, I've, it's
taken a couple years and a lot of work with my therapist to be
OK now. But there were a few storms that
rolled through when I got home. So I got, I was in Saint
Anthony's Hospital for about four or five days.
And I'm surprised I was there for such a short time.
But at the same time, I had told everybody I was like, hey, if
I'm not out by his funeral, I'm leaving AMA.
Like, I don't I'm, I'm going to be at his funeral.
Yeah, I got to say bye to him out in the mountain.
But the coroner had already taken him down to the morgue.
So when I asked, I'd asked the ER, I was like, can I see him?
And you know, now being like knowing as a medical, like a
professional, especially like kids and stuff, parents will be
like, let me see their kid. Like let me see my kid.
And you should let them see like we're I at least was trained to
let that happen. So, and this was, I didn't know
that prior, but I asked. So when I learned that I'm like,
hey, people do ask. Like I asked, I asked to see
him. They came back and they're like,
yeah, unfortunately it was too late 'cause I was like, I don't
know if it was too. I told him I was like, can you
like? Wheel me to him like just so I
can say bye, like if it's not too late, if they haven't taken
him anywhere. But it was too late.
And so my mom came walking in the next day and I'm like, hey,
mom, I've already told my doc that I'm going to leave AMA if
I'm not out by the funeral. And she's like, I mean, you're
19. I can't, I can't really worse
you. But the docs, the team was
really Adam and they, they knew I told them and they're, they
kind of like chuckle and they're like, oh, no worries.
We'll, we'll make sure it works out like.
So I stayed there for a few days.
PTOT speech therapy came just to double check, make sure no
screws were still a little loose.
Everybody's got screws loose. Still got screws loose, but
making sure they weren't any more loose than before.
I always have to say thank you to Vans though, because on the
way to Gavin's funeral, I get a call from California and I'm,
I'm like, oh, hey. And he goes, hey, this is Steve
Van Doren, the owner of Vans Shoe Company.
And he's like, I heard you. I heard you fell and you lost a
really close friend of yours. I'm sorry to hear that and I
hope you're doing OK. I'm going to send you a care
package to your store that you work at.
Just kind of like up my mood and all that stuff I had actually.
That's super cool. The week I came back I I made my
mom take me to my store to go show proof a life 'cause they
all knew something. Happened.
I'm not. Making this up well.
No, I mean they, they all wanted to see me.
They all wanted to make sure I they all wanted to make sure I
was OK and proof of life like type.
So I went, I was like, hey guys, I'm home.
I'll be back soon, I promise. I miss you guys, love you guys.
So Steve on the phone had said to me, he's like, you know, we
really like take pride in the fact that we all include
ourselves as a family and you showing up the week you came
back like really shows that like peace in you.
So he like thanked me for that and just kind of being the role
model, like a role model in a way for that.
And then I think 2 weeks later I get a whole box full of van
stuff. And I mean like this.
Box. Shipment box size like we just
got a whole box of shoes size box like.
I almost wore my van sweatshirt today.
I did. I was like.
I'm in my van stuff today. I'm actually, I actually made
custom shoes of one of the pictures that Rocky Mountain
Rescue Group got and I'm wearing them on my my feet today.
So what? Did you bring with you?
So I actually brought the shirt that I fell in is what I took
off my head. Let me turn it this way.
I don't know. Good.
Alright, so this is the shirt that I took I I fell in it.
You can actually, if you look hard enough, you can see where I
the way I fell. Oh man.
And then it's still tied. It's still got wrinkles from
where I. Oh wow.
Wrapped him up and tied it around my head like a like I'm
in survivor. Right, right, right.
So we got that all dirty and muddy and bloody, I should say.
But. And then I have his backpack.
Oh my God, this is the green back.
The bright green backpack and the family members and friends
that are watching, they're all going to roll their eyes at this
one, especially his mom, because his mom was like, oh, there's
that green backpack. But yeah, he fell with this.
So the wear and tear is from the fall.
Like there's stuff in here. I actually, I left some of his
stuff in here. Well, I know he's not coming
back, but like I still got the like.
What's the outdoor life for you now?
What's it like? I actually, so my boyfriend now
is where he's way more into camping and outdoor stuff and we
actually, we go fly fishing once a year.
We've got a backpacking strip, but actually we're planning to
do the Ice Age Trail this summer.
Part of it. We're gonna do a short little
eight mile stretch I think or well 16 all together or
something like that. I have to look at our plan
again, planning that bucket list of mine is going on the
Appalachian Trail. I would love to do the Grand
Canyon. Not in the winter, though.
Yeah, I know. I don't do it in the winter.
Don't do it in the winter. I don't recommend it at all.
At least two years after we fell, 'cause I think we're
coming, we're coming up on the four year mark now.
Wow, time flies. Yeah, 'cause we would be next
month be the four year. I actually went back, I think it
was around the two year mark, a little bit later.
I wouldn't have wanted to go during the anniversary.
One of my close family friends, pretty much sisters growing up,
they lived down the street. She got stationed in Fort
Collins. We were down in Colorado Springs
and I made an impromptu trip to go and see her.
I hang out with her for a week and I don't know why why I did
it this way now that I think about it.
But the last day we went and I redid the hike and we made I, we
made it to the top and that was probably the most rewarding hike
for me and probably will always be just because once I got to
the, the summit, the top, the end of the trail, I kind of like
looked up and was like I had the I take this backpack too.
So like if I, I'm going, if I'm going on a trip, not a
backpacking trip, but just a regular trip.
This is my personal, this is my personal, this is my carry on.
I'll take my work stuff out of it, put whatever I need in
there. So, you know, like I, I I looked
at him, I hugged the backpack was just kind of like we finally
made it, buddy. So that was pretty.
That one's probably the most rewarding and I would say
healing part of the journey is the finally making it up there
and to the point where we wanted to sit and enjoy the view and
take in the world. I mean, I have the picture I can
send. I'll, I'll give you guys a
picture for it. But there's a the picture of me
on top like I've got my arms spread like I look like I've
accomplished. Right, Mount Everest.
Yeah, it looks like I accomplished Mount Everest, but
I just did a eight mile in and out like so yeah, that that was
pretty healing in its own way. So yeah, I mean, my parents
also, they got me a compass that I also bring around everywhere.
So all my travels that I've been to since then.
Oh, that's pretty. Yeah, I.
Like that, I take the compass. That's super cool show.
It to the camera, Yeah. And it's got it just says in
memory of Gavin, your forever hero, 'cause I blame every day
that I have not not blame, but I give every day that I have now
to him. I mean, he said I'll catch you
if we fall. And that's what he did.
I actually, I'll take a picture. I got a tattoo, a memorial
tattoo for him. I don't know if I'm trying to
show it here for ya. It says forever my hero.
It's a compass. The heading is east 'cause we
fell facing east and this picture is actually one of the
pictures from the trailhead. So right before we started, like
we had just started the summit. So this is Bear Peak.
I fell down this mountain and then I made the sun setting
behind the mountains cause. What's the He fell?
During that's his signature, so I put the his signature.
It's kind of like he's signing off for the rest of my life, you
know, like here's here's the extra life.
You're welcome, my hero, in a way.
That's awesome. Yeah.
Super cool. Yeah.
Well, thanks for sharing your story.
I really appreciate it. Yeah, man, for sure 'cause I
think there's people that not only have been through something
similar, but also can now be better prepared when they go out
too. So you're awesome, man.
Crazy story. Glad you're here to tell the
story. Glad I'm here to tell the story
too. Yes, under wish it was under
better, yeah, under better circumstances for sure.
But. Oh, yeah.
But I appreciate you having me on.
It's yeah. It's really cool.
Yeah. Cool.
Yeah. Love telling my story.
Cool. Thank you.
Yeah. Thank you.
You didn't hear it sneaking back up on you again.
They. Just float, they're like a
ghost. What?
Were you thinking at this point? Right.
Well, you thought it was over. It's.
One of those things that wish no one gets to see.
Is she trying to physically eat you?
I'm sorry, but it's really hard to play dead when something's
chewing on your face. You're hardly able to see at
this point. She removed the whole left side
of my face and one fell swoop I. Don't know if I remember going
to talk to anybody else that could tell me that they found a
chunk of their head. I'm over 12 kilometers from my
truck. Like what's going to happen?
Jeremy, thanks for being here. I really appreciate it.
Your story is absolutely mind boggling to me.
When I was just sort of learning about everything that you went
through, I was thinking about how I was going to ask you
questions and I just, it's so absolutely mind boggling.
I don't know how to even ask you questions.
So just go through your story. I think this is going to be a
pretty wild one. I guess my journey starts really
on August 23rd. That was the night before my
sheep hunt and very young. I had a very young family, me
and my wife and I had a daughter who was eight months old at the
time and I was packing up getting the last many things
ready to go on a four day sheep hunt.
This is sheep hunting is kind of one of the biggest things for
me, even though I spent 17 years chasing 1 still haven't
harvested a legal ram yet or got a ram.
So this year was going to be different because I spent that
whole entire year looking for sheep.
I found illegal ram. I knew he was legal.
I was on him every couple days making sure where he was taking
a lot of pictures of him showing my buddies like, hey, is he
legal just to get his opinion because I, I wasn't sure.
And finally, you know, been way through the summer, we got some
really good pictures of him sideways and everybody's like,
yeah, go kill him. So so I was super excited to get
out there and, and I put my daughter to bed that that night
and we sat on the couch, did some selfies and then while
putting the bed, we listened to a baby shirt because that was
her favorite nursery rhyme and a little cranky kid sometimes.
So you play that and helps them go to sleep.
So I left my house about 11:30 that night and drove a couple
hours out to where I go sheep hunting, parked the truck and
grabbed my bicycle and my pack and as I put my gear on I
noticed my bear spray rolling around the back seat of the
truck and was thinking to myself, I don't need that, you
know, what's the chance? Are you?
Were you really? Oh my gosh.
OK, wow. So it I was just sitting there
thinking about it like, you know what I've haunted in here for
like 17 years. Yeah, I ran into bears.
I've never had it. I only had to spray 1 bear that
I surprised. And you know, I didn't see one
on the whole entire summer while hiking out there every, you
know, twice a week. So I saw that to myself.
You don't really need it. So I stuffed in my backpack and
normally I wear it on my chest, but it's too easy to take off my
helmet and my binoculars and my, oh, my gear to mount it on my
chest like I normally do. So I just threw it in the
backpack. And my sheep camp was about 14
kilometers off the road. So my bike in the moonlight, in
the moonlight, got away into the back and started coming up the
last drainage. And this is walking up the last
drainage. I, I spotted some sheep and you
know, they're only like 3-4 hundred yards away and I was
like, oh, it's pretty cool. I was slowly sneaking along the
edge of the edge of the drainage up along the tree line and just
making sure they don't see me. And as I'm walking up, one of
the things I didn't notice was all the bear tracks and bear
poop all along the trail. I was too focused on the sheep,
you know, in order to see that. And they made a little further
way up and got to the top of the drainage, and I spotted some
sheep, or I spotted more sheep. There was my ram.
He was in the bunch. And I got really excited.
And that's all I can focus on. I'd walk, you know, 10 feet,
stand for 10 minutes just looking at him going.
Oh, I wish it was opening. I wish it was opening day.
Yeah, right. Yeah.
This was the day before sheep season.
So my goal was to get out there early to find him and just to
follow him until he went to bed and harvest the first thing the
next morning. So that's that's how excited I
was. And then I got to a spot where I
could see a long ways and he was just working his way along the
hillside or the mountainside across from me.
And I took off my backpack leaning against my bicycle and I
had my elbows on the handlebars. Just nice steady look and
watched in this, this Ram. And I stood up to stretch for a
second, and when I did, I noticed this little brown thing
right in front of me, literally less than 10 feet away.
And I knew right away what it was.
It was a grizzly bear cub. And I got this kind of feeling
over me that I was in a bad place.
Yeah, I bet. Because now, you know, you got a
grizzly bear cub and it ran past me.
Now I'm just trying to figure out where Mama is and I started
reaching on my backpack, grab my bear spray because you know,
that's where I left it. And when I was reaching down to
open my backpack I heard a branch break over my right
shoulder and literally just less than arms reach away.
Was was Mama? How, how much time had passed
there from the time you saw that cub to the word the mom was
right there? Maybe 5 seconds.
Yeah, maybe. And I remember looking on my
right shoulder and I could see her.
She had her right paw stretched out, ready to grab me.
I can see your mouth was slightly open and then you see
the whites over over her eye on the left side, like she was
literally like, you know, a foot away from me.
Oh my gosh, you. Know I didn't really have much
time to react and it was really, I mean the only thing I think of
doing is just taking my bicycle and drop in front of her and
stepping aside. Her head went through the frame
of the bicycle and she pick up the bicycle, looked at me and it
was around her neck like a necklace.
And the first thing I did was grab my backpack and I just
smashed her in the face as hard as I could.
Wow, were you on the bike originally or did you jump off
the bike and how'd that work? No, the bike was, I was
originally off my bike and my backpack was leaning against the
bike. Gotcha.
And it was just in front of me. Oh my gosh.
And yeah, So smashed her in the face of the hair of the backpack
as she snapped and managed to get a hold of my right hand.
And remember, I was holding the frame of the pack and her teeth
sinking through my hand. And you can feel her teeth just
like separating my my bones and my fingers.
And you can hear the teeth grinding on the frame of the
backpack. That was quite painful.
I managed to get my hand away and then I started beating her
at the backpack hardened head, just smacking her in top of the
head. The on the backpack it's a
Badlands aux pack and on the sides there's like a one inch
tube 1 flattened like an Oval tube.
And so I was trying trying to hit her with that as hard as I
could just to see if inflict some paint on her.
Sorry, I got a. Oh, you're good.
No. Well, yeah, I got like, like
turkeys are sitting at the door here watching me.
I'm glad it was a Turkey. Just saying I'm glad it was a
Turkey. Yeah, it's, it's Anyways, sorry.
They just caught my eye. So, you know, being over the
head of the backpack and trying to inflict as much pain I can on
her. And then she started to back
away. So I started to back up.
She turned around and started heading back the way she came.
And I was looking down at the back trying to open it up,
trying to get my bear spray out or my gun off.
I'm either or. And then I remember when I
grabbed the zipper, I took my eyes off her.
And when I looked back up, she's about 30 feet away.
And she had spun around and was now facing me.
And she came in charging. And this is what I call the
beginning of round two. Oh, man.
Yeah. And I mean that the bear, her
standing there about 30 feet away, she looked pretty big.
I mean, she wasn't that big, but like a 300 LB bear.
But still, when she turned and started running towards me, it
looked like a freight train coming through the Bush.
Oh. My gosh.
Yeah, It it was, it was one of those things I wish no one gets
to see. Yeah, yeah.
And like one step for them was like 12 feet.
Like it's huge. Like they're when they run, they
can run faster than the horse. Yeah.
And they can go from a solid standstill to full tilt and with
one leak. That's pretty crazy.
So she started to charge me and I just thought, well I'm just
going to throw my backpack at her and hopefully she'll just
eat my lunch instead of me. So I threw my backpack and I ran
up the mountainside and my object.
My goal was to run up the hillside and was pretty steep
and jump off to the one of the steeper parts of the hill and
jump into a tree. Give me some extra height right
away and well, I got up with this little 8 inch spruce tree,
about 8 inch trunk and got up about 5 and a half six feet off
the ground and I remember looking down and I could see her
running through the Bush. You can just hear her.
Oh my gosh. And you just hear everything
crashing and and I remember looking down and there she was
at the base of the tree. She stood up on her hind legs
and reached up with her paws, straight up grabbed my my right
leg and just kind of wrapped from around my leg.
And then she just guided it into her mouth.
And then I mean her mouth and she said it, it's like kind of
like that. And she just grabbed right
around my right knee. Which is, is this?
Is this like, is this all slow motion for you at this point?
Is this, is this happening in slow motion for you?
Is this, you know what I mean as it's happening, is it slow?
Motion. Man.
Like, it's it. It was like, I mean, it seemed
like when she lunged up and was biting my knee, it just seemed
like, OK, when is it going to happen?
Yeah. And her teeth and her mouth
dropped around my knee. And you just see the teeth sink
in and I'm thinking, you know, this is going to hurt, but
didn't feel anything. You can just hear everything
kind of pop and crack and she's holding on and she's just
getting 1 little pluck and pulled me right out of the tree
like nothing. When I was trying to hold on,
hold on for dear life. And no she pulled me right out.
I hit the ground pretty hard was the spruce tree that I was in.
So I crawled underneath it, wrapped my arms and legs around
the base of the tree hoping that the spruce brows would protect
me. In the beginning she was using
her paws trying to trying to pull me out, but that wasn't
very effective. She seemed to be like almost
like frustrated. She reached her mouth and
grabbed me on the left side, kind of below the rib cage,
above the hips, kind of in the love handler, I guess somebody
love handles. That's where she grabbed.
Me the closet, she grabbed me with her.
With her mouth she'd be very on the side and picked me up like I
was nothing. And at the time I weighed 200, a
little over £250. I mean, it was in pretty good
shape. And she picked me up and she
shook her head like a dog swinging a toy around.
And she threw me few feet and I hit the ground and it knocked
the wind out of me. And before I could take that
first breath, she was right on top of me like instantaneously.
And she reached down with her mouth and she grabbed me on the
left side of the face. Her top 2 canine teeth caught me
on either side of the left eye. Oh my gosh, just like this.
And when she bit down, she removed the hole left side of my
face and one fell swoop, 11 bite.
She's kind of. Like you, as in crushed it all
together down off of your. Oh, my God.
Just crunch. Yep.
Yeah. And then this is normally where
I get my most favorite question ever is what's going through
your head when she's biting on you?
Normally it's teeth. I don't know what's going
through your head. I mean, I was just kind of
wondering, you know, do I taste good?
Kind of was wondering actually. Thank you for clearing that up.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, is it, you know,
is that bittersweet? Do you need more BBQ sauce?
You know, should I have shaved that day?
Man, I'm glad you can joke about this because it's got, that's
got to be like a coping thing for you, right?
To be able to talk about it like this.
Yeah, like, to me now, it's, it's like playing a video game,
you know, I'm just sitting on the drone above it watching it
all happen. Yeah, yeah, I'd use humor to
help get through things. Yeah, for sure.
But it but it's kind of funny on somebody's podcast, I always get
that question like no, what's going through your head when the
when the bears chewing on you? I don't know, it's like half a
second. It's freaking teeth.
Like what do you want me to say? No, like what's going through
your head? I don't know.
It's like a 10th of a second man.
Do I taste good? Is it like chicken?
You know, do you want a second bite?
What's? You're good.
Oh my gosh. So she, she takes, she's got
your face off essentially at this point, right?
Only only AI guess just below the from the left eye down to my
chin or jaw on the left side. She's got the whole piece just
tore right off. You know, I'm curl up in a ball
trying to play dead and I'm like, you know, this sucks
playing dead while getting chewed on.
I'm sorry, but it's really hard to play dead when something's
chewing on your face. Just yeah, just putting that out
there. I.
I would probably, yeah, I think that would be true, yeah.
So then I rolled over on my back and I started punch her in the
face with my with my right arm, poking her in the eye, grabbing
her ears, shoved my fingers in her nose just to stop her from
trying to bite me in the face because I mean that that hurt.
And then she had her mouth kind of over top of me, kind of over
top of my face and she's coming down to bite me a second time in
the face and her mouth was wide open.
And I just saw an opportunity where I could.
Well, I kind of lighted up in my left hand and I punched my hand
into her mouth. And I was thinking to grab her
tongue because if I held on her tongue, she wouldn't be able to
bite me anymore. And so I shoved my middle finger
and index finger down into her throat and used my thumb and
ring finger and pinky to wrap around her tongue.
And I held on. And I just remember like my
fingers sliding down her tongue. He can, he could feel the like
the little bumps in the beginning and then the Ridge of
the tongue, you know, some of the scars.
And then on the back of the tongue is more like soft
leather. And you could feel the kind of,
I guess, some more of the stiffer, harder part of her
throat. Yeah, and I.
Shoved MY2 fingers down there and held her tongue and remember
seeing my forearm. You know, about this part of
much of my forearm was sticking out of her mouth.
So it was in there quite far and, and, and we're looking at
it and just seeing the drool run down and the saliva run down
with my arm. And I mean, the smell of her
like it just just a rotten, like a really dirty horse smell, like
very distinct. And her back legs were digging
into my right side into my stomach and that and that was
very painful. So I was trying to push her off
me just to get her legs off me because that was really hurting.
I mean, the bear's only about 300 lbs, but I couldn't budget
like it was just solid rock. And my hands slipped and I hit
the belly and I could tell the belly is a lot, not as firm.
You can feel there's less hair, more skin.
And I reached up in between the legs and grabbed at the time
what I thought was balls. When I when I grabbed it, I
twisted and I pulled as hard as I could.
And when I did, the bear almost been like a gigging, choking
sound and a squeal of a pig, like a real deep, deep squeal of
a pig. Oh, man.
It's just, it's something that gives me nightmares, that sound.
Yeah. And I held on for, I don't know,
a couple seconds. I mean, I felt like, you know, a
minute, but it probably only was, you know, say, 2-3 seconds.
And then I let go and she ran back the way she came, just
squealing like a pig and defecating all across the
mountainside, just squirting and running and squealing like a
pig. Then I got up right away and I
dusted myself off. I walked over to my packing gear
and. Are you able to see at this
point? Yeah, everything was kind of
fine. Like I stood up and just
literally just dusted myself off and like, you know, getting.
So eyes are intact at this point and.
Yeah. OK.
Just a big chunk. Well, OK, well there's quite a
few things missing, but at the time I thought it was fine.
So I touched my pack and I pulled on my cell phone and
decided to take a selfie on the mountainside just to see what I
look like. And then that picture you can
see a large portion left side of my face is missing in chunks of
my scalp. Is that the one that's on your
Instagram profile right now? Yep, that is.
Yeah, OK. Yeah, I saw it.
I look. Pretty handsome there.
You do, you do. I'm certainly looking at that
picture, and I'm thinking to myself, you know, well, it's not
that bad. I mean, I could at least go
shoot that sheep across the way before I have to leave or go
look for this bear. And, you know, I'm sitting there
and, yeah, I'm probably in shock, but I was actually pretty
disappointed in myself that I spent this whole entire year, I
guess, from April until August looking for this ram.
I found him, you know, I spent 17 years hunting in there, and I
finally found a ram that I knew was legal.
I knew where he was. Wow, 17 years.
My year to get him. And, you know, and I could have
really prevented all this if I actually had my bear spray on my
chest where I normally carry it and not and bottom my backpack.
But no, I took a chance and it caught up with me.
And I wasted 17 years of. I wouldn't say wasted.
I mean, I enjoyed every second of the hunt out there for 17
years. I still love going out there
today. But I was just so disappointed
myself that I made that big of a mistake and ultimately almost
cost my life. Yeah.
You know, and I'm sitting there and kind of figuring out like,
what do I do? Do I go back to my truck?
Like, where do I go? And I had my gun leaning against
my left shoulder. I had the clip to my right hand
and I'm just popping in rounds into the clip.
I got two or three in. Is this a rifle?
What is this pistol, rifle yet? Rifle OK.
Yeah, and then the clip only holds I think 3 rounds.
Anyways, I think it was getting the second or third one in and I
heard the sound of ice breaking. My hands dropped and went numb.
Everything just came out of them and the bear had come back and
she had grabbed me by the back of the skull and I remember her
teeth sinking in. You can just feel them grind and
just essentially crush things, man.
You can just feel all this pressure and then just pop, pop.
Like it's, it's like when you take an ice tray and you crack
it. It's very loud.
What? Were you thinking at this point?
Well, you thought it was over. I did.
I mean, this had been probably 10 minutes after the second
round when she. 10 minutes went by it.
Was about 10 minutes. Oh my gosh.
So I was, I felt like I was safe, like, no, there's no bear
here. I'm good.
You're right. Like she's not coming back.
So it's probably about, I'm going to say, yeah, 10 minutes,
maybe more. But you didn't hear it sneaking
back up on you again. It just.
Just. Crunching on your head.
Yeah, the one thing about bears is even in the fall, when you
got leaves on the ground, you can watch a bear walk across the
ground 20 feet away and you can't hear them.
They just float. They're like a ghost.
It's it's crazy. It really messes with your mind.
No, she's going to be by the back of the skull.
And I remember seeing her paws on either side of me and she's
just digging in the ground and just like, like playing tug of
war with me and dragging me when we have a, when you have a dog
and you got a little rope and you're pulling on it, how they
just get down low. Yeah.
Well, she was, she was like that just dragging me back into the
Bush. Now she did 3 or 4 good poles.
I don't know how far he went. And maybe, you know, 10 feet.
And I was sitting on, on my butt, kind of sitting up,
hunched over, felt like I was leaning against something, you
know, probably her. And she reached over with her
paw over my right shoulder, caught me on the bottom left
corner of the face. And she peeled across my face,
going diagonally to towards my right eye.
And she peeled off all the skin, my nose, my right eye, right
here in a large chunk of my scalp on the right side, just
one fill soup with her paw. And then she started chewing on
the left corner here in my head, just kind of gnawing out like a
dog in a bone, just with the head side and he's just
crunching away is. Is she what, What is this bear
trying to do at this point 'cause it's at certain, you
know, other bear attacks that I've learned about, they're just
trying to get rid of the threat so they can protect their young.
Is she trying to like physically eat you?
No, she's trying to protect herself from from me trying to
get to her cub and I'm in her way again.
And of course, me being me and and it sucks in some shoes in my
face, I fight back. Yeah.
And so when she when she stopped, I fell back and hit the
ground and I reached up and grabbed something soft, my hands
up between her back legs. And whatever I had, I twisted
and pulled both hands and try to pull off whatever I had and wrap
my legs around her head and neck and and whatever I had I was
trying to tug off. She started to buckle like a
Bronco and roll around the mountainside and just squeal
like a deep squeal of a pig. Oh.
My gosh. And then I let go and she ran
down the mountainside towards where a cub went, just squealing
like a pig. You know, when I grabbed her, If
I didn't grab her, would she have continued trying to eat me
or chew on me? I don't know.
I mean, I never never really thought about that.
It's more of I'm here today. So don't worry about what could
have been, what should have been.
It's because I did everything right because I'm here today.
So I'm in the bear. She didn't do anything wrong.
She was honestly, I have no nothing against her.
She was just being a bear and protecting her cub.
So I just need to suck it up and move on.
So she ran off. At this point in time, you know,
I'm laying there and I was feeling my face and my left eye
was hanging out of the socket, hanging down my right eye.
I was touching. I couldn't find my right eye.
There was a piece of skin hanging down kind of where my
nose was. I think it was probably part of
my eyebrows or something. And it was dangling there.
And then my whole right side, he was all like my eye was smashed,
crushed up into the the eye. So I was kind of turned up and
then my forehead, they didn't think I had a right eye and my
ear was removed. And then this whole chunk of my
head was removed and my fingers, I mean, I had massive holes in
my hands will golf all sides and they fingers go in different
ways. Like I think I broke a few
fingers. Well, I did, but they were
sticking out and like the bones were.
Sticking out or just your fingers were pointing.
Well, there's some big holes and they were just broken and
sticking on my left hand here. The bones were kind of sticking
out. So she crushed my finger in her
mouth. So it is all titanium now.
So I I knew relatively where I was in the mountainside and I
tried to stand up and I couldn't.
I end up just crawling down the mountainside to my packing gear
and I found my gun right away and I started to panic because
it couldn't put a shell. Bears bear's gone.
Bear's gone. Well, yeah.
Yeah, she's gone. OK, and now you're crawling down
the mountainside. Yeah.
OK. And I found my packing gear
right away and I found my gun. So I grabbed my gun and I tried
to put in a shell in the chamber, but on my rifle there's
a clip and you can slide a shell in and get into the chamber If
you had the dexterity in your fingers and if you could see you
could drop 1 into the tube, I call it.
But it would hit the, I don't know, the front part of the gun
and it just fall out with a clip went and I tried a bunch of
times and I was really panicking because I need the clip because
it just the shell kept falling out.
And so I was feeling around the mountainside and I found this
chunk of flesh, you know, a little bristly and well, it was
flesh and it was the corner of my mouth and goatee and that,
and I found a large chunk of my scalp.
Where, where? Where was this at?
This was this? Where was all?
Where did you find all this at? Just on the ground, scattered
around on the mountainside. But you're you're, you're hardly
able to see at this point. Yeah, I'm just feeling around
and, you know, I found something that was like a almost like a
hide feeling, like anyone's ever worked with deer.
What What are the chances? What are the chances of you
finding that? That's that's unbelievable.
Maybe she didn't like what she was eating and she just spit it
out. Oh, no, no.
Wow. And and I found another chunk of
my head and like some hard stuff, so I'm pretty sure it was
probably part of my ear and chunk of my head and.
You're, you're, you're the only person that I, I think in
history, I don't know if I remember going to talk to
anybody else that could tell me that they found a chunk of their
head. And, and then I've managed to
find the clip and I slammed it in the gun and then the first
thing around me that was dark got 3 rounds.
I just shot it the first thing that was dark.
And I'm nervous kind of debating like what's going to happen.
I mean, I'm over 12 kilometers from my truck.
I can't see like everything's also fuzzy.
I only get the in order for me to look forward to that hold my
left eye and like I'm bleeding profusely out of my head, my
hands, my side, my knee, my inner thigh, right thigh had a
chunk out of big bite mark in it, you know, big bite mark in
my side. And I'm sitting there kind of
assessing the situation and my blood's pouring out.
Like, what do you what do you do, right?
I knew at that point, you know, I was going to die.
I was going to die there on that mountainside all alone, knowing
that I really screwed up. And and I mean, what do you do?
Like, do you try to endear the endearable?
Do you lay there and just let things happen or do you end it
on your own terms? So I grabbed my rifle and I
loaded it up and put the butt of it against the ground and I put
my chin on the barrel. And, you know, I was thinking
about my wife and daughter. My daughter's only eight months
old and my wife, she was first 12 and met her back in high
school and she was never going to see her again.
I was never going to watch my daughter grow up graduate.
I was never going to be able to kick the, you know, the first
boyfriend out of the house and walking down the aisle.
And I was thinking all that and just by pulled the trigger just
just like that and the gun just went click.
At first I was a little confused on what happened and I grabbed
the barrel of the gun and pulled it aside and I reached down with
my left hand to cycle the bolt again.
And the bolt was it was pretty tight and I managed to open it.
And as soon as I got her, as soon as I pulled the bolt open,
the gun fired. I just send the bullet just
inches from the side of my face. That that scared me.
I was thinking to myself like, what am I doing?
Like this is this is like I owed it to them to at least try to
make it somewhere where they're going to find me.
Yeah, my wife, my wife deserved quick closure.
And where I was, no one was going to find me there.
Like it's I need to at least make it across the drainage
where more people go and. And yeah.
And so I picked up with pieces of my face off the ground that I
found these chunks and took a sweatshirt.
And I put the neck of the sweatshirt around my head.
And I put the layer of the pieces of my face in there and
folded it up, tied a knot underneath my chin to help hold
my jaw because all the skin was ripped off on the left hand side
of my jaw, exposing all my teeth and that.
And my jaw was kind of almost like hanging there.
So to keep it up, I tied a knot underneath my chin as tight as I
could to hold it up, and then two knots in the back of my head
to help hold my head straight. All right, 'cause everything in
the back of my neck and base of my skull, it was extremely raw
and extremely painful when things were pretty crushed.
So when I tied those two knots in the back of my head, it just
helped hold my head up straight where it didn't hurt as much.
And then I tried to stand up. And, you know, every time I
stand up, I'd fall right over. All the ligaments in my right
leg were severed at the knee. Anytime I put weight on there,
I'd just topple over. And and I kept getting up, kept
trying and eventually got to the point where I can take a step, I
would slide my or take a short step with my left leg forward
and then I'd slide my right leg forward using my hand or kind of
shuffle like a zombie, walk and use my rifle as a, as a cane,
try to hold myself up. Are you having?
Is there a concept of time when this is happening?
Are you able to gauge like how much time is going past as all
this is going on? No, everything was going
extremely slow. Like everything was in slow
motion. I was able to kind of calm right
down and focus and it just very everything was passing by
extremely slow. So like taking a step felt like
10 minutes. How much time passed from the
attack to where you decided that you were going to try to end it
all? Maybe from the last part of the
attack to now till trying to end it all.
Probably, I don't know, 1520 minutes.
Wow. Like it just just slow, 'cause
you're sitting there and just kind of in shock.
Like what do you do? Like what's what happens next?
Like when you die, do you do you just pass out?
Do you fall asleep? Does it hurt?
That guy was just kind of like the unknown.
And why would push me to pull the triggers because I don't
know that what do you do in that period of time or how does that
happen? Right?
Like, I think that's what scares us all is what does that look
like? Are you a spiritual person?
No. Nor am I religious.
Yeah, but everybody's got to believe in something, right?
Yeah, I, I believe that for sure.
Yeah. So anyway, so you're so you, so
this happens and now you're kind of crawling away.
Trying to, yeah, I'm trying to at least walk, but the first 10
feet of the trail goes down a mountainside right in front of
me. There was a Cliff that dropped
probably, you know, 6070 feet to a Creek on my left side.
There's the drainage I just walked up that was probably 4050
foot drop, not straight down, but kind of more of a 85% kind
of grade and trail was on was probably like AI don't know, 35%
type grade and just kind of going down the hillside.
But I got, you know, 10 feet down that drainage and I lost my
footing and I fell and I rolled into the drainage and then down,
around, down around the corner of the drainage, you know,
probably 203 hundred feet down, head over heels down into some
large boulders. And I found myself face down
laying next to a Creek. I can hear the Creek.
Anyways, laying face down on these boulders.
My right arm was stretched out, had a gun.
My gun sling was wrapped around my right arm and around my head
and my left arm was kind of stuck back more towards my
center body. And I remember just laying there
and I go to do like a push up to try to get up and just the pain,
I couldn't even move. It was just, it was horrible.
You know, I tried to turn sideways because it's really
uncomfortable laying face down a bunch of big boulders and I try
to turn sideways and the pain just shooting through everything
like he just I just couldn't move.
And I managed my left hand managed to pull my phone out of
my pocket to send my wife a final goodbye.
You know that message it read, I tried honey and I knew she
wasn't going to get until they found the body And I had come to
terms with that was really as far as I was going to make it in
the bottom of that drainage. And I sent that message and then
I tried to play some music and well, the song that came on,
actually I was laying there was a Baby Shark song that was
playing for my daughter the night before.
I'm putting her to bed. And like all things, it was on
repeat. So just laying there listening
to that over and over and over again, give me the strength to
to actually roll over under my side and to reach up for that
first rock that was, you know, probably a foot away.
And I pulled myself to that rock.
And then I'm like, OK, well, I got enough energy, I can reach
to the next one. And so I started to just pull
myself up the mountainside. And then I was only focusing on
what I could achieve at that time, sitting like little mini
goals, like, yeah, I can make it to that rock.
And then when I achieved each one of these little mini goals,
it just gave me the strength to go a little bit further and a
little bit further. Maybe I can make it to the next
rock or maybe I can make it to that Bush.
And I was only focusing on, you know, 3 feet, 5 feet, 10 feet in
front of me, something that I could achieve.
And in life, there will be lots of dark times.
I mean, no one has a perfect life.
And so when you're in those dark times, you got to remember
what's what's that one piece of inspiration that keeps you
going? That's what I call what is what
is your rock that gets you going through those hard times?
And just remember that because I'll help you get through
anything because I mean, my rock with my family.
And one of the things that helped trigger that was the song
Baby Shark, because I love my daughter and I want to see her
again. And that just that power of that
just gave me the strength just to reach up to, just to, to bear
through that pain, that that unbearable pain there and just
keep, keep going, you know, And eventually I made it to the top
of that hill and I was able to get to my feet again.
And then I was like, OK, I can make it to that tree over there.
And then that stump. And it was just more of the
whole entire way. I was only thinking about that
10 feet. You know, I can make it to
there. I can make it to there.
Now I'd fall over, you know, when I fell in a Creek, there's
a Creek at across 11 times just because we meandered through the
trail and I'd fall into the Creek and I'd just be laying
there and I'd pull myself out and OK, I'm just I can make it
to that rock or I can pull myself up to that Bush.
That's all I was thinking about was just just, you know, 10 feet
and I never thought I was ever going to make it to the truck.
I mean, my goal is just to make it somewhere further down the
trail where they'd find the body sooner.
It wasn't tell about 1 kilometer from the truck, there's these
two big rocks. We're a little bit bigger than a
shoe box. And they sat down on the trail
and these two rocks are, you know, insignificant to anybody.
For 17 years when I ride my bike into there, I'd almost hit these
rocks and fall over and one kind of set partly and trail 1
slightly off and, and I hated those rocks.
But in 17 years I was too lazy to move them all the way.
But I tell you, I've never been so happy in my life to see those
two rocks. I just when I saw him, I was
like, I'm going to make it. And that was the only point in
time I ever thought I was ever going to make it.
And so I, you know, give my hand a little kiss and touch the
rocks and I fumble the rest of the way out.
Got to my truck and from there was 22 kilometer drive for for
help. What are you?
Oh my gosh, you. Know I was on a dead end.
Gravel Rd. Can you see?
I, I, I mean, I'm, I mean, I'm, you know, I'm just trying to
picture, you know, you, you, you virtually lost your vision
completely right up to this point.
Yeah, so everything was really blurry in order for me to look
forward, to tilt my headway back or hold my eye in my hand.
The when I hopped in the truck, first thing I did was push the
the mirror side mirror away because I want to see what it
looked like. And I pulled the rear mirror off
and I started up the truck. I remember looking at the
windshield and I couldn't tell where the hood ended and where
the road began. And I rolled down the driver
side window and I looked out the window and I couldn't tell where
the ground was. I mean everything was just
blurry and in front of me. What, what, what?
I'm, I'm curious, so you were saying earlier how you were just
trying to get to a spot where you could die, but you've made
it to your truck now, right? Is this like, was this like the
motivation now that you're in your truck?
Like, let's just see how much farther I can continue to go
because your wife's going to probably find you at the truck,
right? Probably, yeah.
And I was just thinking when I got to my truck, maybe I'll
drive down the road and somebody will find me.
Yeah. And then maybe I won't have to
go as far. And sitting in that front seat,
all I could see was dark green on the other side and a light
spot in the middle. And everything was so fuzzy.
I just aimed for the light spot. Figured that was the middle of
the road. I mean, because you got tall
spruce trees there and they kind of kind of almost, I won't say
overhang the road, but they're on the edge of the road going
straight up. So just looks like a, I don't
know, kind of like a light strip.
Yeah, yeah. And so I just aim for that.
And yeah, when I got there, but I was thinking like, where am I
going to go? Like when I started driving,
like where am I going to go? How are you even the comprehend
which I mean I could just see getting in a truck and you
can't. How'd you even know what
direction you were facing? Well, because every time I
haunted, I park in the same same way, same spot.
I face the same way like always driving it in the middle of the
night. And I mean, half the time I
don't ever remember getting to the place where I hunt sheep or
getting home. They could just All by muscle
memory. Yeah, so many times that you're.
OK. I'm going to chalk it up to
muscle memory. Yeah.
And I just remember when I was driving, I was like, I hope
somebody's on the road here coming, right?
Because I'm just, I don't know where I'm going.
And every time I feel to get really rough, I would try to go
in the direction where it got smoother.
And so I was thinking like when it was really rough, I was
riding in the ditch and hitting trees and stuff.
So I'd go. So I so I go to the middle of
the road where it's nice and smooth.
And this road's not exactly straight.
One side of the road for a majority of it is a Cliff going
off down. There's just like a cable
guardrail, Like there's a post every 10 feet and just a cable
going through it. It's really just like to say,
hey, if you hit that, you're going over.
Yeah, yeah. There's a couple quick switch
backs and I made it all through that on a on a good day going
50, you could probably do it in 20 minutes.
That's if you're really good tires and you know how driving
gravel, it took me about 45 minutes to an hour to drive it.
That's not bad. No, not too bad.
That's pretty good considering the situation you were in.
It was not bad at all and I thought I destroyed my truck
because, I mean, it was pretty rough and I thought I was
hitting things, but when they picked up my truck they said
there wasn't really a scratch on it.
What? Except for the inside was
covered in blood and everything but and my radio was cranked up
extremely loud 'cause Baby Shark was playing on a repeat.
And when I got to my truck, Baby Shark still played and it was, I
guess, full blast. Wow, did you lose any hearing?
I mean just from the from the attack.
Yeah, I lost quite a bit on my right side here.
I've lost a fair bit of my hearing loss cause the gun going
off right beside there and plus with the bear pulled out and all
the damage in my left ear. Like they can't wear certain
headphones because they won't go in.
Like they just fall out because the your canal is closed off
quite a bit because of all the surgeries and put things
together, all the scar tissue and that.
So yeah, quite a bit of hearing damage.
But what do you do, eh? Oh my gosh.
So you so you're where did the truck end up?
So it ended up at a place called a Panther River Resort.
It was basically the first resort when you come went out.
It's a resort. They have like cabins you can
stay in and tents that you can stay in and you can rent out and
go horseback riding. So I pulled into the parking lot
there and I tried to Pike Park in the parking lot, but I
couldn't get between two vehicles because I couldn't
tell. So I, I drove past the employees
only sign and no vehicles allowed sign and I drove right
to the lodge and park my truck right at the base of the at the
ramp going in. And I and I actually this is not
a lie. I felt quite bad driving past
that sign and blocking off the ramp getting up to their place.
I don't know why. That's unbelievable.
Like I was, I was. So I got out and I I had my
wallet and my keys to my truck and my cell phone and I walked
into the place and the first person to see me was a nine year
old boy. He was actually at the window
and you saw me kind of hobble past and I looked like a zombie
at the time. And I always open up the door
and the 2 ladies standing there were like, Oh my God, are you
OK? And and it's like I got mulled
by a bear. I need some help.
And they asked you? Were you you were able to speak.
I was so part way out I got into an Outfitters tent and I managed
to put my jaw back in place and and tape up some of my face with
bounty sheets and toilet paper. And I managed to kind of wrap my
face up to stop the bleeding of my face and hands.
And so I walked into there. I looked like a zombie, you
know, I was wearing shorts and AT shirt and bounty sheets and
toilet paper wrapped all over my face trying to hold it all
together. My hands are taped up, you know,
all covered in blood and everything and dirt and all
kinds of crap. So I was able to talk, but
almost like a mumble talk. How much time has gone by since
the attack to now? This is so I got attacked at
well, I took a picture of the selfie at 9:36 AM.
This is probably around 5:00. What?
That's that?
Wow, man. OK.
And so, like, the ladies are freaking out and they ask me
like, you know, do you need anything?
And I said, yeah, I need a glass of water, medium temperature and
no ice in a straw, I guess. Yeah, that's how I like my
water. So.
You really said that to him? I that's the first thing I said.
I like a glass of medium temperature water, no ice in a
straw. And so they got me that and then
I handed him my wallet and my keys to my truck and my phone.
I said call my wife, her name is Joyce and I told him my name and
I think I gave my Alberta healthcare number at the time
too because they needed that. Like I was rambling off stuff
and they're writing it down and had.
You been thinking what you were going to say like this whole
time. I mean, if you if you met up to
somebody you like, you had already you, you already knew,
like if I see somebody, this is what's going to happen.
Yeah, I wrote a little script out.
You know what? I was just going to.
No, I had no clue. Yeah.
Oh man, I I that just blows my mind that you would say all that
stuff. Well, I mean, when you're in the
situation like you got to give them information so they can
help you. You want to know your name.
And I want them to call my wife and let her know that I made it
just in case you got the text messages, because some of the
text messages I sent to were pretty awful.
And I just wanted to let her know that I was all right.
And I want to tell these people who my name was.
You know, like my church parked Outback, it's on the ramp.
I'm sorry. Here you go.
Here's my keys, here's my wallet, just so they have all
the information for me. So if I do pass out or die at
this point, at least they know who I was.
It's just a weird thing. I don't know.
I've been shockingly calm. I guess from what the ladies
tell me, they were at the lodge that they said I kept them calm
because I wasn't freaking out. They were running around calling
stars, calling for the ambulance, you know, dial 911
trying to get stars, trying to get an ambulance.
They were having no, no luck because the ambulance can figure
out where we were because we're in the middle of nowhere and
stars was busy at the time. That's our air ambulance, the
helicopter. We have two in Alberta, but they
were both busy, unable to assist.
So they're, of course, they were panicking because here's a guy
you know, in, in their lodge is bleeding to death and, and
they're freaking out. So I just kept telling like, hey
guys, just like stay calm, It's OK, I'm fine, I'm just missing
my face. So just like just need you to
focus. And I, I told him that like I
said, you know, just, I'm just missing my face.
It's no big deal. Just calm down, I'm OK.
So they, they managed to make the right decision and they
called for a private helicopter, which the owner of the place
owned a helicopter and he was, you know, about 1/2 hour or so
away. So he hopped in his helicopter
and flew out there. While we're waiting for him.
They moved me to my truck and perked me out back by the
helipad. And I'm sitting there at the
truck. I'm in the passenger's seat.
And you know, I'm, I got ADHD and I hate sitting around doing
nothing. And so that this young lady who
was had the door open, she's leaning against the door and she
was supposed to be there to, you know, if I pass out to go holler
at somebody, I'm not sure, but she was there and it was like I
was asking her questions, like, you know, what's your name?
How old are you? You know, what you'd like to do
for fun. And I was getting like one word
answers out of her area, like, and she just want to keep eye
contact. So I don't know what was going
on there. And I like, I tried to like tell
her, Hey, can you take off my boots?
Because my feet were hurting and she's so she started to.
And then the other lady was yelling at her like, don't take
off his boots. Just leave him alone.
Just like, can you at least open that bottle of Gatorade?
So they open up some Gatorade for me and I was drinking that
and, and then they told me it's been like 1/2 hour till the
helicopter gets here. And so I got out of the truck
and opened up the back door of my truck and I tried grabbing my
fly rod out because I was going to do some fishing.
There's a Creek right there and it's really good for fishing
and, and I just wanted something to do.
Yeah. Really.
I did. Is that true?
Like yes it is. I had it like half out and this
lady Amanda come out and she's like, what the hell are you
doing? I'm like going fishing.
And she's like, no, you're not like.
Were you, were you hallucinating?
Were you out? I mean, what was?
No, I was having an argument with her and I had my fishing
rod trying to get it out to go fishing.
Like really actually go fishing in this?
Moment actually go fishing. Yeah, like this isn't like a
coping mechanism. This isn't like.
Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. I mean, I got time, I'm going to
wait. For a helicopter?
Wow, man. Wow.
The helipad was literally 15 feet from the Creek and we're
in. We were parking at the helipad
so I had like a 20 foot stumble to the Creek and I was hell bent
on I was going to go fishing and I was arguing with this lady.
Lady called the man and she's like no, just get back in your
truck and just sit there. Like just I'm like OK, like
relax, it's OK. So then, you know, I got back in
the truck and sitting on my Gatorade, really disappointed
because I could probably caught one or two fish before the
helicopter. You know, I would have tried
helicopter lands and I mean, I can't see like I can like I
said, it's everything's so blurry and I can only see the
one with the one eye. And and so anyways, this
helicopter lands and I go to get in and the whole back seat is
like a Big Blue tarp, right? So, you know, I don't know why
they put a tarp in there. Maybe because it's bleeding over
the place, but. See.
I bet that's the reason, yeah. I get in this real fancy
helicopter, it's got four seats in the back, you know, two in
the front. And so we take off, everybody's
got these little headsets on, and I got nothing.
I mean, yeah, so I'm sitting there and I'm looking out the
window because I'm, I'm like, we're in a helicopter in the
mountains and there's a nice scenery.
So I'm trying to look out the window.
And I mean, I can't see nothing, but I'm trying, you know, I'm
trying to move around, look out the window.
And every time I lean over, I get this real sharp pain on my
left side. And, you know, I turn to look
and Amanda be sitting there and she'd be looking at me.
And she pulled his Big Blue tarp up over her face.
And I was like, well, screw you. Like I'm looking out the window
then. So I'd lean over, look out the
window, and I'd feel this poke again.
And I look at her and this blue tarp would come back up.
I'm like, I'm playing peekaboo. Like what's going on?
I didn't realize this at the time, but when I was trying to
look out the window, it looked like I was passing out.
And so she was poking me and pinching me, trying to wake me
up. And then when I turned to look
at her, she pulled the tarp up because I'd cough and squirt out
blood all the time. So she's pulling the tarp up to
protect her, but it literally looked like we're playing
peekaboo and. I still bugger.
Still bugger about that today because it was funny like at
least 3-4 times, you know, I turned and she pulled the fire
pump. I'm like what the what are you
doing? Oh.
My gosh. So then we land the helicopter
in sundry at the hospital. And I remember the helicopter
landed, and you can just see a bunch of people with a Gurney
just kind of like doodling down, like, yeah, we got to be here
for this kind of thing. They weren't.
No one was really excited. Just like, you know, another day
at work, my helicopter door opens up and I turned and looked
at the person who opened the door and I said hi.
And then that's when everybody just started going crazy.
A doctor tried cutting back behind the helicopter but we had
an open tail rotor. So he was running for.
To run around. Amanda was sitting in the back
seat beside me. She jumps out, dives underneath
the helicopter, takes out this doctor like rugby, tackles them
and knocks him down. She's trying to hold everybody
back. What?
The pilot's trying to shut things down, the Co pilot's
jumping out trying to stop people because like, it was just
mad chaos and they're trying to pull me out of the helicopter.
But my right leg now was seized forward and I had to lift it up
over the seat to get out to turn and I couldn't do it.
So then I was like, I'm I'm trying.
And Amanda's like just leave him alone.
He can get out. Just leave him be.
And I managed to kind of turn slightly and this little nurse,
maybe 5 feet tall, 5 foot, 2:00-ish, picked me up like I
was nothing and slid me out backwards out of the passenger
door, the helicopter. And they laid me in the Gurney
and brought me into the hospital.
And then from there they threw me in an ambulance and shipped
me off to Calgary, which where I live, to the Foothills Hospital.
And I arrived there pretty late in the evening.
Yeah. Rode into there.
And from there, you know, into surgery and then surgery into
the the. I was in the burn unit for five
weeks in recovery. And then from there out running
around like a crazy maniac. I mean, I from what I saw, the
pictures to what you look like right now, they've done an
amazing job. They did.
I mean, I mean, it's, it's legitimately next level stuff.
I mean it based on what you're describing to me, it it doesn't.
I mean, that's that's unbelievable it.
Was really funny right before you go to get out of the
hospital, the surgeon that stitched me up, he stitched me
up, did the two surgeries and then he went on holidays for two
weeks. And then he he was back And
there's a picture of me on the wall with my wife and daughter
just before the bear attack. And he looked at me and he says,
you know, I could have done a better job if I had this
picture. It was really good.
Like that doctor was awesome. Part way through this part of my
head here on the right side, kind of from I guess my forehead
too, partly to the back. That was all removed.
And that was, it was just skull and skin or skull and meat, no
skin. They didn't know what to do with
that till September 24th. They brought me in for surgery
and they tried taking the chunk of my head here and moving it
over because skin doesn't grow on bone and these blood full and
that piece of my head started to die.
So they moved it back and then they took a chunk of skin off my
leg and they covered just to cover it up because I mean, you
just can't have bone and meat. They're sticking out forever.
So they did that. They closed it up and the next
day I decided I'm going out with my friends.
I had a hall pass from the hospital.
So you get to go out for the day and we went out to the shooting
range and they, they came and picked me up, my buddies and
they got my guns and they picked me up.
And so we head up to the shooting range and I got this,
you know, huge Band-Aid. I got drains hanging from my
face and I'm all cross eyed and you know, I can't see very well
because my eyes are so swollen up.
And we walk into the gun range and I'm looking a little like I
shouldn't be there. And we shot guns for a couple
hours. And then I got back and I had my
target with me. And I'm so happy I had my target
in my hand because I can actually hit something at 50
yards. Or maybe it was like, yeah, 50
yards. And I was hanging up on the
wall. And the charge nurse comes in
and she's like, oh, So what did you do today?
Because she can check on me right away.
And I said, I went to the shooting range and I can hit
something, you know? And she's like, you're going to
the shooting range in your state with your head the way it is.
I'm like, Yep. And she's like, don't leave your
room. Like I didn't know what was
going on. About 1/2 hour later, here comes
my Doctor Who stitched me up. We said he could have done a
better job. He walks into the room and he
says, where'd you go today? I said, I went and shooting
guns. And he goes, oh, yeah, where I
is. Oh, I went to this indoor range
and I can hit a target. And I showed him.
I was so proud of myself. He's like, how's your head
feeling? Like it's still there because
does it hurt or anything? I'm like, Nope.
He's like OK, awesome job dude, have a nice day.
And the nurse is like, aren't you going to do anything?
He goes Nah. If you can get out and go and
shoot guns and not have anything hurt, he's doing pretty good.
Oh man, wow, so are you, are you, were you normally this
determined? Are you a determined type
person? Like I, I, I feel like other
people would have legitimately given up.
Like they never would have tried.
Yeah, there's not a lot of things that get in my way.
I always try to find a way around.
If I can't do something or there's a roadblock.
I've always tried to get around that's oh I am I guess.
I mean, it's got to be a, a, a, a personality thing with you
that that determination came through that pulled you through
all of that to a degree. I would say, like, I mean, you
just somebody, somebody that goes through something like that
and is able to push themselves through that and, and hike.
How how would you say 12 kilometers out to?
The 12.8 kilometers, Yep. To the truck, yeah.
What is that like? Probably 9.
Miles or something? 7.
Miles Point 87.8 or. Something like that.
OK, so almost 8 miles out. I mean, you know, I hike a lot
and that's, I mean you did that in what?
Like in nine hours? Something like that.
That's incredible in your state.
I mean, you, you, you've got to have some sort of a personality,
something in you that's sets you apart from other people to give
you that level of determination to be able to get out of
something like that. I mean just naturally within you
that you probably maybe you knew you had, maybe you didn't.
Yeah, I think it just maybe it's stubbornness too, a little bit.
All right. What was it like when you What
was it like when you saw your wife and daughter?
Well, that was amazing. I mean, my wife was there at the
foot of the bed from day one and I couldn't see for probably the
first two weeks in the hospital. My eyes were swelled, rate shut.
And when I could, they had to clean them out every day and I
couldn't really see. And it was until late September
when I was able to actually make out my wife and daughter because
like I said, I physically couldn't see.
But hearing their voices, you hear my daughter giggle.
That was. Oh.
Man, that was something. I mean, like the, as soon as
they got me up to the walk, which was I think after the
first week, they stood me up for the very first time.
And my wife came there to see that and she was hungry and
waiting around for the therapist and everybody show up and they
weren't. So she's going to run down, grab
a quick bite to eat. Well, when she left, not even a
minute after she left, the nurses and the physical
therapist come in to help get me up on my feet.
So here I am to get me up on my feet and I'm on a Walker and,
and they want me just to walk to the end of the bed or at the end
of the room and come back. I mean, the room's probably, you
know, 15 feet maybe. So I got up on the Walker.
I took 3, four steps. I got to the end of the room and
then my wife wasn't there. And I really wanted her to see
me walk again because I, I was actually afraid that she was
going to leave me because I, you know, look like a monster who
wants to be married to somebody in my state, right?
Like that's all those things that go through your head and
that you're laying there every day with.
And, and they're like, OK, come back to the to the bed.
And I'm like, excuse that. So I pushed to the doorway.
I managed to get the Walker to the doorway and they're like,
don't push it. I got out in the hallway and I
got about 30 feet down the hall and my wife and the walk was
walking up the stairs. And she comes around the corner
and she sees me in the hallway on my Walker.
And, you know, I was trying to give it all I got because I
wanted to show that I could, that I could still do it.
And it was a very emotional moment.
I didn't make it back to my bed. I thought a lot of help, but I
just, I just pushed just to prove to her that, you know, and
to prove myself that I can do it.
And so every day from that point, I'd get up, they'd bring
me the Walker right after I ate Prefix and I would try to walk
around the unit by myself with the Walker.
And it used to take me from Prefix till lunch to do 1 lap.
So I did that every single day until the day they released me.
I was able to walk around that unit in 12 minutes.
Wow, yeah, it's awesome. Now today I can walk around the
whole entire unit in less than a minute.
So just to tell you how much, yeah, taking me 3 1/2 four hours
to do it in, to do it in 12 minutes and then now to do it in
45 seconds. Man.
It'd be equivalent to walking down 3 aisles in the grocery,
maybe 4 aisles in the grocery store.
So if you're in a Safeway store, just four complete aisles or
basically the width of a 24 hour Walmart with a grocery unit.
If you walk across long way, that would be roughly the the
walk that would be around the whole unit.
Oh my gosh, what? What's what's life like?
What's life like today for you? Pretty much the same.
I mean, there's some limitations that I have.
I don't let them stop me. Like making a fist.
I can't make a really tight fist in my hands.
My pinky sometimes sticks out when I close my fist, so I have
to push it in, you know, sometimes it cooperates,
sometimes it doesn't. My eyes don't fully close.
So this is me sleeping. I mean it.
It's wicked for babysitting. I got to tell you when you have
kids and you can baby what's. Your vision like. 2023 so my
vision's good, but my eyes are a different height because they
replaced my eye sockets with titanium in that and so they're
slightly out and when I if I take my glasses off, people look
2 dimensional like flat when I put their prism glasses so they
help see. It just makes things a little
more detailed. Yeah, I can still walk and all
that like I never be able to run another 5 minute mile again
because well, I'm just too beat up until you steal parts.
But but I mean just because I can't run a 5 minute mile
doesn't mean I can't ride a bike a 5 minute mile.
I mean I can still do it, just a different means of doing it.
Have you have you gotten back out to hunt?
48 hours after being out of the hospital, I wouldn't read back
at it. Oh man, I I knew you were going
to say that. I knew you were going to say
that. Have you had another bear
counter? I, I have actually this last
year, 2023, it's been so the, the book came out in 2022 in
September and I spent that whole entire fall and winter doing
podcasts and interviews. So I had very limited time to
hunt. And last year, same thing,
anniversary of the book. So everybody wanted to talk to
me in interviews. So I had very little time to
hunt and we were moving to a new place.
So we moved out to an acreage out in the country and so
there's some crown land close to us got called the Porcupine
Hills. So I was it the second day of
the hunting season, I was like, I'm going to go out hunting.
It took it was the weekend and the wife said, yeah, I'll look
after the kids. You go ahead and go hunting
because it's the first time. So I never haunted there before.
Looked on a map, kind of figured out this is the area where the
deer are going to be. So I got out there, you know, an
hour before daylight, hiked into a spot.
I'm sitting down looking for some deer right at the crack of
dawn. I hear like something walking in
the snow. And there's like a soft, like a
soft walk, kind of like a person sneaking, you know, I thought it
was somebody else walking. And then I hear like this little
kind of a almost like a whine growl.
And I just just the tone of it, I knew, I knew exactly what it
was like. It was just a bear, just a
curious bear. And when I looked behind me,
there was a grizzly bear less than 12 feet away on the other
side of the tree. I have seen grizzly bears since
the attack. I mean, a year later, we are
hunting sheep, and we ran into some grizzly bears.
And that was fine. I mean, you always think you
prepare yourself, right, that you know what I'm going to do
next time. So this bear is there.
I have my rifle. I have my bear spray on my
chest. I popped my bear spray out.
There's bears 12 feet away. I'm thinking to myself, like,
I'm prepared for this, right? Like, oh, I've seen this.
I play this a million times in my head, what I'm going to do,
you know, spray the bear, shoot it, whatever.
And that bear was there and I froze like I just didn't know
what to do. I was thinking, do I spray it?
Will that stop it? Should I shoot in the head?
Will that kill it? But the bear wasn't being any
wasn't any threat. He was just more curious.
And so we had to stand off there and he started walking around
the tree. So I walked around the other
side of the tree, got behind another tree.
We kind of circled for about 45 minutes till I got back to my
truck. Yeah.
And he just, he was only, you know, he got to the point where
he's about say 30-40 yards away and he just just curious,
falling in my tracks, just just a bore, you know, middle-aged,
bored, just curious more than anything of what I was.
And like I said, you just you think you're prepared for that.
So I I got home only after being out there for a couple hours and
it's like I was out there like 7 in the morning kind of thing.
And I'm back in my house. It's like 10:00.
And I come home. My wife's like, I thought you
went hunting all day. I'm like, yeah, I'm done.
You know, I don't need to go hunting anymore.
She's like, OK, well, I'm going to go and take the kids.
We're going to go grocery shopping.
We're going to be out with some friends for the day.
So yeah, no problem. I sat on the couch.
She came back about 6:00 that night.
I was still sitting on the couch.
I have not moved. The TV set wasn't on and I was
staring at the wall and she came in front of me.
She's like, are you all right? I'm said yeah.
She goes, it's like 6 O clock at night.
Have you eaten anything? Like, have you?
No, I'm good because it's that late.
She's like, yeah, it is. Are you OK?
I'm like, Nope, I'm not. I told her what happened and we
worked it out and did some of our PTSD and mindful training.
And, you know, that night I had a couple flashbacks.
Nothing serious, just little ones, but I was more, I guess
scared like the reaction. I just, I froze.
And that scared me because I just, I've been through all the
training, you know, all the bear awareness, all that how to use
bear spray, what to do. And you play it in your head
over and over again. And I tell you that bear
standing in front of me there, I just, I broke down.
I just, I didn't know what to do and so like I, that scared me.
So I haven't been back there since I I headed back out to the
prairies to hunt again where there's where you can see a bear
a long ways away. Hey, there's nothing wrong with
that. No, but yeah, I mean.
Your story is incredible, so you've got a book.
I do, It's called Life Lessons Learned from a Grizzly Bear
attack, and I do. I don't have any books with me
right now. Actually I sold all one the
other day. I'm still waiting for another
order from my publisher. And I also do inspirational
speaking where or keynote. I mean, also a keynote speaker
does inspirational speaking where I, you guys tell people my
story and teach them the invaluable life lessons that I
learned. I'm like asking for psychiatric
help is not a weakness but a strength.
When you set small goals, you can achieve incredible things.
You know, don't need to save any of your passions in life because
of, you know, a bear attack. Yeah, and I do more and more
work with PTSDI, started up my own charity, registered with the
University of Calgary and my goal is to raise $5,000,000 for
research into evidence based treatment methods.
We want to make sure we get it right the first time or what
treatments would work best with that individual so that we can
get it right the first time. So you don't have to suffer
through multiple treatments. I guess we won't say suffer, but
you have to experience multiple treatments.
Because when you put yourself out there having PTSD, it's hard
to do once, let alone doing it a second or a third time.
But sometimes we need several different types of treatment to
be able to overcome our PTSD because they need to work
together. And I tell you, when the puzzle
pieces come together, man, it, it's, it's amazing.
You feel so much better. You're able to sleep clear
minded. It's amazing.
And then there's a second part of that charity to where how do
you navigate the complex medical system when you're in there?
Because if you have PTSD, it's hard to pick.
It's hard to choose or where do you go?
How do you reach out for help? And so research and how to make
it easier for somebody with PTSD or suffering from a mental
illness to be able to get the help they need.
I mean, I had a lot of help and I want to make sure everybody
can get the same kind of help or know how to get access to that
same kind of help. So that's my goal is to raise
$5,000,000 and that $5,000,000 will get invested and the, and
the money generated off that 5 million will run their research.
And so this will be there forever because all the money
raised will get vested, and only the money generated off of the
investment is what runs it. So I would have to ask for money
once and never again, and it'll be there forever.
And so my goal is to raise, yeah, $5 million.
What's your what's your charity? Well, tell us about it.
How can we find it? So the charity is the Grizzly
Dude Fund. So if you go on Google and type
in the Grizzly Dude Fund, you'll see it.
It comes up to the crowdfunding website at the University of
Calgary. Also, if you go on to
grizzlydude.ca, you can find out more about Keynote speaking,
what I've been currently working on and of these links to the
charity on there. And you can also order a signed
copy of Mold. I'm sorry, I can't compete with
the Amazon shipping, so it's a little bit extra, but if you
don't want to sign copy, you can go on Amazon.com and order the
book Mold. I think it's got a 4.7 rating
right now currently on there. So it's doing pretty good.
Yeah, I can. I can imagine why.
It's an incredible story. Yeah.
I I have. I have one more question for
you. I I this may seem like an odd
question. Maybe it's not an odd question.
Maybe you've even asked this before.
I don't know. But if you could, like, pull
this event from ever happening out of your life.
Now, from an outside perspective, you would think,
yes, I could totally pull this. I want to pull this out of my
life because I don't ever want to be mauled by a bear.
But seeing what's happened with your life now, it's seems, you
know from at least what I'm hearing, overwhelmingly positive
from being able to do this type of stuff to help other people
and all the people that you've been able to help through this
traumatic experience. Would you if you could go back
and pull that entire experience out of your life?
The only thing I would pull out would be the suffering from the
PTSD part. I wish that never happened to
anybody. That's the one part that that
I'd hope no one has to go through, not in the worst enemy,
but the bear attack part. No, leave it in there.
I mean, it may have been a bad, it's a was a it was an event
that happened in my life, but I would do it again knowing the
outcome, as long as I didn't have to do the PTSD side, the
mental health side. And that's, you know, I'd go
fight a bear tomorrow knowing how messed up I would be.
As long as I didn't have to suffer with PTSD, I'd do it in a
heartbeat. I mean, I, I just, I, I think, I
don't know, man. I, I feel like, I feel like the,
the struggle that you went with that bear is a, is, is a way to
not only just inspire people, but help people in that
direction. But I also feel like this long
term struggle with PTSD with you is, is sort of similar in a way
that even though it's a much longer struggle, they made the
bear attack was a day, right? I mean, you obviously had to,
you know, recover over several months, probably years and
whatever, but this, this PTSD, I think, I think you've got a, a
big future ahead of you on this thing, helping other people that
like you're saying that have gone through PTSD to the point
where I think I, I don't know that that may change.
I, I can see how that could possibly change for you, where
you would say, you know, I, I think I want, I, I, I, that is
something I wouldn't pull out of my life as well, because if I
had, I would not be helping all the people that I'm helping this
fund and everything else. And man, you're an amazing
person. You are, you are an, you are an
incredible person. The determination, the strength,
what you've been through your life.
I mean, your daughter, she's probably what, 8-9 years old
now, right? 7.
OK, 7 Yep, I've got an 11 year old, my youngest and I can just
I mean, she's she's obviously heard the story by now, I'm sure
to a degree, right. Yeah.
So I mean, I mean, I mean just you're, you're, you're, you're
the, the inspiration that you are is, is is indescribable.
And I, I'm, I, I mean, I'm excited for what you've got
ahead of you. All the cool stuff.
So I'm. Looking I'm looking forward to
what the future brings. Like I I've done quite a few
podcasts and shared some personal things and I think this
is actually the first place you shared about my wife that day
meet with the Walker trying to make sure she sees like that was
a big moment for me. I share these personal things to
let people know that it does get better and if it helps somebody
from jumping off that ledge, that's what I do it for.
Even though it's really hard for me, it's I want to make sure
people know that you can get through it.
There is dark times, but there's light at the end of the tunnel.
Yep. And to look out for your mental
health, like that's a huge thing for me.
Just because you're a big tough dude that goes out and fights
bears on the weekend doesn't necessarily mean you're
physically fit or mentally fit to look after a family or a
young one. You need to be mentally fit
first before reaching A handout or looking after a family.
It's like the masks on airplane when they come down.
Put yours on 1st. Be assisting before assisting
others. So treat your mental health the
same way. Treat yours before helping
somebody else. And you know, that's one of the
biggest things is get that point across because I know there's a
lot of there's a lot of tough guys out there.
And I don't mean this in a bad way at all.
There's a lot of guys out there that don't want to.
They say they're all right, but they don't know how to ask for
help, and they're afraid that if they ask for help would be
looked down upon. But sometimes reaching out for
help when it feels impossible can be the catalyst of
transformation. It can change your life, and no
one's going to hold that against you.
It's OK. We all need help at some point
in our lives. Yeah, man, that's powerful, man.
And I know you said earlier you're not a spiritual person.
I am a spiritual person. I believe fully in God.
I believe in heaven, I believe in all that stuff.
And man, I, I just hearing your story, man, I hope you become a
spiritual person one day, 'cause I could see God in that whole
thing just protecting you, his hand on you that day, that, that
whole, that whole experience, the fact that that gun jammed
where you ended up today, all these things.
And I, I think that we've, we're all on this road and man, I, I
really do hope you become a spiritual I, I think, I think
God had his hand on you that day in a massive way.
And I think that he gave you a second chance.
And man, incredible, absolutely, absolutely incredible.
I, I, I am so grateful that you, you, you gave me this time.
I feel honored that you gave me this time.
And I really appreciate you, man.
We really do. So thank you for doing that.
Thank you very much, Dan. This was this was an awesome.
This was great. Thank you.
Imagine you're hiking peacefully on a beautiful trail that you've
hiked 1000 times, except for this time.
A storm rolls in and the next thing you realize you're waking
up laying on trail, but your body is literally burning and
smoking. This is exactly what happened to
my friend Minko Nikolov, who was struck by lightning while hiking
in the beautiful mountains of Colorado.
And this is his amazing story. Minko, thanks for being here,
man. I really appreciate it.
Your story's crazy. It's pretty wild.
I'm just absolutely astonished by what you went through, and I
would love to hear you talk about it.
So tell me a little bit about you, what you were doing out
there. Sort of Share your story and we
can go from. There, Absolutely.
So my name is Minko. I have lived in Colorado for 12
years and I call Colorado home since very young age.
I'm a rock climber and I love the mountains and that's why I'm
here in Colorado, just to go rock climbing and enjoy the
weekends. So where are you originally
from? I was born and raised in
Bulgaria. I got the love for the mountains
there and ever since I moved to America to go to college, I'm
just an outdoor advocate. I love camping, I love being
outside and I try to spend as much time outside as possible.
So tell me. Tell me about that day.
Tell me what you were doing. Tell me you were hiking out, you
decided to climb, and what happened to you?
It was probably around 1:00 in the afternoon and I really
wanted to go climbing. I really, really want to go
climbing. And I drove to Rocky Mountain
National Park and I was there on the parking lot around 2/30,
3:00 in the afternoon. And right when I park, this huge
storm came in like a hail storm, which it's very typical for
August. I think once you live in western
United States, Arizona, Utah or Colorado, you always have the
afternoon showers. But after that sunshine and
rainbows and everything dries out and it's really good.
So that's what I did. For any of your listeners that
never been there, Rocky Mountain National Park, it's a very
popular place in case a lot of hiking, a lot of tourists and
where we go climbing, it's above tree line.
There's the most popular locations, barely parking lot
and you start hiking from there. And after the storm, everything
clear and I start my hike. It takes about 45 minutes for a
fifth person, maybe 2000 feet of elevation and you go up to
almost 10,000 feet. Oh, wow, I start my heartache.
And on the way up, I saw two of the climbing Rangers that I know
for many years. They were going down and they
were extremely weak from the storm that just went through.
And they were like, hey, where you going?
And I'm like, hey, I'm going climbing.
And they're like another storm started to build up on the other
side. Maybe you should reconsider.
And I was like, oh, it's all good.
So I continue my hike and right around a very famous place
called Lake Hayasa, very famous tourist, tourist attraction.
People go there, get there, hike.
I went all the way to the lake and I looked up and on the
continental divide on the other side, I started seeing the
clouds build up and the store coming.
Oh man. And from previous experience, I
knew I hit like 20 to 30 minutes to see if we go down and I hit a
decision to make, should I go with the storm somewhere and
wait to climb? But I'm like, oh, it might get
lead. I need to go home.
My folks are at home waiting for me.
So I was like, it's all good. I came here.
I'm I'm hiking down and after the 1st 10 minutes of the hike
virtually where the whole downhill starts.
There was a tree and I hit my Gorti's jacket in my backpack
and the last thing that I remembered is I open my
backpack, I put the jacket and someone passed me and that's the
last memory I hit. Really.
Pretty like. Yes.
Oh wow. Oh my gosh.
And then from that point on, everything blinked right, like I
have no memory until I woke up. And I think that's where the
real suffer starts. And after I've been to that
location maybe 35 to 40 times after the accident, which it's
approaching 5, the five year mark, and I know for a certain
that from where I put my jacket to where I woke up, it's no more
than two minutes or maybe 3. Wow.
So I give a little bit of missing information and what
happened. There are a lot of questions
that people ask me like did you hear got all high and did you
feel the electricity? That's something that I don't
have memory. I don't have any memory from the
complete lightning strike, so maybe it's for good, maybe it's
too traumatic and. When did you realize I was
struck by lightning? I mean, because you didn't, you
didn't hear a clap of, I mean, you heard nothing.
You didn't see anything. It was just you're there and
then the next minute you sort of woke up somewhere else.
Is that how I'm understanding this?
Yeah, so virtually the the week happened.
It's, it's a kind of waking up when you're hungover.
You, you, your mind comes into consciousness, but you have an
open your eyes. It's we do that every morning
right before we wake up and hear the alarm.
But when I lift my head, I was faced down.
And when I lift my head out, what happened was I just start
seeing blood coming down into a puddle of my own blood and I was
covered in blood. I didn't knew where I was, I
didn't knew what deed was. And I kind of the whole team
felt like I'm still dreaming but unconscious.
Yeah. And it was a large confusion of
where I was and why I'm not at home.
I I really feel like I'm waking up at my house, but I wasn't.
I lift my head. I look around and I recognized
the place and where the largest confusion still to this day is.
Somehow in my head. I thought it's April, but it was
already August. Oh my.
Gosh, I couldn't put the events together.
I figured it out where I was, but I wasn't even sure.
Is it a dream or is it true and what is going on and why I'm
there? There was a lot of blink at the
time and it was a scary but also so quiet and peaceful moment.
And it happened so quick that I was just confused.
But as I tried to get up, I couldn't and I tried to crawl
out very barely. And I remember the crucial
moment was I push myself with my left arm into my back because I
hit a large backpack. And at that point I realized
that things are really bad. Oh man.
I couldn't feel both of my legs below the the feet but below the
waist, so my left leg was virtually dangling the right
leg. Oh my.
Gosh, it was numb. And at that point, seeing the
blood coming from my face, seeing a lot of smoke coming
from my body. Wow.
Because at that point, virtually I was still burning alive,
right? Like you're getting poured with
August rain. It's a little cold.
It's probably 9000 or 8500 feet of elevation.
I was in tree line, but I'm getting pouring rain on me and
just my whole body, it's smoking, it's burning.
And at that point I thought someone shot me.
That was my first conscious thing that I came across.
Like that's what my mind first because I couldn't move and I
was like, well, I probably got shot right?
Someone, which makes a lot of sense if you think about the
world we live in. Someone comes to the park and
shoot you. That probably.
A little more likely than getting struck by lightning is
what you're telling me. It's like one out of it's, it's
not that uncommon for Colorado now after I've been this fat.
But even until that point, I couldn't figure it out what
happened to me and where things start getting even out of
control for me and I start coming into conscious and where
the warning in my body start to be.
It's I realized I cannot move my right arm.
My my right arm was completely numb.
I couldn't feel it. I grabbed it with my left arm.
I lift it and I remember that was one of the most horrific
beginning of the accident because my whole arm just failed
on my chest without me being able to control it.
I filled it with my chest, I filled it with the other arm,
but I couldn't feel it at all. Oh, my God.
At that point, at that point, to be honest, I sacrificed my arm.
I knew I lost it. Oh, geez.
I I I knew it was gone. I was looking at my legs and
they were just burning. 0 feeling 0.
Yeah, it was just smoke coming out through you.
You can like, I mean, even through this day I can still
sense the smell of my burning flesh.
Oh. Wow.
And that's something that's still, I can still see it with a
very bright memory. But at that point I was on my
back, I couldn't move. Both of my legs were done.
And I just looked at my on my side and all I saw there was
this. I don't if you're familiar, but
Longspeak, a pretty famous fourteener.
And I just started looking at the peak.
And at that point a voice came up.
And then there was a person standing maybe about 15 feet
from me. And I'm like, hey man, can you
come help me get up? And he's like, you know, you got
struck by lightning. I was behind you and that's.
He saw it happen. He saw the flashlight.
He was around. The.
Corner and he saw me laying down on the ground being unconscious
but I was like can you come and help me and he's like I'm sorry
I don't know I get electrocuted and he was scared to touch me
and at that point I was like wow I'm probably just laying down
here and that's it and. At that, at that point, I think
that I was coming in and out of consciousness quite a bit.
So even if everything seems to me to be only 5 minutes, I was
probably there on the ground for over 30-40 minutes, maybe even
over an hour. I've seen some YouTube videos
from another YouTube going down with the GoPro and she looks at
me and she's seen me actually the video and she's like, well,
I don't want to get struck by lightning.
It just keeps going down. But at that time, there were a
few people. They were out of state.
One of the females had an umbrella and they were just
coming to calm me down and be around me.
And I've seen on that video that my face is just covering blood
because I feel it leaned on my face.
I leaned it actually on my chin. I bit down the entire lip from
inside and the impact was so hard that my jaw broke and went
into my eardrum. So my eardrum was gone too.
Oh my God. So just even the impact that I
landed was a total destruction. I was bleeding all over my face,
ear. And that's a kind of how the
story start unfolding even for this day.
I remember the guy calling 9111. Very interesting thing is on
that spot of the trail, the trailer going down, it's a wide
open area that it's in tree line, but somehow you get 5G
service. Oh wow.
So I was really lucky that that person was there.
Another person rushed down to the Ranger station and a queer
person can probably hike down for 2530 minutes, but I couldn't
even move. And the next thing that I
remember was the two Rangers that I pass on the way down,
They were coming up and they came with search and rescue.
They're climbing Rangers, Very famous guys there.
They work for many, many years. One of them, it's called Phil.
The other one it's called Jonah. Jonah it's pretty young guy and
I remember few saw me. He has probably stayed on the
here experienced working in the park and searching rescue and he
give me a smile and I vividly remember my friend Jonah the
other Ranger saw me. He had to walk away and I was
like wow I'm probably pretty messed up if he cannot even look
at me. And he cut, cut down my clothes,
put me in like a warm blanket, like one of those foil blankets.
Who called them? And I think they call 911 and
somehow the whole thing got escalated to search and rescue
in the park. So somebody that was behind you,
the guy that had 5G service or something like that, must have
called search and rescue at that point or called the Rangers, or
did they turn, Did they hear it themselves and come running back
up the mountain? No, I think like the there's
probably like over hour and a half between the Funko and
people coming on the spot. Because if you think about
getting search and rescue, those are volunteers and being able to
organize like a big rescue on a stretcher.
It's very complicated in at that point in time and place where I
was, it's impossible to bring a helicopter.
It's very steep hill. It's very bad spot.
So they organize a very big while those one wheel stretcher,
they hit like a wheel just in front of the stretcher and
that's how they got me down. It was probably a 45 minutes,
but I still remember once I got on the stretcher, they probably
gave me some painkillers. But at that point sensations,
probably the adrenaline started going down and I remember one of
the most excruciated pains in my shoulder start to come into
scenes and that was bad. I thought I dislocated my
shoulder. At that point when I fail, I
couldn't even call comprehend the complexities of the injury I
had. That actually took me probably 5
to 6 days to realize the true the true impact.
Wow. And it was, yeah, I remember
that was a very, very rough right down on the stretcher,
like just my whole body was coming into senses and
everything from the shoulder down hurt a lot.
Some things didn't even feel that bad, like bunch of cuts on
my face that wasn't a problem, but the wrist was pretty bad it.
Was sort of raining at the time. Yeah, that, that's the most
interesting power in my lifetime.
I've never even consider the possibility of a lightning
strike. I've been in very like
excruciated in extreme storms, like dark clouds, very close to
the ground, right? Hail, wind in above tree line,
hiding under a rock. And I probably have maybe over
120, maybe over 150 DS in the high Alpine, either on a bicycle
or out climbing. And this one was not one of the
ones that I consider dangerous. It was just a drizzle.
There was not. Yeah, I think that D there was
only one lightning on that particular storm.
I hit a frame that was down on the parking lot, completely
unrelated to me, me going climbing that day, but he was
also going climbing in the afternoon with really good
friends and he sold the lightning from the parking lot.
Oh boy. And and then as he started going
up, he learned that someone got struck by lightning and he came
back. I have another friend that also
went climbing and he could see me on the street here but he
didn't knew that was me. Oh wow.
But it I I can tell you like I got stripped but on my right
shoulder and the lightning traveled through my body luckily
on the right side that was the side exposing the open side of
the trail. On the left side was the
mountain and the lightning could not exit through both legs.
So it got stuck in my left leg and that's why I have so much
damage, which it burns on the leg and then it actually travel
and exit on the right leg. One thing that it's probably
good for us going to the mountains is he have like a
really nice gore take shoes with Vibram.
That's great. And this you get struck by
lightning. It's a huge insulation to exit
for the electricity to travel and exit.
Really, it's probably protects you.
Yeah, it probably protects you if it struck a tree nearby, so
it cannot get into your body. But it's really hard to exit.
So where the lightning exit was on the side of my foot.
So probably I got struck and I fell down and that's how it
exit. But it didn't exit through my
heels or through the bottom of my foot where it makes the most
sense. It just, it could have ground.
Oh my goodness, it could have ground to the ground.
So you're, I'm trying to imagine where you were at.
I'm trying to visualize this. So you said there was a mountain
on one side of you. How close were you to the
mountain or the was it like a a wall face there or what did that
look like? It's a very steep hill that if
you and I try to to climb it up, I got it probably will be
swinging a lot. OK.
Were you kind of going on some switchbacks?
Yeah, it's mostly switched back. It's just coming through a
forest and a kind of still being part of the forest, kind of
steep. It's on the side of the
mountains and going left to right, very steep.
Also I keep a picture to see through of the exact spot.
Yeah, yeah, I'd love to see it. I would definitely see into
that. But it has trees on both sides
that are way taller than I am. It's not the most dense forest.
There's a little bit of an opening, but for it's not the
spot that you and I. But if you and I go to the
mountains, I think we'll consider that peace very safe
and we'll probably not be running from the storm.
Wow, really? So there's you're thinking out
of all the things you could have struck, you struck me.
Yeah, that it's, Oh my gosh, There was the speculation when I
went to the hospital. It's a rare injury to treat,
right? Like it's not like an industrial
fire or. Yeah, I'd say so.
Electric accident, But the doctors knew about it and at
first they were a little bit of skeptical.
They thought the lightning hit a tree nearby and didn't bounce on
me. But the next day after the
accident, the Ranger went out to check it out.
He went to the back to the spot and it was pretty certain that
there was no side strike. It wasn't a rebound.
It was deraky. Oh my goodness.
So what? Tell me what life has what what?
What happened after that? What were the next few weeks and
months after that for you? So at first I wasn't
understanding the seriousness of the injury.
I thought like, once you make it out, you virtually go get like a
check in the hospital and you go home and to give you a little
more overview of what happened. So I went down to the parking
lot and they put me on the ambulance from the ambulance.
They drove me to like literally like a middle in the park.
And I got picked up by a helicopter and flew up and we
flew to the closest hospital. I didn't go to bed probably for
3640 hours. Oh wow.
It was just non-stop at first. They put dressing on me and
clean my body and that's when they evaluated me.
Even at that time when I was in the hospital, you could see how
I hit like this, temporary burn marks on my body where you can
see how the electricity travelled and that was still
visible, like carving wood. Oh, that's.
How exactly looks like. So I was that was something that
was still visible on my body. And yeah, the the story that I
got there was not that optimistic.
So I was in critical condition for about 90s.
So I was in the ICU unit. I know from a friend that she's
actually currently as we speak in Australia, she's a emergency
medicine doctor and she's actually doing a, a story of me
for emergency medicine for accidents that happen outdoor.
And she I give her permission to go through my results and things
were really, really bad. Like I was probably giving like
20% lung capacity. Everything that you could see
was bad, like very low post and at the time I wasn't realizing
that there was so much internal damage of the body that certain
a certain measurements were like 19 times higher.
Oh my. Gosh, just like this, burn
flesh, burn muscles, they're just poisoning your body and
then they have to clean it really quick or your kidneys and
liver will just fail. And at that time I learned that
I was probably going to be in the hospital for 30 plus days,
like a minimum of 14 surgeries. Holy.
Cow, so that was a completely different story and it was like
I didn't even realize like is that even possible?
Like I was like, well, I don't feel that bad.
Why should I stay in the hospital for that long?
But it was necessary. And after D2, when I hit like a
little bit of stable physical conditions, I started the
surgery journey and that was every other day, every other
day. And some of those surgeries are
really long too. Like I couldn't walk.
I couldn't even go left or right on my body.
I was just laying down on my back and I was going through
surgeries because besides like some of the minor things that I
hit, which it's like a broken jaw, maybe like 10 stitches on
the bottom of my chin and maybe another 10 inside of my lip, I
hit 30% body burns. Oh my goodness.
And there's like stage 123 and four.
Mine were really deep. Mine were mostly 2, three and
four. Oh my goodness.
So my shoulder, it's actually partially amputated 50% of my
deal to it. Muscle it's missing.
And that's probably good. Where we were like after the
first surgery, they opened the cane and told me like, we took
50% of your muscle. You're on day 2.
The body dies for another 14 days.
Oh wow. So next day we go, in two days
we'll go and we'll keep cutting. We'll keep cutting.
Oh my goodness. Until the dying stops.
So I went to the second surgery with the expectation that I
might wake up with no arm. And the way it works, it's if
they have to take 70% of your muscle, your arm, it's
worthless. So you were going into surgery.
You were going into surgery thinking I might wake up without
an arm. Correct from the shoulder.
They weren't like they they didn't tell you.
They were like, yeah, yeah, we're going to have surgery.
But you know, when you wake up, we'll see how we get how it
goes. But you might not have an arm.
Yeah, like that, that was the conversation before the surgery.
They, they bought, they brought like they introduced you to the
team before we go to a surgery and there was like trauma burn
surgeon, like the anesthesiologist and it for that
surgery, they brought an orthopedic doctor because if
they have to take something out or to chip the bone, there were
like a few scenarios that they walk you through, but they need
to tell you that before you go. And it a time like now if we
talk about it, it's heinous. It's horrible, right?
But at that time, you just want to survive.
Yeah. You don't.
Yeah. I mean, if you give the choice,
my arm or my wife, I think we all know that we'll give up the
arm. Yeah.
Right. Yeah.
I mean, better be alive. But since I went home, things
changed. And I was on disability for
around 100 days. It was very humbling and also
very difficult time to go home. It must you read the hospital,
your home. Like it feels great, but my body
did not feel great at all. I hate to relearn how to walk.
I hate to relearn how to move my arm.
And that was a very depressing time of the recovery because I
couldn't lift my arm, my right arm, like now I can go climb and
I'm in a good shape are. You back to normal in order.
Yeah, you would like climbing wise, I've climbed even better
than before, in which it's something I've done for 23
years. But in order to get there, it
was a terrible moment. Like all the skin that it's not
yours, it's just shrinks. Yeah, it's just shrinks so much
and you have to spend the whole day stretching, and then you go
to bed and you wake up and the next day in the morning you can
barely walk to the bathroom because everything shrinks
again. And it was very depressing.
Like I was putting at one point around four to five hours of
working out in physiotherapy a day.
Like I wake up, I'll do an hour and a half, during lunch I'll do
an hour, in the afternoon I'll do an hour and at night I'll do
hour and a half. And things don't get better.
It was, it wasn't rewarding until it started getting better.
But you know, that was not when you're at your house, like
usually there are not that many people around you and you give a
lot of time to yourself and it's not a humbling time.
What are the chances of somebody getting struck by lightning?
Do you know what it is? In the steed of cool, rather one
out of 900,000 which is not that high to be honest, like you
have. I mean, winning the water, it's
1.2 billion, so you can get struck by lightning a lot more.
Have you bought any lottery tickets?
I think I did a few times with it was going to the billions,
but I think I got my lottery ticket already.
I I don't think I'll get another one.
So what, when you go out now and it's raining even, I mean, what,
what, what's going through your mind?
Are you, do you suffer from PTSD or anything like that at all?
Are you, are you thinking when you're out there like this could
happen again? Do you have that fear that comes
over you? I'm a lot more conscious that
that is, I don't believe that I have a PTSD, but I'm a lot more
conscious and that is I think my risk tolerance is decreased in
all aspects of my life. It's not just going outside like
I think in an event like that, it's a huge lesson like doesn't
matter how strong you feel, it doesn't mean how prepared you
are, everything. It's chances you might be the
strongest of your lifetime in the next moment.
You might not be able to get out of bed and that happens.
I mean, it's the the way you think and the way you accept it.
Like if you go back and you blame yourself for the decision
to be out there, you might live like a very miserable life
because every time like. You'll go back and blame
yourself for something that happened.
But I never hit that mentality. I always look into the event,
like maybe I survived and now I should live in a different way
and be happier than before because I hit that opportunity
to survive. And I think that's the approach
I've taken. But to go back to your original
question, I checked the weather a lot more and I do that quite a
bit because if the weather it's not good, there's no glory of
being out there not be able to do the things that you're going
to do and hiking the rain. But the the deeper that
happened, it was only 20% chance of rain.
Oh man. Which it's a very low and I try
to do some preventive things like check the weather before a
few times before I when I'm on the parking lot.
So I I'm a lot more conscientious about storms.
And the other thing it's when I go outside, I prefer to either
go early in the morning or after the afternoon showers.
And I've been stuck a few times by either hail or even other
lightning storms outside. And it's a lot more terrifying
than used to be. I still remember, I think it was
2001 and I was in 11,000 feet place called Lincoln Lake, very
high up, very beautiful. But in order to get out of
there, it's a quarter of a mile, 900 feet of elevation hike like
it is just like a wall. And I tried it and halfway
through the storm came so close. So I ran down and hit below a
huge rock and there were lightnings everywhere.
It was. I still remember that day.
It is not humbling. It's scary and you're just out
there and try not to worry about it, but it happens.
Have you met anybody else that's been struck by lightning?
I mean, is there like a, is there a group of guys that get
together or are you guys all been struck by lightning and you
talk about it? No, like I think like sometimes
when your Co workers learn like they're excited.
Most of my close friends didn't know about it.
So five years later, I think the hype kids go down kind of like
we all forgot about it. But I don't, I don't know
anybody that has been struck, man.
Your your story is remarkable. I mean, absolutely remarkable,
the fact that you were out in this, a seemingly safe
situation, trees all around you and then this happens to you.
And I mean, so you've been back, you said to that spot.
What's that like for you? Zero feelings.
It almost feels like it never happened.
Like I go back there past the spot, like kind of look it up
and it's normal. They've been a few times, like
one particular day, it was two years after the accident, also
in August, and same thing happened like an afternoon and a
huge storm, like a hill with lightning came in and it's a lot
of talus fields above the tree line.
So they get very slippery with water and they're undefined
trails to walk on. And I remember that one was
really bad night. It it probably the rain and hill
didn't stop for over 3 hours and it got dark and I had to go
through the same spot. Just start running in a hill in
lightning storm it dark. And that's probably one of the
times that I was like, really? Do you feel like because you
don't have memory of the actual lightning strike, has that
helped you in some way cope with what's happened or maybe feel
safe or not have to worry about it when you go out again as
much? I don't know, I've never thought
about it. But yeah, it's a, it's a long
journey. I think you can get PTSD from
the pain after or from the accident itself.
I don't know. That's a hard hard one to answer
if that's the case. What would you tell people who
you know are out and it's, you know, this is the storm coming
in or what, what kind of what kind of precautions would you
give hikers? If you watch this video, just
don't forget about this story. It can happen to anybody.
That's the thing. No one is protected.
I, I think that's the big message.
Like if you think you've been there, you know it all.
That's a little arrogance. And I, I'm, I used to be in that
situation. Now I think my level has went
down quite a bit of confidence and also arrogant because we, we
always think that the guy that it happened to, he didn't knew
what she was doing right. But you're always the guy who
knows what's up. You've been there so many times,
you know it. Oh, you've been to this time.
But the guy that it happened that you've heard about on the
news, he didn't knew about it. He was unprepared and he took
too much risk. And I think that's the message.
It's when things happen when you don't expect.
Though, Well, I'm impressed with your story.
I think you're an amazing person.
I think you got a pretty, pretty crazy story that you can tell.
I mean, I, you're the first person I've ever talked to
that's ever been struck by lightning.
I, you know, it's just like it's just something you hear about,
but you know, it just, it doesn't happen, right?
It just you never, you're never going to meet somebody.
You're never, you're never going to experience anything like
that. So man.
Yeah. And, and I think depending of
where you live, that that's a big thing.
Like I realized that I actually lived in the wrong place for
that accident. And if you live in Colorado or I
think in Florida, chances are we fired in maybe in Minnesota or
somewhere in the Midwest. Well, I mean, you could have
been downtown, you know, Denver, right, and been struck by
lightning. Yeah.
And and then all of a sudden you're you could have been right
outside of a hospital and gotten struck by lightning, right?
So obviously your health played a part into that, right?
You were fit and healthy. And I think that probably saved
your life, maybe even because if somebody was unfit or unhealthy
or, you know, they had some issues or whatever and they're
out that far and they've got to be transported in, that could
have been a totally different story for someone maybe.
Maybe yes. Yeah.
Yeah, but if you're crazy, you're probably be on the couch
and watch TV and you won't expose yourself to all these
risk people think that's. True.
Yeah, that's true. That's a fact.
Wow. So, yeah, I, I, I, I think that
it's the, the exposure, it's a big factor of where you go and
what are the things that you like to do.
All right. Any last words that you want to
share with the viewers? Probably the last thing to
close. It's I even until this day.
I don't know if this was a factor, but I did hit an
aluminum plate for the spine on my backpack.
It wasn't one of those frames the other the old school
backpacks gave, but that's something that definitely take
your gear. Maybe don't take your phone.
Is that what they told you? Should they tell you that that
may have played a part in it? I don't know that that is
something that people don't know for certain.
My phone was pretty close to where it struck.
It was in the, IT was in the upper compartment of my
backpack. But also I know that after the
shoulder, the electricity did travel through that aluminum
frame of the backpack and exit around my tailbone.
So I know that some electricity went through that.
I just don't know if that was the real factor.
And those are things that people don't know.
It's very unknown, but once again, try to mitigate the risk.
Yeah, right. Well, thanks, man.
I appreciate your time. I'm glad you're alive and you're
doing well and you're climbing again and I just appreciate you
so. Thank you, Sir.
All right, thanks. College professor Karen Klein,
her husband Eric and 10 year old son Isaac set out on the scenic
Rd. to visit the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a
ditch. Karen Klein then left her
husband and 10 year old son to begin a long and dangerous
journey in search of help. Karen headed South, walking for
11 hours until she found an Evergreen tree for shelter.
I was afraid to fall asleep. In my mind, if one if you fall
asleep, you freeze to death. Karen, Izzy, thank you guys for
being here. Your story is very similar in
some ways to mine, but as I was reading about it, there is an
incredible amount of just insane, wild, crazy things that
happened. Like you should have had a movie
out about this whole thing. On the Today show, when it was
on the Today show when it was first featured, the the person
at the desk after the story was over, she said.
So I wonder who's going to play her in the movie?
I was going to say thank you to you because I really don't like
how the media portrayed our story.
And this is kind of like a real way of reframing our
storytelling, it from our perspective instead of the
media's perspective. And I appreciate that a lot.
I appreciate that. Yeah.
You guys, this is your platform. You Share your story, you get it
out there. I read it.
It's amazing. Tell me from your perspective,
start, you know you're, you're, you were either just, you were
going to Vegas or coming from Vegas and then going to the
Grand Canyon, right? Yeah, we had taken, well, we
went to Vegas just for Izzie's 10th birthday as well as I had
gotten promoted at work and we thought, oh, it'll be over the
holidays, let's go to Vegas. And one of the side trips, of
course is, you know, you see the, the Grand Canyon, Bryce
Canyon, Canyon lands. And so we decided to spend, you
know, one night in Bryce Canyon just to see what it looks like
and swing by the, I don't know if anyone can ever swing by the
Grand Canyon, But we really just wanted just to, well, honestly,
we, we really just wanted to just go and do the touristy
thing. And remember, this is 2016.
So there were some things that weren't quite in regards to
technology with cell phones and GPS weren't quite what they are
today. You know, we admit in
retrospect, you know, of course, the things that we didn't do
right. And that was it investigate our
destination, you know, more. So we just put in, you know,
Grand Canyon Visitor Center and our GPS let us what we thought
was the way to the visitor center and the roads began to
get, you know, they became dirt roads and we didn't really see
anyone. And we thought, you know, this,
I don't know, this just doesn't seem right.
And we then proceeded to say, look, as we were driving, I
should say that we lost our, the GPS.
It, it, our GPS stopped working. And this is before we, you just
put your phone into GB G PS: mode.
It was like Agps, you know, used to put them on your car.
And after I would say maybe 30 minutes, 45 minutes of this, we
thought, you know, this, this just can't be right.
And we proceeded then to stop the car and turn the car around.
And at that point, it had been drizzling.
And that's what the weather forecast was.
It was for 40° and drizzle. It was December after all.
And we then proceeded to turn the car, attempt to turn the car
around and it was quite muddy and the road was quite, quite
muddy itself, like a a unpaved Rd. an.
Old Forest Service road or something?
Yes. Yeah, that exactly.
That's what. It was we we started at Route
20, Forest Rd. 22 and which is also called Ryan Rd.
And then we took a left and we ended up on Forest State Forest
Rd. 226. You know, for us, we didn't
know. We thought, well, maybe this is
the way everybody goes to the Grand Canyon, and maybe it's a
slow day. We didn't know that this wasn't
right. You know, we admit our
ignorance, but we thought, well, Oh my gosh, it's the Grand
Canyon. It's one of the most visited
sites in the world. You know, we think this is like
Disney World, you know, so. And so we stopped the car and
attempted to turn it around and the car got stuck in the mud.
And so we got out of the car and we thought, OK, well, we'll get
the car out. We tried to rock the car back
and forth and we it was some sort of like a rental car.
It was a sedan like. It was a Kia.
Oh, a Kia. It was a Kia.
I think it was a Forte. OK.
And we went and gathered branches from the nearby trees
and we put them under the tires and all of the things that you
learn and drive around, we use the floor mats.
And we just couldn't. The car was it just, you know,
in like kind of Murphy's Law fashion, it just kept getting
more and more stuck. And we thought this, there's no
way we're getting out of the car as I'm sorry, getting the car
out of the mud. We said, OK, so, you know, we
can't just sit here because nobody knows where we are.
We don't have cell phone service and our GPS isn't working.
And we thought because, you know, because I, I'm a
recreational runner and I thought, OK, well, there's a
main road. It looked like from what I
recall, there was a main road about like 9 miles ahead.
So I'll just run up and flag down some help and then I will
then, you know, have somebody come in and get us.
Guy had a bottle of water and a pack of Cheerios because it was
like, you know, 9 miles would probably take me about in a
little, about an hour to, to run to that main road.
There were tire tracks. So I'm like, well, OK, great.
So this road is used and, you know, so I'll, what I'll do is
instead of standing still just waiting for someone, I thought I
would start walking down the road because I thought, well, at
least I'll get cell phone service.
So either I'm going to, there'll be a passerby or I'll get cell
phone service because as I mentioned, you know, Oh my gosh,
you know, we're here in the environs of the Grand Canyon.
Surely there's cell phone service.
And we had a major carrier, you know, at that point it was
starting to get somewhat dark. And I thought, you know, shoot,
you know, I'll just, I'll just keep walking and I'll get so
worried about cell phone service or someone will pass by and it,
it just kept getting darker and then it started to snow.
The snow was getting deeper and I was cold.
I, I didn't have proper boots on.
I just had. Like, why would you?
You're driving. You're driving.
You wouldn't expect. It to snow, right?
Why would you? Yeah.
Exactly right. And and I, you know, I was
getting tired and getting a bit concerned.
And it was about, I would say like one in the morning and the
only light that I had was my cell phone.
But it wasn't a cell phone flashlight.
It was just the illumination of the screen.
It was very difficult to see. And it was snowing very heavily.
And you know, I was getting somewhat desperate because I
didn't know which way to go. I'd come to a crossroads and I
thought, you know, I, I don't know what to do.
I'm not sure what to do. And at this point, you know, I
was hungry, I'd run out of food. I wasn't hallucinating.
I, I don't think I was hallucinating.
I wasn't in desperation, you know, in, in regards to my
psychological mindset. But yeah, I had been walking now
for about 12 hours and I yeah, I wasn't sure where to go.
And and so it's when I was kind of exasperated, I saw like a
little like it was very dark and I saw it like a swirl in the
snow. And then this little thing
popped up, looked like a cartoon.
It's just totally bizarre. And I said, you know, I'm dying.
Obviously I'm dying because only dying people see these types of
hallucinations. And it was this cartoon, like
Ricky Tiki Tabby, that's cartoon weasel.
And it twirled. And I'm like, OK, well, I don't
know why. And I asked like, OK, who are
you? And it pointed in a direction
and ran out, ran down the road, the a road.
I'm like, OK, well, I guess I should go that way.
And so I just kept walking. I know it's really bizarre
because, you know, I don't normally like I, I don't, I
don't have these types of experiences like ever.
And two other times when I was at crossroads this thing popped
up and looked at me and twirled and then ran down a different
Rd. then then I followed. It's really bizarre.
Anyway, you can edit that out if you want, but I have no idea
what it I can't explain. I like that.
That's amazing. So anyway, at at this time it
was about like 4 I assume it was 4 in the morning because my cell
phone lost power and I thought I came to a clearing.
I was in woods the entire time. I came to a clearing and the and
I could see maybe like 500 yards there were trees on the other
side and a wide clearing and IA tiny little sign and that was in
the middle of the clearing. And I thought, OK, well I just
need to rest. And I found a tree, a big spruce
tree and went underneath the tree and pulled boughs around
myself and I didn't sit, but I it was in a crouching position,
was afraid to fall asleep because of freezing to death.
And I just thought, OK, when first light, I'll just, I'll see
what the sign says, see what the clearing is, but I need to stop
at that point. And so I wound up at that point.
I went, one of my shoes was very compacted with ice and I
couldn't feel my foot. It was my left foot at that
point that was compacted the into the shoe.
And I was I was very cold, but I had wrapped myself up in the the
the spruce boughs and waited for first light.
And I rocked back and forth to keep warm.
And I recounted I'm a humongous Star Trek fan.
And so I was recounting a Star Trek episode to keep myself
awake. But at that point I had no there
were there. So I'd been I had no like a.
Like a, a, a point where I thought, OK, I need to write my
last one test of it. Like it hadn't occurred to me at
that time that, you know, it's just like, OK, I'll get up and
we're going to do this. You know, tomorrow we're going
to, to, I'm going to just keep walking and see what that sign
says and, and see where I need to go.
And just decided that again, like the, the best scenario at
that point was staying awake and, and getting help from my
family. Yeah.
So the, and at that point, the, the I had walked, I didn't know,
but they had told me afterwards that I had walked 20 miles.
And at that point, I'd been awake, well, for 12 hours
because I they was, well, 14 hours.
So, Izzy, do you want to tell your side?
So you left around 2:00 and then we start the waiting it was it
was winter so the sunset pretty early.
So around sunset we we both we both were worried.
Me and my dad head out of the car and it is beginning to snow.
So we walk for maybe 3 or 4 hours and.
You were looking for me, they came looking for me.
But he no you originally you, your dad didn't get out because
he had just gotten over like a broken back, am I right?
Yes, correct. He had.
It was.
You guys had like a vote. You guys decided Mom's going
because she's the most capable in this moment to be able to get
some help. Yeah, it was like it was a no
brainer, like somebody needs to walk 9 miles yet it take mom,
she does. That's her thing.
So we head out and then it the snow starts picking up and we
walk until I would say 11 maybe like 11:00 PM.
And I now know that we walked 7 miles but oh I forgot a very
important point that about a mile and 1/2 in we were walking
in the snow that had got into around a foot and our in my
shoes pretty much dissolved. What supplies did you have,
Izzy? 2 Calypso lemonades a a winter
coat. I only had two layers on and I'm
pretty sure I'm pretty sure that's it.
I had my cell phone and my cell phone.
So you had your own cell phone at back then?
Yes. Did your dad have a phone too?
Yeah, he did. We were both.
So you. So so after my my shoes dissolve
and we are walking for maybe 3 or 4 miles.
The last three or four miles have been or the last two miles
have been walking in what seems like a void because the only
light we have is our phone, collective phone flashlights and
we could only see about 1015 feet in front of us.
We are yelling for help and we are asking if there's anybody on
the trail where things like that and eventually comes a point
where our phones get too low and we have to turn around.
It's either we continue without phones or we turn around and go
back to the car and we had already gone 6 or 7 miles at
this point. We make the decision that we
aren't going to find her, we are too far away, we are following
her tracks, we're following her footsteps, so and we decide.
Oh, you can see footsteps at this point.
Yes, there there is a lot of snow on the ground, so it must
be around 11:30 PM. We turn around and it was it was
a pretty grueling walk because we knew that instead of every
step being closer towards mom, it was every step is closer
towards failure. We eventually made it back to
the car at I would say maybe 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning.
My small mind was already was already ready for the worst and
my dad makes the decision that the once it becomes morning that
he is going to turn around and he is going to walk up Fr 22
slash Ryan Rd. until he finds the last place that that had
cell phone reception, which was 19 miles away.
My dad, he said, you're going to, what you're going to do is
you're going to stay in the car, you're going to run it, but make
sure that the car doesn't die and you're not going to open
this door for anybody unless they are me or have a Ranger bag
or a police bag. And, and we're going to find
help. And and so there my father goes,
who broke his back five months prior was I think he maybe just
got out of his brace or was still in his brace.
And there he goes. He's going to walk 19 miles to
find reception. And I, I didn't know if if he
was going to make it and. So you're in this car by
yourself right now? I'm in the rental car from 8:00
AM to to 2:57 PM which at 257 PMI saw Deputy Tracy Glover of I
think Kane County, Utah driving in with my father in the
passenger seat. Oh my goodness.
Yeah, he gotten cell phone service and called 911 'cause he
walked back from where we came and called 911.
And then they, you know, they, they questioned him.
Of course, you know, that's the first thing they do is they say,
you know, were you and your wife fighting, you know, that sort of
thing. And then wound up driving back
and, and to introduct just one slight point is we were, you
know, we were on a road trip. So the car had our luggage, but
also like, I'm kind of like the quintessential road trip mom.
You know, I had snacks and I had drinks.
And so there were, there was plenty in the car, you know, to,
to eat and drink, you know, blankets and, and all of that.
Just just that's a bit of an aside.
And we knew not to is he knew and was told that when the car
was running to keep warm, to make sure the tailpipe was
clear, you know? You're you're in this car by
yourself for several hours. You don't know what's happened
to mom. You don't know what's happened
to dad. And what I mean, how did you do
that? I kind of felt like a captive
animal. I was faced with this situation
that had felt way too, way too deeply unsettling to process.
I, I had no idea emotionally what to do.
I did do a couple things when I was in the car alone from 8:00
to 2:57. The the first thing that I did
was I, I tried to follow my dad again.
I tried to get out of the car and follow my dad IA couple
times. I think two or three times.
I never made it more than like 10 feet because it was, it was
freezing and I at that point I had stage 1 frostbite in my
right foot and I did not have a right shoe either.
So I, I wasn't making it anywhere.
But then I, I tried moving the car again.
I tried getting it out and I would I would check on the
tailpipe like my parents said to make sure that I didn't
suffocate but. That smart?
I would listen to music and just scream.
That was kind of a, a fun coping mechanism.
I, I, I'm not a very, I'm not a very religious person, but I
hold a lot of, I hold up my religious identity and a lot of
importance. And I, I decided to make, I put
a, a napkin on my head to make a makeshift kippah and I decided
to pray. And I, it was like a very, it
was very, very, very specific thing to pray about.
But I wanted to see if I was safe by 2:00.
And if I wasn't safe by 2:00, I wanted to, I wanted to cease in
the snow. I wanted to fall into the snow
to leave this earth the way that my mother must have hours ago.
So I, I dealt with a lot of, with a lot of heavy emotion
because I had already thought my mom had died.
And by 1:00 when it was 1:00, I, I, I, I gave, I gave God a
second chance. And I, and I said, I said, I
extend this time to 3:00 and, and, and I did the same thing,
but I said 3:00. And that's when I saw Tracy
Glover, the the sheriff. I saw him and my father in a
lifted pickup truck. And I, I couldn't believe it.
I find of finding out that my father was safe and alive and
that he had walked 19 miles in the snow and he has had brought
help. It is still one of the most
profound feelings of it. What felt like liberation.
It felt like I was put in this virtual hell and I was dragged
back out of it. I guess.
Took a moment to appreciate the fact that it at least me and my
dad were alive. It had, it had been 24 hours
since we crashed and it must so that must it.
It was in between 22 and yeah, like 22 hours since my mom had
left. And I thought it was like a, it
was a, it would be miraculous if she was still alive.
But either way, we, we get to Jacob Lake where the ambulance
is. I, I get checked out.
I got medicine for my foot. So we get driven around.
Me and my father get driven around by the Rangers.
We like to Walmart and the just Walmart and to get food and
things like that. And then I fall asleep in the
hotel room. We were put in a hotel and then
at 3:00 in the morning, I get awoken by my father that that
that they had found my mother alive in I didn't know if I
didn't know her condition, but we both assumed it was critical.
But it was it was one. It was one of the most
indescribable feelings of all time.
I I bet I had, I had thought that I was going to have to live
my life without a mother and I was dealing with that for the
last maybe 24 hours or for however long time that he was in
the snow. And we went to the hospital and
I think it was in Kanab, and we reconvened and that's pretty
much where my my part of the major story ends.
One thing I wanted to add to Izzy's story is when they 1st
called the hotel to tell Eric they found me they said we found
her and then the phone went dead.
So he didn't know whether they found my body or they, no, they
found me alive. And so they, they called back,
It was like 3 minutes and they wound up calling back and said,
oh, she's alive. I think it was by satellite
phone. They had called from when they
had found me to inform. But anyway, so I'll, I'll pick
up the so that when at first light, you know, at that point
overnight underneath the tree and it was continuing to snow.
You know, what happens as, as you may be aware, having
yourself been in survival situations and scenarios, is
that your brain starts to go into a bit of an Izzy mention it
a lockdown mode and your your priorities start to narrow, you
know, into OK, So what are we doing next?
We like collectively that that the strategy is like, OK, Karen,
like speaking in the third person.
Oh, what are we going to do? And you start prioritizing your
survival, you know, food, drink, shelter, getting to where you
need to go. And at first light, I'd walked
down to the clearing and at this point, nothing had been plowed.
It was about two feet of snow and there was a layer of ice on
top. So like you would, and I'm about
102 lbs, you would step on it and you'd have to punch down
into it. And so it was tough walking.
And I got down to where the, in the clearing to where the sign
was and it said visitor center Northland visitor Center, 6
miles. And I'm like, OK, that's what
we're doing. We're there has to be somebody
at the visitor center. Clearly it wasn't open, but
there has to be somebody to look after the place.
And I, I made, what I did is I made an arrow out of, and they
took the time to take branches and made an arrow pointing to
the direction that I was going, even though I, you could see the
footprints and you know, 6-6 miles first light started to
walk. But at that point I was for
hydration. I was, would take boluses of
snow and tuck them back in my cheek because I was at to
understand not to lower your core body temperature.
I was hungry. I was, and I, I had, you know,
I, I mentioned it previously, but I, I had heard that if you
drink your own urine for hydration, that that's
effective. I, I did that and it's just as,
you know, as much as it, you would think it was pretty gross,
right? But whatever it takes.
And as the day went on, I was getting more and more tired.
I was, what had happened is I lost my left shoe and I only had
a sock on my left foot and again, punching through the
snow. And it, it had gotten to the
point where it's it, it started to like I saw in the distance, I
saw clouds coming in like there was a front that was coming in.
And as it turned out, in retrospect, what, what they said
was they, they couldn't cause at that point, the, the team had
been deployed to find me, which I didn't know the search and
rescue team. And they couldn't send a
helicopter because of the front that was coming through.
And I was getting more and more tired.
I pulled a muscle in my left leg.
And so to keep moving, I had to actually physically pick up my,
my left leg with my, my, my pants leg and move it.
And I was, it was, I was on the Grand Canyon Highway and I could
see the road markers, but the snow was deep enough you could
just see the tops. And I would say, OK, 10 steps at
a time and collectively, OK, we've got this team, right?
We've got this. Come on, Karen, let's do this.
You have to, you know, this is for your family.
It's at least 6 miles. I would walk 10 steps and I
would collapse and I would pick myself up again, Walk another.
You could OK, 10 more, 10 more until I could see something
ahead of me. Like it.
It looked like a, a gate ahead of me and a a small like a
ticket, you know, tick where they take the tickets.
It was dusk and I remember looking around and I went
through the gate and I saw outbuildings.
I saw the ticket booth and I was calling out and again I was
hallucinating and you and you see, not hallucinating, but like
when someone is hallucinating on TV and the effect they use on
the cameras, they shake it around and you're kind of that
that's right from the person's that's what it it looked like.
That's what it appeared to be. And you know, couldn't feel my
feet. I was hungry.
I was stumbling and I saw a cabin on the left hand side that
was kind of off in the woods. That was the closest that I
could see the closest building. And it had a snowmobile and a
pickup truck in the driveway. And it was dusk at that point.
So I thought, OK, somebody's there.
And I stumbled over to it. It was it wasn't I I didn't go
like around the road because at the closest is a straight line.
What going over tree fallen trees and knock on the door and
called and nobody had answered and.
I thought, OK, well, all right, well, it's Christmas, right?
They're not, they're not home. And I couldn't open the door.
And So what I did was I broke the window with my elbow and I
put my jacket down and crawled through the window and fell on
the floor inside the cabin. And it was it was somebody had
it was a ranger's cabin, whoever was looking after the place.
But but it just seemed like they were away for the holiday.
But the heat wasn't on. There was no electric.
And I recall I was again, very hallucinating at this point,
stumbling around looking for something to all I could find
was alcohol that they had a well stocked and I, they, they were
cans of food, but I couldn't find a can opener.
And I just, I was freezing. There's no heat.
There was a, a fireplace, but I, I couldn't, I just didn't have
the wherewithal to start a fire. And so I just curl up in a ball
and, and sat on the couch and put a pillow in the window to
prevent the cold from coming in, although it was just as cold in
the cabin. And I remember hearing my heart
racing and I don't remember falling asleep, but it was about
two in the morning where I heard a pounding on the door.
Well, first I heard people yelling.
I said, there's a pillow on the door.
There's a pillow in the door. Someone is in there.
And then a pounding on the door. And they said, are, is somebody
in there or somebody in there? And they said, can you open the
door? And I said yes.
And I stumbled at the door and I opened it and and I said, please
don't arrest me. I hide for breaking the window.
I promise I'll pay for it. You know, that was the thing
that was on my mind. Oh my gosh, they're here to
arrest me. I broke the window and it was
the search. It was the search and rescue
team. And they, you know, took off my
wet clothes. My clothes were wet and they or
but most of my wet clothes. And they bundled me up and
turned on the electricity to the cabin.
And they had a, a snow cat. That's how they were able to get
to me on the the Grand Canyon Highway is they actually had to
plow it and they loaded me up on a Gurney and the snow cat.
I'm sorry. How did they find you?
What? Oh, they, they, in fact, there's
footage I believe on the, their Facebook page of the snow cat
following my tracks in the snow. So they were able to follow my
tracks because Eric just said just just the most obvious, like
she's a linear thinker, the most obvious think, think like a
person work. They followed me with the snow
cat. They followed my tracks until
they got to the clearing at the gate.
They saw the arrow, but they saw the snow, the tracks in the
snow. And they got to the gate and
they said they lost me. They're like through the gate.
They're like, where on earth did she go?
And they went to the ticket booth.
They went to some outbuildings and then they saw the cabin and
they went. That's when they looked in there
and that's when they saw the pillow that was stuck in the
window and the broken glass. They took me to snow, cadded me
out to Jacob's Lake where an ambulance took me to Kanab and I
spent some time there. They did preliminary like IV
blood work and it showed that my I had raptomyelosis from
breakdown of muscle tissue and my creatine kinase.
My CK levels were 55,000, which if you are, that's where muscle
breakdown. Now, if you're, you and I just
sitting here, it usually is around 50 to 75.
This level in our blood, a marathon runner, it can elevate
to maybe 1000 after a race. Mine were 55,000.
So they were, it was risking of kidney failure because of this
breakdown. And they said, so we, we need to
take you to another Medical Center.
So they wound up taking me to a bigger Medical Center.
And the concern being, you know, my, the kidney failure.
But they initially they told my husband, they said, look, don't
get your hopes up. She's in critical condition and
she may not survive this because of organ failure.
And, and even though they, they said like with the, the initial
observation of the frostbite in the left leg was like you, we
might have to take her leg from the knee down because of the
frostbite. And so they had me on, you know,
they had me on Ivs, they had me in the ICU.
And there was the, a nurse came in or administrator came in and
said, and I, it was a major network news like I, I think it
was NBC News, like NBC News is, is here and they would like to
interview you. And I'm like, why on earth do
they want to interview me? Like, what have I done?
You know, and at that, cause at that point I'd gone, you know,
26 miles. But I guess it, it had hit the,
the search and rescue, how the news wires work, I'm not sure.
But it, it hit, started hitting the news wires and it started
gaining attention. And the, the security actually
had to, somebody tried to sneak in with a camera.
Somebody tried to, you know, the news crew tried to sneak in and
they actually had to, you know, kind of shoot people away.
And so with, with medication and Ivs.
Oh, and I should say we were found.
I was found New Year's Eve morning, 3:00 AM.
So at this point, it was the 24th, which I think that was
part of the news the, the Christmas Eve.
Yeah, Christmas Eve. But that was part of the, I
think the attraction, you know, from the media's point of view
is that it was like a Christmas miracle.
Yeah. I.
Would say that's absolutely correct.
Christmas miracle for sure. So then they had done some an
experimental procedure as far as running and I'm not exactly sure
what it was to try to save my my foot, the one that that had lost
the shoe. And ultimately at the end of the
day, you know, they were able to save, save my foot using this
procedure. But, and with the, the doctors
said that they hadn't like my let my CK levels came down South
quickly, that they'd never seen that type of recovery before.
And they had said that had he not been like, in shape, you
know, a recreational runner or had I been, they said if they
had found me about four hours later, that they would have
found me dead, that they would have, I would have not survived
the next few hours that they caught me just in time.
When did you guys finally reunite?
In the hospital, the initial hospital, the in canal, the
small hospital. And I honestly, I was like, they
think like, what was your initial reaction?
And I was obviously, I was so relieved and thrilled.
It was all thrilled. It was all surreal.
But I was still kind of like very much, you know, very much
gorked, but I was very grateful. And, you know, these things
happen to other people. You you don't put yourself in
these scenarios until you're like, wait, did did this.
Happen. You know what?
Did just what? So it was very surreal and in
that regard. Izzy, what did your what was
your experience when you saw Mom?
Well, first, the emotional aspect was it was all of the
loss that I had preemptively went through that I went through
what was what am I going to do in my life without my mother?
Truly, my my mother is a extremely important figure to
me. Her endless positivity, the way
that she would do just anything to help us.
Yes, that goes for both of my parents that they would.
I was just filled with this feeling of confusion that people
could come together and do something like this that I
thought was impossible. I first saw my mother and I
remember that she looked very flush.
Her skin appeared like yellow or yes, white, whiter than usual,
more pale than usual. She she appeared to be in a in a
rough state. I could tell that she was in
critical condition and it seemed like she was very confused, but
she was very, very happy to see us.
I bet there was a team of 15. Was it 15 people that that all
worked together from multiple counties to save us and I I had
now realized that we are now becoming national news.
Well, it. You know, it garnered so much
media attention, international and national media attention.
It was overwhelming in, in a bit of a, again, a surreal way, but
you know, we like we, one of my colleagues is from Mississippi
and he said, Oh, I was home and I went to church and the, the,
the pastor was the sermon was about perseverance and he
brought you up this story and I said, I work with her said, Oh
my God. So, I mean, it was it was a you
know, the, the attention was, was very humbling and
overwhelming and the kindness and selflessness of their search
and rescue team, the people that lived in the town where the
hospital was and, and just the public in in general, you know,
and, and people say like, well, what big picture did you did you
find meaning in your experience or do you?
And the answer is, you know, you just do have to, you just never
know. You have to live every day.
You have to certainly lessons are to be learned, of course,
big and small, but we we haven't been back.
We hope to go back. In fact, the share Izzy has
spoken to both sheriffs as of recently and they've offered to
say, Hey, we'll take you back and we'll show you where you
were. And then I'm I'm rather
interested, you know, even on Google Maps, I've seen like, oh,
I was, that's the tree where I spent the night, you know, and
this is the path that we took. So, you know, it's it's, you
know, we certainly are in averse to going back.
I don't think we'll go in the winter, you know, obviously.
And you know, we never did get that refrigerator magnet right.
Like so We never did really. We never saw the South grim.
Hectically, we're at the Grand Canyon, but never.
Got the magnet. Oh, man, you went through all
that. You need to get a magnet.
Come on. So yeah, I mean, eventually I
think we'll we'll go back. It's, it's definitely, you know,
nowadays, you know, they have satellite phones, they have
emergency 11 calls on your phone.
I mean, so there are there ways that you cannot like that, that
what what happened to us wouldn't to, to prevent.
And they said that one of the reasons the search and rescue
teams were, were so much in spirits, I think because of the,
you know, the holiday season. But they also said that they had
just had a search and rescue where the person wasn't alive,
but they found the about, I think a week before.
So they were pretty, you know, they they were pretty
discouraged but by that. But they obviously they're
always happy when they're able to find somebody. 5 Right.
Sure. Yeah.
In Coco Nino County in the month of December in 2016, three
people died from cold exposure and three people got saved from
cold exposure. And it I, it's very interesting.
I felt, I felt like very easily that could have been us.
But if I if I feel like if we do go back, if if I have the phone
that I have now, it would not this would not have happened
because it has a satellite. But guess luck at the draw.
Hey, man, all those questions come up.
Yeah, I know the what ifs. If I had only done this.
Did this happen this way? It's like, you know what?
You're both alive. You're here.
You're telling your story. Everybody's made it out.
And that's cool. Have you guys had like movie
deals or anything like that at all or book deal or anything
come come your way at all? Has anybody talked about that?
You know, people have mentioned, oh, you should be in a movie or
they should make a movie even like mentioned on the Today show
when they were done with the, you know, with the, with the
segment, they said who will play her in the movie?
I wonder who played her in the movie.
And, and the we, we, there was a survival show we were on.
It's called SOS how to survive on The Weather Channel.
We were featured on that. We were on the Today show, but
the, you know, a friend offered, oh, you know, I know some
people. Maybe we could put a script
together and but that fell through.
But if anyone's willing, I mean. Yeah, if you're out there, if
you're listening. This is.
This is like a gold mine right here so.
Yeah, we're thinking, and it was around it was Christmas time, so
at least Hallmark Hall of Fame could do something small to you.
Yeah. Something get on the Hallmark,
yeah? Inside the box you're.
Right. Oh, man, Sure.
Well, you're you're guys, this is crazy.
This is an insanely complex. Everything about this is just a
crazy story. I'm I for one, I'm happy that
you guys are out, that you're safe, that everybody is able to
talk. And these are my favorite kind
of endings to stories when people survive.
I don't like the alternative at all, you know?
So yeah. Anything else you guys want to
talk about real quick? I, I, I saw your videos about
you in the North Rim and there was something that you said that
I, that I related to a lot. And it's that like in
Hindsight's 2020, you can, you can go and point out everything
that you did wrong or everything that you could have done
differently. But at the same time, if I could
go back, I relate to you in the way that you said that you would
not, you would not change it. You would you would have it
happen again. And I think I relate to that
because it's just such an important life event to all of
us. It is it is the most traumatic
day of my days of my life and it has caused various mental health
problems down the road. But it is just such a lesson in
survival and perseverance and love that I would take it.
I would keep. I would keep.
Have it go over again. That's awesome.
Yeah. Yeah, that's cool.
I thought the way that our story was told was kind of inadequate
by the media because I think there is a lot of very important
details that got let out. The media didn't understand that
how crucial my dad was. Like I, I didn't read anywhere
about how my dad walked a 19 miles with a broken back and how
if he didn't do it, we would have gone stuck permanently.
And I think that in some cases we were kind of like we were
expressed as thrill seekers and we weren't thrill seekers.
We were just, we were just going to the Grand Canyon.
And I have had a very long healing journey.
I, I've probably gone through more than like 8 therapists, but
I, I've healed with creation like I make I, I made a, a
YouTube video called Nothing's going to Change my World.
And it's a it's a cover of Across the Universe by The
Beatles, which is a song that I listened to a lot before and
after the event. So it reminds me a lot of that
time. So I decided to make a cover of
that song and I made it about and I made the music video about
this event. I just want to thank everybody
who's was involved because I want to thank my mother because
she went out when nobody else was going.
Could have gone out and I want to thank my father because he
what he was the if he'd had acted on a longer notice, my
mother would have died. And it's just so important that
it's just so it's everything to me.
I I think the people at Coconino County and Kane County and the
and the Rangers and the rescue team that they are they are my
heroes. They they saved the little boy's
mother and in circumstances that they must have thought was going
to be a a body and I am I I can't believe it.
I am I'm I'm better. That's awesome.
This is it's been a very important part of my life.
Karen, anything you want to close with?
Oh, it just you know what, we appreciate your having us on, of
course, and and having a chance to share our story and hopes
that people will learn lessons like whether they're inspired by
it or whether they're able to learn the things not to do, you
know, if they find themselves in the same situation.
And just ever so thankful to everyone involved in our rescue
and support even thereafter. And if anyone has any ideas what
that weasel could have been or who it was.
And I'm a very spiritual person, you know, and it open to lots of
ideas and who knows what it was. I, I don't know then certainly
like let me know. But it's, it's been, it's, it
has been quite an experience. I I got AI got a feeling I'm a
spiritual person too, and I got a feeling some of the people in
my comments will probably will probably chime in.
So, OK, yeah, there you go. And again, it was, it was, it is
clear as I'm talking to you that I saw it and I didn't summon it.
It just appeared 3 times. Same thing, little weasel it
was. And there is no weasel
indigenous to that area. It looked more like a cartoon
drawing. It was just bizarre.
It was really very bizarre. Who knows?
Well, I appreciate you guys. You're awesome and your story's
crazy amazing and I am so thankful that you guys are both,
like I said, just safe and well and here and also you're fun
people. So thanks for making this
podcast and being on it and all that good stuff and.
Yeah, sure. Absolutely.
All right. All right, if we're ever your
way, we'll stop in. Awesome.
Sounds good. Cool.
All right, we'll see you on the next one.
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