Teenage Boy Rescued From Waterfalls In Washington State

By Gene Johnson, AP/The Huffington Post

SEATTLE — Swept down one waterfall and about to plunge over a much larger one, a 13-year-old boy managed to climb onto a 1-foot-wide rock shelf in a gushing Washington state river –- and then stayed there for eight and a half hours until rescuers finally saved him early Sunday. The ABC news video, embedded above, shows raw footage from the rescue.

William Hickman told the Seattle Times on Monday that he is grateful to be alive.

"I feel lucky I got through it all," Hickman said. "I think the rescuers should feel like heroes; they saved me. I'm lucky to be alive."

Hickman was out hiking with his father, his younger brother and his father's friend at about 5 p.m. Saturday, when he began wading in the river above Wallace Falls, at a popular state park near Gold Bar, 45 miles northeast of Seattle in the Cascade foothills. The top of the falls is a steep, nearly 3-mile hike from the trailhead.

"I wanted to go in...just to wade a little bit," Hickman said at a news conference Monday. "I was pretty determined to go swimming, to get in the water."

According to an updated Associated Press report, the teenager was swept over the the 10-foot waterfall by the whitewater. Incredibly, he managed to pull himself onto a narrow, sloping rock shelf just before the second waterfall -- the 270-foot main attraction.

With his back to the wall, he crouched and waited for help, his toes in the water.

"He was on that one rock for all those hours," Snohomish County Sheriff's Lt. Suzy Johnson said. "He's a pretty lucky kid."

Hickman told the Associated Press that though he wasn't frightened initially, he soon realized just how precarious his situation was.

"I wasn't really scared until after I got on top of the rock," he said. "I was shocked that I landed there, that I was not going to go down and die."

Rescuers first tried to reach him by helicopter, but the rock overhanging the shelf prevented them from dropping straight down. Instead, a helicopter crew dropped two rescuers 200 yards below him.

The rescuers climbed above the rock overhang, and then worked as a team –- one rappelling down, the other belaying. Their goal was just to reach him and place him in a harness that would keep him safe until others arrived, said Deputy Bill Quistorf, chief pilot for the sheriff's air support unit.

As one rappelled down, he tried to swing his body under the overhang. His rope, rubbing against the rock, snapped, and he plunged into the whitewater. Only his secondary rope saved him from going over the big falls, and he made it to shore with minor injuries.

Other rescuers hiked up the trail, and arrived to find Hickman standing on the rock, wet and hypothermic. They threw him dry clothes and food and set up a rigging that would allow them to rescue him, including a 24-foot aluminum ladder placed horizontally across the river and secured with several ropes.

The end of the ladder reached just below the rock shelf, and the boy and one of the rescuers used it as a foothold for their climb up the rocks to safety at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The 10 rescuers camped with him overnight, and Quistorf flew them out at 6 a.m. There was no place for him to land, so the boy and the rescuers rode on a platform hanging from a cable 80 feet below the helicopter.

His mother, Heather Hickman, got a phone call from his dad Sunday morning.

"Their dad said, `I got something to tell you about last night, we almost lost William.' I told him he will never take my sons to a river again," Heather Hickman told the Associated Press. "He could've died, we could be having a totally different conversation right now."

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Comments

[jsnakevenom123]

09:05 AM on 05/23/2012

I was around 13 the first time I went to Wallace Falls. I didn't think of getting in the water, because I was smart enough to know that "Hey, that water is fast." Stupid kid, but glad he's ok.

[agranon]

06:59 PM on 05/22/2012

Stupid kid.

[oldmanbrute]

07:36 PM on 05/22/2012

Ditto

[JASx2]

02:03 AM on 05/23/2012

The kid's 13...more like stupid dad!!!

[Flyhigher11]

05:52 PM on 05/22/2012

I believe all forms of so called "extreme" sports should be re-named extremely stupid sports.

Every year hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent rescuing idiots from their cliff-climbing/mountain climbing or rappeling escapades. And it's all so they can post it on You Tube or brag to their friends.

You have to be dumber than the rocks you're climbing to risk your life for these reasons.

[bluestems]

06:11 PM on 05/22/2012

This 13 year old boy and his family were hiking, and he decided to wade in the water. I don't think he was doing it for the adrenaline rush. If it were up to you, would have chosen to leave him stranded on the rock ledge?

plus, if you scroll down a bit, you'll see a post of mine that includes a response on search and rescue costs. Apparently mountain rescues are not the majority of search & rescue missions, and the rescue units are volunteers.

[dethburger]

12:37 AM on 05/23/2012

More people die from their irresponsible eating habits..

The cost on society is off the charts.

1 in 3 smokers die from cigarettes.

What kind of shape are you in?

Do you smoke?

I bet, though I may be mistaken, that you are in one of these groups.

If so then you have no room to talk.

[Cheryl Casale]

05:48 PM on 05/22/2012

thank god that rocky wall was there for him to grab onto, hes very lucky.glad your safe thats the most inportant thing.

[John Peoples]

05:43 PM on 05/22/2012

Child abuse charges should be filed against the father. And any other stupid a-s-z parent who willingly put a child in dangerous situations...

[krondool]

06:09 PM on 05/22/2012

ROFL you have an incredibly short memory, and incredibly over-sheltered life, or never had teenagers of your own.

[dethburger]

12:38 AM on 05/23/2012

silly post.

[pslcitizen]

05:22 PM on 05/22/2012

He's extremely lucky to be alive.

[drumb47]

05:16 PM on 05/22/2012

Hats off to the rescuers... And the sign said, "Dangerous current do not enter the water." This
kid, thank God he's safe, put a lot of people in danger because he did what he wanted to do and not what he was safe. Just hope he learned a lesson. Next time he just might not be so blessed.

[dethburger]

12:39 AM on 05/23/2012

Blessed?

Lucky would be more like it.

[YakittyGirl]

03:38 PM on 05/22/2012

I find it irritating but am no longer surprised when people drag politics into a happy story like this rescue.

[blindskeeter]

02:59 PM on 05/22/2012

Why the picture book? What a cheap representation.

[goatcheesepleez]

02:56 PM on 05/22/2012

What a miracle!!

[dethburger]

12:40 AM on 05/23/2012

No miracle.

Just well trained rescuers doing what they do.

[goatcheesepleez]

10:40 AM on 05/23/2012

I hear you. It's just that as a mom of 5 I am so grateful that this had a happy ending. Amazing people those rescuers! Unsung heroes!

[tjh54]

02:55 PM on 05/22/2012

It takes tremendous amounts of training to acquire the skills necessary to accomplish these types of rescues. Accidents like this happen all over the USA I hope that your state government has allocated the necessary funds for these teams. However I’m afraid that with all of the budget cuts many will be unprepared.

[jerrypl]

02:43 PM on 05/22/2012

These brave people are the real American heroes!!! I celebrate your skills, strength and dedication.

[dethburger]

12:41 AM on 05/23/2012

So true.

[kwadmanply]

02:38 PM on 05/22/2012

This was a wonderful thing that the rescuers did for this young man. How lucky this family was that this man who risked his own life too, was able to save their son.

[myviews]

02:35 PM on 05/22/2012

Lucky boy, brother and dad, lucky family!! Hooray to the heroes who rescued him. Life!

[blindskeeter]

02:34 PM on 05/22/2012

At the 2.50 mark is that rocks on the bottom? Is that like 1 or 2 feet deep? Anyways what a great dad to put his son in that kind of danger. I hope they get a bill for the resue. We the tax payer shouldn't have to foot the bill for all that rescue team and choppers. I play putt putt for fun. Why should I have to pay for their dangerous hobby?

[tjjackson]

02:42 PM on 05/22/2012

You think hiking is dangerous?

[blindskeeter]

02:57 PM on 05/22/2012

No not at all, he should have swam to shore. Ya thaink?

[bluestems]

05:40 PM on 05/22/2012

Thought you might be interested in this email reply to someone who, like you, was concerned about their money over regard for life. I hope you find it helpful.

"The cost of search and rescue operations in State of Washington is
actually quite low due to one key factor: volunteers. Search and rescue
units are volunteer organizations made up of your fellow citizens who
have chosen to serve their communities.

There are, of course, some costs associated with this. Depending upon
jurisdiction, the on-scene commander is usually a deputy sheriff or in
the case of Mt. Rainer and Olympic National Parks, a park ranger. As
noted above, these costs come out of the jurisdictions law enforcement
budget. The state does provide some limited support for volunteers in
the form of reimbursement for medical expenses resulting from injury or
for lost or damaged personal property. The single greatest expenditure
for a search and rescue incident would be the training for and conduct
of field operations if that were not done by our volunteers at no cost.

It may also be helpful to note here that, although they receive much
media attention, search and rescue operations in the mountains
constitute a very small fraction of the approximately 700 search and
rescue missions conducted in the state each year. By far, most missions
involve ordinary citizens who find themselves in distress either in the
outdoors, or increasingly, in or near their own communities. "