Mom and Paul didn't join us for the first one (they met up with us later) so they didn't get to witness a huge parental fail on our part. Okay so it wasn't like we planned what happened or even could anticipate it but it was a lesson learned for all of us!! We definitely said our prayers thanking God for the rest of that day!
So we headed out on this hike and the boys started out doing well and holding Jason's hand....
As our hike continued they got a little more brave and kept getting ahead of us. We could see them the whole time but we would keep telling them to slow down and not get too far ahead. We knew the trail got really steep ahead but couldn't see the downslope yet. We had been going up a little and were at the top of the ridge before the trail down into the gorge.
Caden had turned around to begin climbing down and he was facing me when suddenly he lost his footing. He was maybe 6-8 feet ahead of me when he slipped and was trying to get up when the ground under him gave way and all we saw was a cloud of dust and then Caden was gone!!!
The trail made a 90 degree turn at that point so we couldn't see where he was or what was below...we had no idea if he had fallen 3, 30, or 300 feet down the mountain into the gorge. Jason and I both yelled for Caden and I grabbed Blake as I see he is about to slip on the loose ground. Jason immediately took off down the trail and completed his decent in what he called a "controlled fall" to get to Caden. (It was very steep and there were a lot of roots and rocks so we really don't know how Jason made it down so quickly without falling himself.) We were both yelling for him to grab something and I couldn't see him but Jason could see him rolling/tumbling down the side of this mountain!!!
Jason always keeps his cool in situations but I could tell by the tone when he yelled Caden's name that he too was scared! He admitted that that is probably the most scared he has ever been because all he saw was hands and feet tumbling down in a cloud of dust. We didn't know where Caden would be able to stop and what was along the trail he was falling down. Thankfully there was a large tree that either slowed him enough for him to stop himself or it stopped him and Jason was able to get to him fast enough to keep him from falling further. Caden was crying by now and very scared too.
We assessed Caden and found no broken bones or bleeding. He was scraped on his knees and thighs and so dirty!! After all of this, the first thing he said to Jason was, "I lost my shoe!" His shoe had come off while he was falling and had continued down after Caden stopped. We all sat on the flattest area we could find under a rock to rest. It was almost a traumatic event for all of us and we just had to stop for a minute to let everyone regroup.
We could see our destination at the bottom of the gorge by now and we hated to quit. Caden agreed that he would finish what we had started so after we were all composed we headed the rest of the way down. This time Caden was on Jason's back and Blake was holding my hand :) and we took it very slow. I am so proud of him for finishing! We found the "treasure" (geocache) we were after and lucky for us there were some band aides in it!! Pictures after the fall.....
The next picture is looking down on where he fell through. The lighter dirt is where the high ground gave way. The darker dirt is the trail below...
On our hike back up Jason took a video of where it happened and how far he fell....probably about 30 feet!
Lessons learned : mommy and daddy have a reason we say not to get too far ahead, mommy or daddy need to be in front with the boys in the middle and mommy or daddy in the back, always test the ground before we step if it looks soft, test roots before we pull on them to help us up. Definitely a memorable day!
The next pictures are from the bottom of the gorge...our destination before attempting the hike back up!
(before we cleaned his face up)
3 comments:
Poor Caden! Although he'll probably remember that lesson for a loooooooong time.
Do y'all use a GPS for geocaching? We've never tried that, although we did go after a few letterboxes around here when we first moved here and Will was little. I was thinking he might enjoy it more now.
Oh my goodness, that would have scared me to death! That is just amazing that he came away with only a few scrapes. What a blessing. So glad everything turned out ok!
Oh my!! How scary! So glad Caden is ok....I can't imagine the feelings you experienced as this happened.
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