Saturday morning I got all of the kids out of bed early, dressed and into the car. We drove up tp Grandma's house to meet up with a couple of John's sisters (one visiting from Florida, and the other visiting from Arizona) and then drove into Provo canyon to hike to Stuart Falls. I left Joseph and Joshua with Grandma, but took the baby and the 6 oldest children.
The mountains are absolutely stunning right now! The leaves have changed and bathed the mountains in bright reds and yellows. We can see the colors from the valley, but that view is nothing to what one gets up in the mountains.
We all happily hiked the mile and a half or so to the falls. On the way to the falls, the kids enjoyed their cousins, conversation, the scenery, the insects and caterpillars, and the exercise.
Just as we got to the cliff above the falls, a family stopped us and told us that boy had just fallen 50 feet from the cliff. We missed seeing this tragedy by only a moment. We continued down to the falls as planned, but the heavy feeling of tragedy kept us from having any fun in the river. Instead we watched as rescue workers hiked in one at a time. We saw a rescue helicopter unable to land and heard ambulances coming down some far off roads.
The kids anxiously asked questions. John's sister Emily went to the group near the fallen boy to see if she could help. There were three doctors who happened to hiking, helping. Emily reported that the boy breathed, but did not move.
When the rescue workers secured the boy and used a sled sort of thing, with a bike-like tire to roll the boy down the river toward the road, we gathered the kids and started the hike back to the car. The hike back while still beautiful was not fun. The tired kids trudged along stopping to rest here and there. A couple of the kids fell and scraped themselves. Anya told me this was long and it would never end. When I asked Anya if she thought we would stay in the mountains, she said she thought so. She also said that she thought we would never make it back to the car.
We did make it back to the car. In fact, when we exited the trail, the kids ran and had energy again. I got the kids an ice cream cone on the way back to Grandma's. We had a lot to tell Dad and Grandma. It is sobering to be a witness to such an awful tragedy.
