July 25 - North Fork Rescue and Mary Beth's Week

 Mary Beth held her week at the cabin.  Her friends from school and past that came up for Swimming, Kayaking, Tubing, Mountain Biking, Hiking and other fun.  She had two groups visit during the week and had more than enough food to feed an army (or a reunion).  On the final weekend, Katie brought up her godson, Oliver for kayaking and hiking.  I am sure Mary Beth took lots of photos that may, or may not be added to this site later.

There was some smoke on the final days of her week from the fire up near Quincy. We arrived at lunchtime on the 25th and all of her friends had left for home.  The smoke was very high and smelly - creating a thermal layer and making the midday very muggy and hot.  Katie decided to take Oliver down to the falls at the North Fork of the North Fork prior to heading home.  About 2 1/2 hours into her trip i got concerned because she was just doing a short hike and had wanted Jim to take Oliver on a Polaris ride before they left for home.  There was a good reason for the concern.  See the story below (which I also posted on Facebook).  

We have 4 new heroes here at Emigrant Gap. Yesterday, Katie and her godson Oliver went down to the NFNFAR falls to hike down to the pool. They met up with our "schoolhouse" neighbor, Adrian there. He scuba dives the pool below the falls and returns people their lost cell phones, go pros, etc. (truly a good guy).

There were a lot of people jumping off the boulders into the falls gorge and into the pool below. We have had many accidents at the falls and a few fatalities over the years. Anyway, while Katie and Oliver were there, this guy climbed up the face of the pool boulder (which has a nice flat ridge to climb along and handhelds to climb higher) and jumped off. Unfortunately, he did not clear the rock and hit his leg on the way down. He came up (luckily) but was swimming with only one leg. Adrian knew right away that he was in trouble. Adrian swam across the pool, rescuing the guy off a rock he had swum too on the far side of the pool. Then he pulled the guy to shore. He and another hero assessed the damage, there was a lot of blood and the knee looked to be broken. They got the blood to stop gushing by tying a towel around the guy's knee, which also kept his leg stabilized.

B y the way - there is no cell service back at the pool, Luckily for this guy, Adrian had his satellite phone and texted Jim (up at our cabin) to call 911. The response time for emergency services up here can be 40 minutes to 1 hour. Since Adrian could not tell if we got his text and we could not text him back, Adrian and the other hero carried the injured guy about 1/2 mile to the road. Oliver and Katie walked ahead of the rescue crew and removed debris and rocks from the path. Then they put him in the back of our truck, readying to drive him slowly out.

That is when the Cal Fire rescue guys arrived (4 rescue trucks). We are not sure the injured guy took the rescue truck to the hospital ($$$) - we think he must have since his leg looked pretty badly broken.

With all that, Jim and I are here for a few days working on the siding.  We hope to be ready to prime and paint during the month of August. Then, of course, September is the beginning of football season and also it is time to get ready for tree cutting and firewood for the winter.  Ah, the idle life of cabin owners.