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 in a gushing Washington state river — and then stayed there for 8 1/2 hours until rescuers finally saved him early Sunday, sheriff’s officials said.
The teen was out hiking with his father and his father’s friend 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 boy slipped on some rocks and the water carried him down a 10-foot waterfall. Just before he would have fallen over the 270-foot main attraction, he scrambled to the rock, five yards from shore.
“He was on that one rock for all those hours,” Snohomish County Sheriff’s Lt. Suzy Johnson said. “He’s a pretty lucky kid.”
Rescuers first tried to reach him by helicopter, but a rock overhang prevented them from getting a clear shot at reaching him.
The first rescuer lowered down and tried to swing to the boy, but the friction from the rock ledge cut the rope, and the rescuer plunged into the river.
His secondary rope kept him from going over the falls, and he made it to the river bank with only minor injuries.
Others hiked up to the scene to find the boy 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.
They finally got him off the rock about 1:30 a.m. Sunday.
Front Section, Pages 2 on 05/21/2012