Raven In A Ravine
In August a number of summers ago, as an adult leader, another leader and I took six of our senior Boy Scouts on a high adventure 40-mile backpack trip for seven days over the North Cascades in Washington State. We took the Lake Chelan ferry to Lucerne and began our trek at a small settlement of Holden, just east of Lake Chelan. We were headed on a one-way trek to our ride home at Sulphur Creek camp on the Suiattle River. This is very rugged, mountainous terrain, and in many places the trails are narrow and rocky.
We were on the last day of our adventure, headed to the Sulphur Creek camp , where we were to be picked up the following morning. With about two miles to go, our group encountered four horses, three with riders, and one carrying packs. Well, even though we live in the "West", my Scouts are virtually all city boys, and generally do not encounter horses very often, except for summer camp. We have, however, attended and received certification in back country skills through the Scouting Ahead - Leave No Trace camping skills program. A section of this program teaches the participants how to handle horse encounters in the wilderness, so we knew that we should move to the downhill side of the stock to let the horses pass. The reason for this is that most horses will "spook" at things they do not understand; people with backpacks are scary to the horses, and we wanted them to be able to look down on us so we appeared smaller and non-threatening. Well, the trail was extremely narrow and fell off very quickly on the downhill side. Therefore, as the tour leader, I made the decision for us to move uphill, but I instructed the crew to squat or sit down to appear smaller to the horses. Fortunately, this worked well and the horses passed with very little nervousness. Smiles and "howdies" were exchanged between the Scouts and horsemen.
Once our crew had all gotten back on their feet and resumed hiking, only moments passed before we heard the woman rider scream, then a very loud crash and thud! I knew immediately what had happened, and all sorts of horrors began flashing through my mind. We dropped our packs, and my assistant and I ran back up the trail about 100 yards, only to discover that the most awful of our imagined horrors had indeed happened: one of the horses had fallen off the trail and was lying on his side in a ravine about 25 or 30 feet below the trail. My assistant, Debbie, was very much shaken by the sight, and drew the same conclusion I had, the horse was dead! I called to the rider, and asked if he was all right. He was working on the horse, attempting to release the saddle, when the horse, Raven, started to try to get on his feet. Let me tell you, that was a heart warming sight for all of us on the trail above.
After quick introductions, I learned from the woman rider, Deanne, what had happened: Mark, her husband, had bailed out of the saddle immediately when Raven lost his footing on the narrow trail and began to fall. Mark landed in the first six or eight feet off the steep trail, right before the 25 foot cliff. Mark’s split second thinking is the only thing that prevented him from accompanying Raven over the cliff and any serious human injury. Now things started happening quickly. Mark scrambled down the cliff and found that Raven had two rather serious cuts, one on the inside of his rear thigh that was bleeding quite a bit. I yelled down to Mark to put direct pressure on the wound and not take it off (hooray for first aid training!) I also began talking and planning strategies with the third rider, Tim. Our first concern was to get the other three horses back down the trail to a wider, safer place to prevent compounding the situation. One of the Boy Scouts helped Tim and I lead the horses back to where the rest of our crew was, where we tied the horses up in a safe spot. Meanwhile, Deanne had dug out the equine first aid kit, but unfortunately it did not have any bandages, just some leg tape. Deanne and Debbie headed down the mountainside (in a safer but still pretty steep spot) and began to work out what treatments to administer to poor Raven. Debbie (Be Prepared!) knew she had two arm slings in her first aid kit, so I went back to her pack and got her first aid pack to send down the ravine. I stationed two Scouts on the downhill part of the trail to stop any hikers or other horses before they came to where all the action was.
So what do you think was needed after the bleeding stopped? You guessed it: treat for shock! Well, a horse is not going to lie down and rest, so we just put his saddle pad, blanket, and a rain poncho over him to help keep him warm. The first fifteen to thirty minutes were very scary for all of us, as we watched this magnificent animal sweat profusely, fluid just pouring off his body. Debbie and Deanne stayed with Raven and comforted him while Tim and Mark began to look for a way out of the ravine.
While the horsemen began cutting a trail out of the steep cut, several Scouts and I began the task of hauling up the saddle, pack, and other gear that Raven had been carrying. Here’s where my experience with training the new Scouts came in handy, tying bowlines to the gear while the Scouts hauled the stuff up the cliff. It was most important to me to not endanger any of the boys’ safety, so they were instructed to stay on the trail while the adults handled the ravine end of things. It was a real team effort, and the equipment was soon piled at the edge of the trail.
After about an hour of cutting a trail up out of the ravine, Mark brought Raven over to the newly cut trail and began to coax him up the trail. They had not gone more than ten feet or so when Mark fell, halting the progress, and after a few seconds of teetering, Raven fell backwards and back into the ravine! I witnessed this, and let me tell you it just tore at my heart. Raven immediately got back on his feet, and did not seem to have suffered any additional injuries. There certainly was a mental effect however: both Tim and Mark could not persuade that stallion to move one single inch up that trail! He just planted his feet and that was it.
Realizing there was nothing else my group could do, Debbie and I decided to continue our trek out. I did chat for a few minutes with Deanne, and asked her if there was someone we could either try to call or arrange some kind of contact for her (I had already determined that there was no cellular phone service this deep in the back country.) She explained that her cousin, Brian and his family had mentioned that they were going to try to get up to Sulphur Creek for the weekend. She gave me his phone number and a description of his truck and horse trailer, and so, with that, we pressed on to trail’s end.
When our crew entered the Sulphur Creek campground, I separated and went down to the horse camp. Much to my surprise and delight, there was the truck and trailer that Deanne had described. I was happy to discover her cousin Brian and his family, his friend Joe, and six horses. I quickly told them the story and recommended he head out with a spare horse. It did not take very long for Brian and Joe to get on the trail. About seven o’clock that evening, after dinner, Debbie and I decided to take a walk over to the horse camp. Well, none of the horsemen hat returned yet, so we sat for a bit with the rest of Brian's family and re-told the story around the campfire. About fifteen minutes later, the sight we had hoped and prayed for appeared: in strolled Mark and Raven, both looking a little ragged and tired, and Raven certainly looking sad, but under his own power! Mark told us that they had been so happy to see Brian and Joe, and it was only with the four of them working that had been able to get Raven out. With the threat of night approaching, Deanne, Tim and Mark had decided to spend the night out in the ravine and were setting up camp when help had arrived.
The next day, I again walked back to the horse camp, and chatted with Mark and Deanne. They told me that they were convinced that we had "saved their lives." I explained that was not really so, that we had simply "done what Boy Scouts do." This experience was one that I will never forget, as I am sure goes for Debbie and the boys. The leadership and outdoor skills that we all learned and developed in Scouting certainly paid off that day!
(Note: I placed a follow-up call the next month, and Raven was doing just fine, he was still quite sore and slow, but coming back to health! Mark said that Raven was probably done with trail riding.)