Utah hiker finds the absolute worst place to injure an ankle – on top of a rock spire

Dave Golder
·2 min read
Utah hiker finds the absolute worst place to injure an ankle – on top of a rock spire.
Utah hiker finds the absolute worst place to injure an ankle – on top of a rock spire.

A foolhardy hiker in Utah found the worst place to injure an ankle – on top of a rock spire, or “hoodoo”, thousands of feet high with a five-foot jump back to safety. In other words, he was totally stranded.

The unnamed man in his 60s had injured his ankle when he leapt across the five-foot chasm onto the mushroom-like top of the hoodoo, then couldn’t make his way back across the gap. So near and yet so far.

The incident happened on Saturday, May 4th, Grand County EMS and Grand County Sheriff's Search and Rescue (GCSAR) were dispatched just after three in the afternoon to Pucker Pass in Long Canyon to rescue the hiker. And, of course they photographed the rescue and posted it on Facebook as a warning to others that leaping onto hoodoos is likely to get you a starring role on Tourons of National Parks.

When the GCSAR team arrived, they found the guy with “a sharp, catastrophic drop on all sides”. As you can see in one of the photos, they reached him using a ladder and ropes to bridge the gap, gave him medical attention, then dragged him back across the ladder to safety. The incident was over by 5.45pm. Someone clearly needs to read our article how to remain injury-free when you're hiking this summer.

Long Canyon is a 7.6-mile canyon in Moab, Utah that’s a popular side trip to take when visiting Canyonlands National Park or Dead Horse Point State Park. Pucker Pass is a section of Long Canyon Road that runs down to the Colorado River near Canyonlands National Park.