April Meads' first hike of the season with her sister Stacy turned out to be an experience neither is likely to ever forget.
On the afternoon of May 31, Meads, 19, a Milwaukie resident who just finished her sophomore year at Linfield College, headed to the Columbia River Gorge with her older sister to hike to Horsetail Falls. They took a wrong turn and ended up on the Triple Falls trail. On their way back down, Meads' foot slipped and she fell off the trail -- and over the side of a cliff.
For the next 45 minutes, Meads clung from a root above a steep dropoff, until passing hikers from the Mazamas club came to her aid. One of them, Wim Aarts, climbed down nearby trees with a rope fashioned from clothing until he was within reach of her. He said she made the situation easier by remaining calm. "If you want to rescue someone, you want to rescue someone levelheaded like she was," Aarts said Thursday.
Meads said Thursday that she's healed physically and mentally from the incident -- but she still thinks about it and dreams about falling. "I'm waking up kicking my legs, thinking that I'm back on the cliff," she said.
She and her rescuers plan to attend a debriefing and counseling session next week. "I think that'll really help," she said.
As hiking season begins in earnest, she has advice for others: Keep your eyes on the trail. Remain aware of your surroundings. Use hiking poles -- "I was given one on the walk back because I was so unstable and it really helped. I can't imagine how different it would have been if I'd had it," she said.
And "have everyone in your group carry rope," she said.
Meads wrote a first-person account of her fall and rescue. Below are excerpts; visit her blog to read her full account.
A rescuer's account
A member of the Mazamas also wrote about April Meads' rescue;
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Turning a bend, I took my eyes off the path, which I rarely do. At the same time, I had to step to the side to make room for two people coming from the opposite direction. I was thinking that hiking was my favorite pastime and that is when my foot slipped.
I heard Stacy scream my name. I slid down on my left side, looking for what was going to stop me from sliding; there was nothing. I saw my water bottle fall from my backpack before I turned and started clawing for anything to grab. I had only one thought: "My life is about to end."
I finally latched onto a small branch and made eye contact with my sister, 20 feet up. I could tell she was looking for a way to come save me. But as she looked, the branch in my hand broke and I started to slide again. After sliding 10 more feet, screaming "Stacy! Stacy!" I somehow found a root sticking out of the cliff. It was no bigger than my thumb.
I screamed, "Somebody help me!" and that is when Stacy decided to call 9-1-1. I remembered my water bottle falling and that I never heard it hit the ground.
Beneath me was a straight dropoff. If I let go or lost strength I would have gone into a 100-foot freefall.
My left knee somehow managed to find a place in the side of the cliff to help support my weight. My right big toe was barely supported by a chunk of dirt that crumbled every time I moved. My arms, completely outstretched above my head, were doing most of the work holding me up.
Fresh out of my first season of track and field at Linfield, I found I was still in decent shape. I guess throwing javelin requires a lot more upper body strength than I realized. Not to mention the 11 years of basketball I have under my belt.
I yelled up to Stacy, "Stacy, I love you so much!" and she yelled back that she loved me too as she started to cry.
Seeing such a terrified look on her face made me want to throw up. I knew I could not let her down. I needed to be strong for both of us.
I remembered something an ex-boyfriend always told me: "Don't cry. Crying does nothing. Crying makes you weak." I released my hands one at a time, wiggled my fingers and waited.
Weirdly, making funny remarks was a way for me to feel better: "Track and field didn't prepare me for this." "Well this is quite the adventure." And "I think I just ate a spider."
After awhile, maybe 30 minutes, a man tossed down a rope made out of sweatshirt, rain jackets and sweatpants. I told them there was no way I was letting go because I didn't trust the clothes to hold my weight. Luckily, that is not what their intention was.
I was getting incredibly tired; my arms started shaking. My body was beginning to feel heavier. "I don't think I can hang on very much longer." "Hurry! I'm starting to slip!"
At this point I had been hanging there for almost 45 minutes. Eventually I saw a man out of the corner of my eye climbing down some trees about 5 feet over from where I was. He had the clothing rope. Finally he found a secure spot to the right of me. I could not stop thanking him his whole way down.
The man, Wim Aarts, gave me the clothing rope to wrap around myself, which was risky since I had to let go with one of my hands. But I got it wrapped around and handed the end back to Wim who tied it in a secure knot, one handed.
Wim pointed out where I could step. I grabbed the clothing rope that was being held by several people higher up. On the count of three, I pulled myself by the rope, Wim pulled me over, and the people above pulled the rope. I started shaking so badly that my legs could hardly hold me up. But I had to move because we needed to get back to safety.
I never thought crawling in dirt would feel so good. Once I found my way back to my feet, I walked to my sister as fast as my shaking legs would let me. I threw myself into her arms as we both cried. The second Stacy let go of me, I crumbled to the ground and cried harder, still trying to wrap my head around what had just happened.
I checked my phone and had a text from my dad asking how the hike was going, which was sent 58 minutes earlier, which must have been about the time I fell. Later my parents said that they decided to text us because they hadn't heard from us all day and something didn't feel right.
This was a learning experience for me in several different ways. I learned that there are some amazing people in this world who were willing to risk their lives in order to save mine. I learned the importance of keeping my eyes on the trail and being aware of my surroundings. I learned to live every day like it's my last.
I have a bucket list of about ten hikes that I had planned on doing this summer. However, I have decided I need to take a break. I have set a goal though, to be back hiking before I head back to Linfield for my junior year.
-- Amy Wang
awang@oregonian.com
503-294-5914
@ORAmyW