HOLY LABOR DAY!

Let me tell you all about my labor day weekend starting from the very beginning. A group of friends and i decided to go camping/ hiking down in little wild horse canyon this weekend. Little wild horse is a slot canyon right next to goblin valley. We left on Sunday night around five o'clock. It was kathy and pam, who are sisters and Jake and Jared who are brothers and me. we got to our camp spot about 9 pm that night and set up our tent. It was very windy and a little bit rainy but it was still warm. however, because of the horrible wind half of our tent collapsed about 6am so we decided to get up and start our hike early seeing as it was a nine mile hike we thought we would get an early start. after putting up camp we headed out around 7am. It was a beautiful canyon it really was amazing. Sheer cliffs about 30 ft. up on both sides of you you can reach out your hands and touch both walls. Anyway, we were about a mile in and Jared decided to go up to the top of the cliffs and take pictures of us down below. Pam and i were ahead of the group and had turned around to watch jared try and come down. He slipped on some loose rocks and plummeted down the 30 ft. drop. he dissapeared behind a rock so all I heard was his thud and the rocks landing a few seconds later. We all thought that he would be just fine so we made our way to him not really in a rush. His brother was the first one there and as soon as I heard the fear in Jakes voice I knew that it was bad. I ran to them Jake was trying to lift Jared off the ground to carry him out. Jared's head was bleeding and he was completely unconscious his breaths deep and labored.  I screamed at Jake to not move him. we didn't know if his back or neck was broken so we laid him in my lap and Jake ran for help. I have rarely prayed so hard or been so scared. I thought that Jared was going to die in my lap. So we prayed and mid-prayer Jared started to moan. HIs eyes fluttered and he looked up at me. Both his pupils were the same size so and he recognized his own name. I had to keep him awake until the EMTs could arrive. I checked his body asked him if other things hurt and he would grunt at me. then he rolled to the side and puked on his arm and my leg. (I will never drink gatorade again) both his hands were sliced open and I could see the bone of his right pinkie. I grabbed Jakes bandana and wrapped his hand. His head was what I was most concerned with after I realized that his neck, back, legs and arms were okay as far as i could tell. He had a gash on his forehead and was also bleeding from his nose and ear. After about 45 min Jake and the EMTs arrived and we rolled him onto a back board. Me, Jake, and four goblin valley rangers hiked him out over rocks and boulders. It is amazing what you can do when you have adrenaline pumping through you. We got him out it took about two hours and finally we reached were the ATVs could drive up and we loaded all our bags on those and the big ranger switched me out and I drove kathy and the bags on one ATV and another lady drove pam out. while the rest continued on with Jared. WE got him to the ambulance and loaded him in and they drove him to Castleview. WE went to goblin valley to fill out a report and then followed after him. We were at the hospital until 5pm I think we got there aroung 12:30 or 1. they did x-rays and CAT scans and realized that Jared had a fractured skull so they life-flighted him up to provo. ironically enough Jared is a fourth year med student and he is doing a rotation at the same place they life-flighted him. We drove up to provo and Jake and I dropped kathy and Pam off at their house and then we went to the hospital. I was there until 10:30 pm. Fortunately, Jared is fine his face is broken and he has a wicked black eye and his pelvis is fractured and he has too many stitches to count...but his brain is fine he is still really smart he remembers mostly everything. They moved him out of ICU today and they think that he will go home tomorrow. and that was my long weekend adventure which I hope never to repeat.