The real story

I would like to clarify things and set them straight.  The last couple of days have shed alot of light on the rescue situation regarding Logan after his fall.  We have had visits from four of the hikers in the group that witnessed his fall.  They all have been very concerned about him and wanted to see how he is doing.  There were about ten in the group that were repelling down the canyon when Logan and Kristin came upon them.  The last group of the day, as it was about 5:30.   Some of them were already down and some were still at the top.  After he fell, the two men who were only a couple of feet from where he landed, pulled him from the water.  He had blacked out and had slid down into the water of a very sloping rock that went into a pool of water about 30 ft. deep.  They got him onto the rock, got Kristin down safely and took off whatever clothing they could spare to cover him and keep him warm.  Some of the group left immediately to get help, hiking a mile and half to get cell phone service.  Others left to see if they could help direct the rescue team to his location.

 Two of them stayed with Logan until they decided they were becoming more of a liability to the recuers because they were getting cold with their lack of clothing.  They said it was a really hard decision to make but they felt it was the right one.  They had to swim out of the canyon in the dark and hike the several miles to the trail head.  They met three rescue people as they were coming out, but for some reason those people never made it down to Logan.  It wasn't until about four hours later that a special SAR team from Payson reached him and were able to get him out on a floating board, through the water, over boulders, and up the switchbacks to the helicopter.  We learned that teams from all over responded to this emergency.  Coming from Globe, Payson, DPS, Fire Departments, even a horse and mule rescue organization was there to help.  And the hikers never left, they were there with the rescue teams the whole time.

      We have come to the realization that these people saved his life.  Logan was very angry thinking that these hikers called for help and then just abandoned him for the four or five hours that he was there waiting.  That couldn't have been farther from the truth.  It hit him pretty hard when he learned all of the details and heard what really happened.  He was very emotional.  There were so many people who had a part in his rescue and we feel such gratitude to them.  If those hikers would not have been there when he fell, his outcome would not be such a happy one.  How do you repay something like that?

A life saved.