Howdy, everyone!
I've hinted at this in #Pubski, but I'm finally at my parents' home in a warm, safe bed. So, here's the story of how I broke my leg and learned the true value of friendship!
TL;DR - I almost pulled a 127 Hours. RESPECT THE BUDDY SYSTEM.
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On Wednesday I had the misfortune of breaking my fibula and tibia in the Narrows hike of Zion National Park.
"The Narrows" trail runs through a slot canyon carved by the Virgin river, the primary features being two colossal sandstone walls enclosing a narrow spring-fed river. The trail is 'paved' with running water and slippery riverstones - it's been likened to hiking on greased bowling balls.
To give you an idea, here's a picture of our dear protagonist, 15 minutes before he fucks himself:
I started hiking on Wednesday at 9:30 in the morning. By 11:45 I was at the Orderville Junction of the Narrows canyon, which has an optional fork-in-the road to an even more narrow canyon with a tributary stream (pictured above). While going up the Orderville canyon, I had to ascend over a large boulder that blocked my path. As I was doing so, I saw a group of people jumping from the boulder for fun. On my way back down Orderville canyon, I had to descend that same boulder.
Have you ever had an authority figure ask you, "If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you follow them?" Adapted for my purposes, it's more like, "If a group of total strangers jumped off of a large boulder, would you do the same thing in a dangerous canyon with a handful of witnesses?"
Right. This was at noon.
Sparing the details, I broke my leg when I landed in the river below. I dragged myself to a sandbar and immediately knew that my bones were fractured. I also knew that I had to get out of the canyon as quickly as humanly possible to get medical help.
By sheer luck, an incredibly helpful hiker named Connor was nearby. After hearing my cries for help, Connor carried me the quarter mile back to the Orderville junction. While I was with Connor, I nearly passed out from pain - for a few minutes, it sounded like the river beneath me was 1,000 miles away and coming through a tinny speaker. Connor sat me down and gave me some water, after which we continued on towards Orderville Junction.
When we got there at 12:45, we called Search and Rescue using the satellite phone of a friendly passerby. S&R told them to get me out of the canyon as quickly as possible because they anticipated rain in the evening - rain which, in a slot canyon, would inevitably lead to a deadly flash flood.
With some quick thinking, Connor recruited more hikers to help carry me out of The Narrows while S&R worked their way up towards us from the bottom of the trail. They fashioned a makeshift stretcher using hiking sticks, shoelaces, and a backpack, and a splint out of driftwood and bandages.
The stretcher was too short, and my head and shoulders had to hang off the end. The splint was hastily made, and the sticks would slip and pull my broken bones together uncomfortably.
You can see the stretcher here:
And the splint here:
In all, eight men worked in shifts to carry me two and a half miles through slippery, shifting, dangerous terrain to avoid leaving me in a flash flood that I'm certain would have killed me. When we met up with Search and Rescue, they put me on a boat (and a proper stretcher!), and dragged me through the stream to a road where an ambulance was waiting.
I got out of the canyon four hours after breaking my bone, and would receive painkillers (other than ibuprofen) for the first time four and a half hours after breaking my leg. Later, an S&R agent told me that, without the help I received, their plan was to give me a rain jacket and radio before setting me on high land. He said they would have left me there overnight.
I still feel melodramatic saying it, but I'm confident I would have died if not for the help of complete strangers. Their display of compassion towards me has been moving to say the least, and I tear up a little thinking about how they dropped everything to save me. I'll be in recovery for the next several months, but I'm just happy to be alive.
Thanks for those who read this far. Here's a picture at the end of the makeshift rescue operation:
SO, if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them. If you've got any admonishments to lay on me, I'm ready to receive them. I'd like to give the fun parts of my trip their own write-up, but I felt like you all deserved the full story of how my vacation ended!
Here's some bonus footage of me lying on the ground, probably moaning in pain? Who knows!
(PS: I know I look happy in some of the pictures post-break. I learned about myself that I get very talkative and jokey when I'm in pain and/or scared. These are all taken after the initial wave of pain where I almost passed out. Obviously.)
I'm glad you learned a thing or two about risk in a well-traveled environment. I'm particularly glad you learned it at a young and impressionable age. Which is not to say I'm glad you broke your leg or cut your vacation short. That sucks. But the "I'm going to jump off a rock into a slippery canyon of rocks" impulse is one that some people never learn from. Now read (or re-read) the following with a new sense of appreciation.
I'm glad he's sharing the story, too. Too often, and I'm guilty of this, people only share the best aspects like great pictures, but they leave out the hard, risky parts.
Remember the search and rescue folks were strangers, too. I read about a winter rescue two years ago where S&R (both rangers and trained volunteers) had to bring a hiker out about 16 miles, including at least one full mile of breaking trail down a mountain. It took something like 40 hours. Your experience of a short distance in good weather puts in context how hard rescue is. Question: what would you do differently the next time, other than not jump off the boulder?I would have died if not for the help of complete strangers
They are strangers, but they're strangers who woke up that morning knowing they'd be helping some dumb hiker like myself! They totally deserve my appreciation, though. They worked just as hard to get me out! Things I did right: I let people know where I'd be and when I'd be back. I researched the hike and knew what the weather would be like (even if this changed later). Up until I broke my leg, I was moving responsibly through the canyon. Things I did wrong: I didn't have a buddy - I was travelling solo, and I went off on my own. BIG, huge, glaringly horrendous mistake. I didn't have a first-aid kit with bandages in it, just ibuprofen and stuff for blisters. I could've really used more material to make a better splint!Question: what would you do differently the next time, other than not jump off the boulder?
Honestly traveling solo doesn’t seem like such a huge mistake here. You traveled on a highly populated path at a good time with decent weather. Something happened and other people were close by, I doubt having a travel buddy would have made any significant difference.
That's actually a fair point - The crisis itself wouldn't have been any different if I had someone there, but the trip to the ER and journey home would've been simpler. I had to Uber from the ER back to my AirBnB (expensive), and my dad actually flew out to drive our car home and help me make a flight back in time to talk to an orthopedic surgeon. Having a friend along would've simplified things for me after the splint was set :)
So... I've spent a goodly amount of time traveling, some of it alone, and I am mostly interested in why you would go on such a trip alone? This is, like, the first rule of stepping outside of civilization: Don't go alone. Is it just young white dude hubris? Or were you trying to prove something? Or paid a lot of money and your friend canceled last minute? You did something stupid and got hurt. But you didn't have to do something stupid to get hurt... you can have simply stepped wrong. Or encountered an animal that was simply in a bad mood. Or choked on a PowerBar. I'm curious about the thinking behind, "I'm going to go alone out into the wilderness, against all the advice of people who do this a lot, and common sense. Because ____________ ..."
There is nothing inherently wrong with going out in nature by yourself. You made how many assumptions in this comment? How can you expect somebody to earnestly reply to this when you’re coming at it from a point of preaching and antagonizing?
Dude. There are a multitude of reasons why he might want to travel alone. Whatever those reasons may be, the act of doing it is in no way stupid. He was on one of the most populated hikes in America. Read the first line of this trail description. 3 million people a year and there are all of about 4 hikes in Zion. Sure it can be exceedingly dangerous in bad weather, but he checked the weather beforehand. There were a multitude of people along the way. Look at the pictures. If this was some random and difficult hike in the backcountry I would be singing a different tune. But it's not. The risk behind this hike was small. We all take on levels of risk that are acceptable to us. Any of the things you mentioned can happen anywhere. Anyone with half a brain, when attempting something solo, adds up the risk levels, and says "yeah I can deal with that". He did a fine job of that and came out ok. Jumping off the rock was fucking stupid but everything else was alright. There's no need to discourage people from being so risk adverse.
"There's no need to discourage people..." Interesting you read that meaning into my question. I was always trained (Boy Scouts, etc.) that you just don't go into the wilderness alone. Bring a buddy. I know there is a whole culture of solo hiking. Sure. But every one of these people is making some value judgments about their safety before they step out of their vehicle. I asked an honest question of how he'd done the personal math. I didn't discourage anybody from anything.
An honest question wouldn't have been prefaced with statements such as This is, like, the first rule of stepping outside of civilization: Don't go alone.
or Is it just young white dude hubris? Or were you trying to prove something?
An honest question wouldn't include against all the advice of people who do this a lot, and common sense
in the very question. You're leading someone to answer the question with guilt. I would absolutely consider this to be discouraging wording. I'd guess that this is why ButterflyEffect called your response "preaching and antagonizing". I personally agree with him.
Other people gave you a better answer than I was planning to. If you really want to see my thought process, go read all the threads where I asked people for suggestions of what to do - I mostly ignored those suggestions, but they'll give you a good idea where my head was at!
Cool. I'll check em out. I know solo hiking is a thing. It's just I was always trained that it adds an unnecessary element of danger to any generic hike. So why do it? I was just looking for your personal math on it. And, I guess, wondering about why you had to eventually call for help... was the trail not as heavily traveled as you'd thought? And that the place where you got injured was due for a flash flood that evening due to rains predicted in the weather report. These seemed to me like things that would have been evaluated in your "personal risk math", and I was honestly interested to see if you still agreed with your original risk assessment, or if the risk-math calculated differently after the fact. No judgement here. Just curious about your thinking before and after the event, and if it changed.
wasoxygen asked the same questions, so I'll answer it all here :) The jump itself couldn't have been more than 10ft, which is why I wasn't more scared than I was (and because I'd seen other people do it...but hadn't paid close enough attention). Stupid of me to not realize that's still a very dangerous height. I didn't really include this detail because I didn't think it'd make the story any better, but technically if I had jumped a little closer to the boulder/waterfall, I would've been fine. The water where I was aiming came up to my shoulders, and the water where I landed came up to my knees. The reason I broke at such a height is because my body was prepared for a much, much different landing. First and foremost, I SHOULDN'T HAVE JUMPED. Having said that, assuming I HAD to jump, I would've been fine had I prepared for landing in shallower water. Like I've said elsewhere, it was just pure recklessness and a willingness to follow others when they seem confident enough without using my own damned head. Honestly...I feel even dumber writing this all out. goobster, if you want to see how much of a dumbass I really am this about sums it upHow high was the jump? How deep was the water, could you see the bottom?
Glad you’re okay. The one thing I’ll say about S&R is the first principal after assessing the situation is to not create additional victims, which likely governed their response. You were fortunate to have had this occur in what seems to be a fairly popular (and beautiful looking) area, and I’m very glad you’ve got some learnings out of it. Hope that leg heals properly and you come back strong as before!
Thanks for the great story, hope you heal up quick. Can you spare some details of the mishap? How high was the jump? How deep was the water, could you see the bottom? There's a secret pond (as secret as a pond can be in the satellite age) not far from my favorite running route. Getting to it requires some fording and possibly tresspassing, so I don't visit often, but have stopped by for a cooling dip on hot days. One time there were some kids taking turns jumping from a boulder 15 or 20 feet into the murky water. They invited me to join in, but I declined, and later kind of regretted missing the chance. Will you make changes to your gear? I carry gauze with clotting agent in my bike bag. A "tactical" aluminium split is cheap, light, and may be a good idea.
Unless you're expecting to get shot, gauze with clotting agent is wholly unnecessary. Stick with regular gauze and carry a tourniquet (or be proficient at making a makeshift one). I'm sure you can find TQs for far cheaper in another place. Any type of arterial bleed in a remote area will be far better served with a TQ than combat gauze. Any venous bleed should be easily manageable with regular gauze and direct pressure. A SAM splint is nice to have but can also generally be MacGyvered. The only real "need" for one would be as ankle support, which can also be done with an ACE wrap, cravat, or a shirt. ACE wraps are also great for pressure dressings-two in one! Generally, my first aid kit when hiking is a couple bandaids, ibuprofen, and my blister kits. What you want on top of that is based on your comfort level to create a janky makeshift appartus. Always bring a fixed blade knife.
SAM splints are one of those fuck it items when they’re so light and compressible that I just throw it in the emergency kit for most trips. ACE wrap SAM splint everything you’ve mentioned is gold. Oh and tweezers. Learned that lesson the hard way earlier this year.
Answering wasoxygen's gear questions here: I'm going to be adding gauze to my kit for day-hikes, because it would have been REALLY useful to have last Wednesday. Other than that, I agree with the stuff you're saying - I can't hike that far in a day, and too much more would feel like overkill personally. That being said, I'm going to err on the side of caution now for solo hikes (which...I mean, it's gonna be awhile) and take more than I need as long as I can comfortably carry it. It's a good question, and I haven't put much thought into it yet! Boyscouts has given me an inflated sense of confidence in what I can slap together, so I think I'll need to reevaluate some things before heading out there again. Hear, hearAlways bring a fixed blade knife.
Sorry to hear about that. Buddy system yes, but nobody anticipates something like that is going to happen to them. People slip and break bones, etc., even on flat ground. I've had my fair share of risky descents. I'm super glad you're not dead. Now I need to call my dad because he's at the cottage alone for 4 days and still living like a rockstar. sigh.
I'm glad I'm alright too (obviously)! I'm trying not to let this dissuade me from future adventures. I'm really hoping I get the opportunity to go on another adventure soon (after a few months of recovery and some time being contented and rhythmic, of course) Your dad sounds great. I hope he's doing well, it sounds like he's got his priorities exactly where he wants them :)