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A rescue mission and a ferry ride
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The next morning, our 34th wedding anniversary, we were up early to hit the road to get to Lake Powell, another impromptu stop. We had read about Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural sandstone arch in the world and decided to go see it. However, there are only two ways to see the bridge. The first is to walk twenty miles across the desert of the Navaho reservation in the summer with temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s or go to Lake Powell and go by boat. We chose the latter. When I tried to reserve a boat and campsite at Wahweap campground, which was just off our planned route to Zion, there were none available so I tried instead at the Bullfrog campground. Here I was successful, but the route to the Bullfrog campground took us to the north back into central Utah. This meant another change of itinerary, going from Lake Powell to Capitol Reef National Park, Bryce National Park, and finally to Zion. Not that I'm complaining! The only catch with going to Bullfrog is that you have to catch a ferry across Lake Powell from the Halls Crossing. The ferry is large enough to accommodate 20-30 cars or larger vehicles like us, but only runs every two hours. We hoped to make the 12:00PM ferry and were up and out of the campground by 8:30AM which should have allowed more than enough time to make the two and one half hour drive and make us first in line. However, someone had other plans for us this morning.
We set out from the campground and had traveled about three miles, when I saw a huge dust cloud over the next rise. As we crested the rise, I saw what had created the dust cloud. A car had crossed over the center line, hit a passenger van, and come to rest in the ditch, facing the opposite direction from which it had come. We pulled up behind the van and I immediately pulled out my cell phone and called 911. Cell phone reception in this area is spotty at best, but I was able to get through to the dispatch center and report the accident. While I was on the phone, one of the passengers in the car in the ditch painfully climbed out of the rear passenger side window and fell to the ground with blood on his face and moaning that he was having severe difficulty breathing. There were two other passengers in the vehicle, another passenger in the rear (that we later found out was the driver) and one in the front who was crying in pain. Deb went up and tried to comfort the passenger on the ground that was having difficulty breathing, urging him to stay calm and still until the ambulance arrived. In the meantime, I went up to the passenger van to see if everyone there was okay. The folks driving were French and shaken but fortunately not hurt. There was another car stopped a little further up the road that contained a group of German tourists who had almost been hit by the car in the ditch. In talking with them and looking at the skid marks on the road, it was obvious that the car is the ditch was speeding down the road, went off the road to the right, and since there was no shoulder, swerved back across their lane and the opposing lane, barely missing the group of German tourists, but colliding with the French group. The belongings for the car in the ditch were strewn all along the highway and wash, and the car was a complete wreck. While we were waiting for the ambulance and police, I loaned my cell phone to the French couple to try and get help from their rental company, Alamo. What a disaster! Alamo apparently has some arrangement with a third world call center. This coupled with the poor cell phone reception made any communications impossible and I finally told the French couple that they would have to get the police to transport them back to the campground so they could talk via a landline.
In the meantime, as cars went up and down the road, every car driven by one of the Navaho reservation stopped to see if they could be of assistance. Also, a car driven by one of the teachers at the local high school stopped to see if he could help. He had taught two of the three accident victims and tucked his tie into his starched white shirt and did what he could to help.
The passenger who was having difficulty breathing was not doing very well. Since I couldn't think what else to do, I called and texted our daughter, Christiane, who is a second year resident at Harvard. I needed some medical advice and there was none available in this remote place. Unfortunately, I didn't reach her immediately and I know I scared her with my brief voicemail and text messages, but I couldn't just stand by and do nothing.
At about this time the police finally arrived, but offered very little in the way of first aid for the victims, simply repeating the mantra, "Stay calm. Help is on the way". Finally after twenty to thirty minutes, an ambulance did arrive. Deb had talked with the teacher and he told her that because of the spotty telephone service and distances involved that it sometimes took as long as an hour or more for help to arrive.
Once the ambulance and EMTs arrived, they immediately began triage and started working on the passenger who was having difficulty breathing. They immobilized his neck with a brace, got him on a backboard, and loaded him on the ambulance and made arrangements for an air evacuation to the nearest hospital.
Then it was on to the passenger in the back seat. Again, his neck was braced and I helped steady his head while he was slid out of the back seat and onto the backboard. Once he was immobilized and strapped to the board, I helped lift him onto a gurney and into the ambulance.
The final passenger was the girl in the front passenger seat, crying in pain. The problem was that the passenger side door was buried in the side of the ditch. One of the people who stopped at the accident produced a small shovel and was able to excavate the ditch enough that the door could be opened. We again repeated the procedure of bracing her neck, then gently (as possible) lowering and securing her to a backboard, and finally lifting her onto a gurney and into the ambulance.
After all of this and filling out witness reports for the police, we helped collect the belongings along the highway and finally we were on our shaken way. Needless to say, we missed the 12:00PM ferry and had to wait until 2:00PM crossing. We hope and pray that all three of the teenagers are okay.
Lake Powell is very odd.
The lake was created by flooding the Glen Canyon which is above the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. The red stone cascades into the blue water of Lake Powell, creating a boating paradise. The surrounding area is high, dry, hot desert. Since we had just missed the 12:00PM ferry, we were first in line for the 2:00PM one. This was a good thing since we are so long. The ferry accommodates about 25 cars, but we easily take up the space of three or four. We were able to pull straight on and had a spot at the very front. Sam immediately took over his seat in the driver's chair, surveying his surroundings.
One thing that does puzzle me is how they got the ferry and all the houseboats to the lake. They must arrive in pieces and then be assembled on site because many are way to large to make the trip overland. In any case, we crossed the lake and were the first off the ferry and then on to our campsite.
After our late arrival at the campground (note to all NPS employees: MORE SIGNS ARE BETTER!), we decided to go to dinner at the lodge instead of cooking in the 100 degree heat. At the lodge we had an amazing sight. Due to the rain falling and the angle of the sun, the far rocky shore looked like it was covered with a sheet of ice! It was quite beautiful, but then when we returned that night we had the additional benefit of a gorgeous sunset to welcome us home.
To top the day off, as Deb was walking Sam and Luna that evening, he spotted a rabbit that took off into a deep ravine behind the campground. He tore the leash from Deb's hand and was gone. The bottom of the ravine was probably 70 to 80 feet down and covered with scrub oak. Deb was very upset and started calling for him. All of the campers who witnessed this came to her aid and offered to hold Luna and joined in calling his name. Deb was just about to descend into the ravine in search of him, when Sam came trotting up the side, trailing his leash, with a self-satisfied grin on his face. He came close to losing his happy home!
This was a difficult day, but we believe that we were in the right place at the right time to provide these folks with a little comfort and aid.
Where I stayed:
Bullfrog Campground
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