90-year-old hiker falls from Gorge trail
Posted: May 13th, 2009, 9:02 pm
http://www.katu.com/outdoors/news/44916752.html
This story reminds me of the marvelous quote from Finis Mitchell, pioneer advocate of hiking and wilderness in Wyoming's Wind Rivers, who hiked and climbed well into his 90's:
With all this rain we've been having, those trails can be pretty slick!N THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE, Ore. - A 90-year-old man was being rescued Wednesday afternoon after falling about 100 feet down an embankment while hiking on a trail near the Bonneville Dam.
A hiking group of five women and one man, whose ages range from 75 to 90, were coming down a trail near Elowah Falls when the man fell on a muddy, narrow section of the path more than a mile from the trailhead at John B. Yeon State Park. A Multnomah County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman said the man initially slid about 40 feet and then went down a 60-foot drop off.
Someone in his group was able to flag down a passing hiker who went down the embankment to stabilize the injured man, who was later identified as Carroll Dunbar.
Rescue crews were called and were using ropes and a backboard to pull the man up from the embankment. The 90-year-old man appeared to have only suffered some cuts, the sheriff's office spokeswoman said, but he was expected to be checked out by medical staff. He was reportedly awake and telling jokes.
His hiking group is all from the Portland area and they have years of hiking experience, a member of the group said.
This story reminds me of the marvelous quote from Finis Mitchell, pioneer advocate of hiking and wilderness in Wyoming's Wind Rivers, who hiked and climbed well into his 90's:
I hope this gentleman is able to continue avoiding old age--he sounds like an inspiration to us all!We don't stop hiking because we grow old; we grow old because we stop hiking.