A young man from Kansas was hiking with his family on the Hawksbill Crag Trail about a half mile from the Crag today and it appears he slipped from on top of a boulder and fell to his death. It was a straight fall of about 94 feet to where he landed on a level area (note that he was around the corner and another 1/4 mile west, so no where hear the Crag - i.e., he was NOT taking pictures of the Crag, or at all). He bounced and came to rest on his side about ten feet away. I was alerted by the postman who saw a family member running down Cave Mountain Road looking for help. When I reached the bluff area I could not find anyone on top so I began a search below the bluff where I found the hiker. He had no pulse.
I just posted a photo of the rock that he fell off of on the Cloudland Journal page.
At this hour about 40 folks from the various government agencies are working at getting the body out to the road. It is a very sad scene...
SO sad! I'm sorry you had to be the one to find him. I was already sad because of the 15 years since Ok City bombing. I was one of the first journalist from outside of Oklahoma to arrive on scene. It was still smoking and blood covered people walking around me. Sad day all around. I'm looking forward to the CSNP gathering this weekend. We will have use extra caution after hearing this bad news.
Sounds like his family was there to witness this terrible accident - which makes it such a hard thing to bear. I hope his family can find some consolation in knowing that he died doing something he probably loved - enjoying the wilderness.
This happened about 12:30 this afternoon. The body was officially put into the van about 20 minutes ago (7pm). Another terrific group of government agency and volunteer folks came together to haul the hiker out. Even though this was a recovery and not a rescue mission, everyone jumped in and did all they could - it is so nice to see everyone working together. Let's hope the next time all these great folks get together is for the SAR Christmas party...
Posted by Larry Daniel on April 19, 2010 at 9:03 PM
Certainly sad news. Condolences to the family.
Posted by Karla Hall on April 19, 2010 at 10:43 PM
So sad....Tim, I'm sorry you had to go through this today...
Will prayerfully remember this young man and his family...
Posted by Ken Bachman on April 20, 2010 at 8:03 AM
In this mornings Wichita Eagle
there is a short article explaining who he was but no details about how it happened.
Just a tragic reminder to everyone, be careful out there. If it can happen to this strong young man, it can happen to anyone.
Another update this afternoon. I've done more than 30 phone interviews with print, radio, and TV folks already today and the phone keeps ringing - mostly from Kansas. The hiker was indeed a Kansas hero and well loved by a lot of folks. His story has been one of the top google searches today, has been featured on ESPN and MSNBC, and we've been getting in excess of 20,000 hits an hour on the Cloudland Journal web page. Some of the interviews have already begun to appear online, and already I'm being mis-quoted - 'tis the nature of the beast I guess. I have had phone calls and e-mails from many non-media folks, including more than one player on an opposing team - they cannot say enough good things about this young man.
I added a couple of photos to the Journal from this morning that were taken from the bottom of the bluff and from the point he was standing when he fell.
Posted by Glenn Wheeler on April 21, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Yes, this was a very sad and unfortunate situation. And although the outcome was not what everyone would hope for, I have to say that the operation went very well. As Tim said, a lot of folks from several agencies came together and worked like a well-oiled machine. This has been the case on several of the recent missions. I've said before and will say again, that we are both honored and humbled to do SAR work and take great pride in doing as good of a job as we can and being as respectful as possible in a situation like this one.
We truly hate when the outcome is like this (or like the one that I was involved in the very next day with the 3 year old little boy), since we can't help but become emotionally involved in all of them.
I mentioned the operation the next day; it is amazing how often we get these things two days in a row. In fact, I've personally been on three in the last week, one of which had a much better outcome.
As I always say on here in these threads... BE CAREFUL out there! But, as Tim has eluded to, sometimes you can be as careful as possible and accidents can still happen. My mother fell in the hospital parking lot on April 5th on level ground, striking her head and face. this caused two major brain injuries. She spent 10 days on a ventilator and is still in pretty bad shape, mostly unable to move, speak, eat, etc., so it can happen no matter what. But we can do certain things to help prevent tragedy. Let folks know where you are going to be and when to expect you back, carry a SPOT or something similar, use your head and enjoy your time in our wild places...
Such a sad story, I'm really sorry for his family. Sounds like a great loss for them and his community.
Seems like it has been an especially tough year for all of the volunteers involved in search and rescue.
We can do our part by making an attempt to do something special when we come in contact with them. Buy them a soda or lunch or just let them know you appreciate their efforts.
Same goes for Tim, I can't help but think of him as the grandfather of the hills. Korneee!!!
Discussion
13 repliesI just posted a photo of the rock that he fell off of on the Cloudland Journal page.
At this hour about 40 folks from the various government agencies are working at getting the body out to the road. It is a very sad scene...
Will prayerfully remember this young man and his family...
there is a short article explaining who he was but no details about how it happened.
Just a tragic reminder to everyone, be careful out there. If it can happen to this strong young man, it can happen to anyone.
I added a couple of photos to the Journal from this morning that were taken from the bottom of the bluff and from the point he was standing when he fell.
We truly hate when the outcome is like this (or like the one that I was involved in the very next day with the 3 year old little boy), since we can't help but become emotionally involved in all of them.
I mentioned the operation the next day; it is amazing how often we get these things two days in a row. In fact, I've personally been on three in the last week, one of which had a much better outcome.
As I always say on here in these threads... BE CAREFUL out there! But, as Tim has eluded to, sometimes you can be as careful as possible and accidents can still happen. My mother fell in the hospital parking lot on April 5th on level ground, striking her head and face. this caused two major brain injuries. She spent 10 days on a ventilator and is still in pretty bad shape, mostly unable to move, speak, eat, etc., so it can happen no matter what. But we can do certain things to help prevent tragedy. Let folks know where you are going to be and when to expect you back, carry a SPOT or something similar, use your head and enjoy your time in our wild places...
Glenn Wheeler
Seems like it has been an especially tough year for all of the volunteers involved in search and rescue.
We can do our part by making an attempt to do something special when we come in contact with them. Buy them a soda or lunch or just let them know you appreciate their efforts.
Same goes for Tim, I can't help but think of him as the grandfather of the hills. Korneee!!!