I had my first helicopter ride yesterday! I drove to Canyonlands National Park yesterday morning, to the trailhead for the Murphy Hogback trail. The beginning of the trail was an easy stroll to the edge of a cliff. Then it was a long, steep, rocky series of switchbacks down. It included avoiding stepping on a snake. (If it hadn’t moved I surely would have stepped on it. I don’t like snakes.) After reaching the bottom it was a 3 mile walk to the Hogback itself. It was hot. Surely over 100 degrees. But I got the photo I wanted of the road down the side.

Then I headed back, walking the 3 miles to the base of the cliff. I was hot. Very hot. I started going up. Breathing hard and having to stop and rest every few steps. Barely a quarter of the way up, I was feeling pretty spent. And my water situation wasn’t good–barely 16 ounces left and it was heated by the sun so it wasn’t very refreshing. At this point I did an assessment. A long, steep ascent still remained. I would need more water than I had. And I was feeling pretty spent. I felt like the odds of tripping or losing my balance was pretty high. I made the decision to call for help.

I first had to get out in the open and find a spot where I could, hopefully, find a cell signal. I headed back towards the Hogback, as well, since there might be people driving up on it. On the way, I found a spot with barely a signal. I texted Zach “911”. We exchanged a couple a texts so that he could call the Park Rangers. I moved on to find a shady spot. There were a couple more texts from the Park Rangers. But to maintain the connection required being out in the open–in the sun.

I found shade and laid down–and waited. I tied a red bandana to the end of a hiking pole and held it up. Otherwise, no one would spot me lying down in the shade. By now I was out of water. An hour passed, then a second. I felt I needed to try getting a cell connection again. It was hard to stand up. I walked about a hundred paces until I just got a signal. I had text messages from the Park Rangers saying that they were on their way. I went back to the shade.

As a third hour approached, I went back to get a cell signal. A text from the Park Ranger said they were getting close and to yell every couple of minutes–which is difficult when your mouth is bone dry. I also got up on a big rock and held up hiking pole with the red bandana. It was now approaching sunset. And the battery on my cellphone was down to about 15%. Finally, though, I saw a Park Ranger hiking my way. Woohoo!

He did the usual assessment. No, I hadn’t thrown up. No headache. A little woozy when standing up. No muscle cramps. Most importantly, he had water. I drank four bottles. By then another Park Ranger had hiked in. The question now was did I feel well enough to hike back out with them? Up the cliff. My honest assessment was I was out of gas. And doing it in the dark–even though we had headlamps–just didn’t seem doable. So Plan B. A helicopter. Moab Regional Hosptial’s medivac. That meant a flight into Canyonlands in total darkness, looking a green glowstick.

Forty-five minutes later we hear the helicopter. The pilot set it down right on the open area marked by the glowstick. After the EMT’s do their assessment, they load me onto the helicopter. The two Park Rangers start hiking back they way they came. After we lifted off, one of the EMTs started an IV to pump more fluids into me. What I found amazing was, while the copter was bouncing around, he did a perfect needle stick. Twenty minutes later we touched down and I was wheeled into the ER.

By now, this was about 10pm. The ER staff were awesome. Very professional and very friendly. They ran a bunch of tests. Yes, I was very dehydrated. The tests showed several other things weren’t quite where they should be–kidneys, heart, etc. So I got the bonus of an overnight stay and was moved to a room. IVs in both arms, electrodes all over my chest, and things on my calves that would compress every 30 seconds or so. (I assume to avoid blood clots.)

And again, the staff, especially the nurses, were awesome. They took really great care of me. They actually got be a bowl of ravioli at 2am. (I hadn’t eaten since breakfast.) More tests showed signs of improvement over the course of the morning. By early afternoon (July 4th) the doctor came in and said that I now was good enough to be released. He told me that most likely the reason for my dehydration was my blood pressure medicine. It was a diuretic. And I hadn’t taken that into account when deciding how much water to carry.

He, too, was really great. During the course of our conversation I mentioned that my next immediate challenge was to retrieve my car from the trailhead in the Park. After getting the standard instructions from the nurse, I was released. Much to my amazement, a staff member was going to transport me in a hospital van for an hour to the trailhead in Canyonlands. What kind of customer service is that! All in all, I got to meet some really great people and great professionals. My thanks to all of them. It was the highlight of my trip. (Could’ve been the lowlight.)