Originally Posted by Steve Lightspeed's Ambush Interview
Why is there a big dent in your head? Talk about CNN.
I went home for the summer at the end of May 1985 after my first year of college. My best friend and I had lots of catching up to do, so we left early on a Wednesday morning with a half-gallon bottle of whiskey to go play drunken golf (We were both avid golfers, and heavy drinkers). But it was raining, so we decided instead to roadtrip into the Olympic National Forest near Olympia Washington to see an old rickety bridge built 410 feet over a river gorge. The bridge is a good 20-30 minutes into the forest, accessible only via dirt logging roads.
We didn't tell anyone about our change of plans. By the time we arrived at the bridge, much of the bottle was consumed. We planned on tossing gliders into the gorge from the bridge, but I accidently dropped the whole bag of gliders after the first couple. So we decided to try to retrieve the bag from the river, look for some good fishing spots, and finish killing the bottle and the day. I trusted that my friend had been there before and knew a safe passage down to the bottom. He didn't.
We walked around to the edge of the bridge, and started to hike down what appeared to be a trail. My friend got sick, and stopped to puke. I didn't want to watch, so I kept hiking. I thought the trail seemed steep, but I kept going, thinking that we would just have to find a different way out, maybe up river. I remember sliding on my ass down one particularly steep section, grabbing onto a tree to stop myself. Suddenly there were no more trees to grab, and the next thing I remember was waking up at the bottom of the gorge next to the river. I had tumbled about 150 feet and fell off a 60' cliff at the bottom into loose rock and sand. My friend was also there. While I was unconscious, he decided to try to rescue me. He did the exact same slide and fall to try to reach me.
We were in horrible shape. I split my head open, crushed the right side of my face, fractured my neck, and tore a lot of skin off my hands, arms, and chest. My friend wasn't much better. Although he managed to stay upright through the slide, he landed the fall on one leg. He blew out his left ankle, knee, and hip. We were both bleeding badly. Worse yet, we were trapped between the river and the cliff. Neither of us could walk. We laid at the bottom for about 3 1/2 hours. Crying, praying, screaming for help. Saying goodbye. We seriously thought we were going to die.
A logger drove across the bridge that we were under, and noticed our car parked on the side. He told us later that he thought he had heard someone yelling for help, and since he didn't see us on the bridge, he stopped to look. He called the county sheriff to report two bodies at the bottom of the bridge. We were the 49th and 50th to fall from that spot. No one else had ever survived, so he assumed we were dead too. Another logger heard the call, and hiked up the river to us to see what happened. When he got there, he realized we weren't dead. He called for help and did some first aid to stabilize us. I believe he saved our lives. The only way they could get us out with our injuries was by helicopter.
So much time had elapsed, the local news stations sent their own helicopters to tape the rescue. There is some amazing footage of me in a gurny, hanging from 300 feet of cable under the rescue helicopter. The rescue was dramatic because the pilot had to fly directly under the bridge into the gorge to reach us. Twice. The video made all 3 local news stations, and I later learned that CNN also ran the story and video of the rescue.
So now, I have a lot of scars and a quarter-sized hole in my head where they had to remove a piece of bone. My friend also recovered, although he has a permanent limp.
I learned an important life lesson that day. It explains a lot about my personality and lifestyle now: Carpe Diem, seize the day. There is no guarantee that we'll be here tomorrow. Whenever someone says to me "I'm GONNA do ______ someday, my answer is always the same. "What's wrong with TODAY? Do it NOW!"
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