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Show ilfW T ', -- f I n. Ordeal In The Wilderness with gas, and along with vomiting, he began belching, painfully Get his heart higher than his feet, Kevin ordered, and the two hurried to move packs to support Karlan in a sitting position. Dont move, he instructed Karlan. KEN HAD grabbed Karlans foot, and in the circle of light saw that the snake had hit with only one fang. As Kevin quickly reached for the rope to apply a tourniquet, Ken uneasily swung the light toward the foot of their beds. The rattler was moving toward them. He shouted a warning to Kevin. Kens first thought was that they had as it filled nothing with which to kill the snake. Tent poles were too light, and it would take too long to get them out of the pack. Kevin picked up one of the rocks used to hold down the plastic cover and slammed it on the snake with all his and to live, he thought of Valerie, and the baby he might never see. He fought harder. Scenes from his past life flashed through his mind, events of his childhood he had completely forgotten. He wondered if this meant he was dying. Ilis fright made him try harder. Karlan's eyes were paralyzed open. The pupils began to drift in different directions. He picked out a star above the Hamblin arch and struggled to focus his eyes on it. AS IUS breathing became more and more labored, something happened. Snakebite victims immediately develop a hyper fear of snakes or anything that moves. Ken had built a fence around Karlan with the tent to keep the still writhing snake from his sight. Suddenly, a little mouse scampered from above his head and slid down onto one of the packs. It made a whirring noise. There was real terror in Karlan's voice as he tried to call, Dad, from his ralyzed throat. Strangely, the sudden urst of adrenalin gave him added strength, and he began to breath easier. As Kevin had predicted, Karlan began to perspire, and great drops of sweat rolled oft his body. Ken sponged him with water from the canteens, squeezing moisture into his paralyzed eyes to prevent tissue damage. He turned Karlan on his side when he began choking on the saliva that ran down his paralyzed and an ambulance driver to the edge of Coyote Gulch. BACK AT Coyote Culch, Ken Richardson was surprised to see a man ride up on horselsack and asked if he had seen a boy who had been bitten by a rattlesnake. He had not expected any help much before 1 p.m. , But Karlan was in no condition to be put on a horse. Before be left, Evans promised to return in an hour, and if help had not arrived, he planned to leave a hone there for Ken. A short time later, Ken heard the roar of an engine, and he ran out from under the overhang to wave at the helicopter. The pilot flew over several times looking for a place to land, and then settled down on the rim above. BENEATH THE overhang was a level rock spot where previous campers had sank as the KENS HEART built a fire pit and arranged some big bounced off again. The sand is too logs around it. Although he knew there soft, he thought, but when the snake no way a helicopter could land, Ken was dead. was knew it began flopping, he started clearing this area. Snakes unable to coil are dead. But its all the writh continued to Then two things happened. A man body during night as Ken worked to save his son. came climbing down the side of the 300 The rattler was only two feet long, foot high cliff. It was Jay Welch. At the but it had a thick body about three same time Art Evans rode up ahead of inches in diameter. The fat body ended schedule. After checking Karlan and pronouncabruptly in five rattlers. Kevin was busy cutting a piece of the the tourniquets and the care given ing Kariaif Richardson and his father discuss their ordeal at Coyote Gulch and the miraculous circumstances surrounding rope. He tied a tourniquet tight enough him as "perfect, Welch turned to his his rescue and almost complete recovery after being bitten by a rattlesnake. to shut oft the veins, and at the same allow the arteries to pump through. time took food and water and hiked down to The knife, the rope, the bandages, By Margaret Van Noy The tourniquet had to be just right. KeLake Powell and back, a distance of 16 Profiles Writer flashlight, and even the rocks were vin knew that Karlan could lose his leg handy, ready for a foil day ahead. Little There was nothing ominous about miles. The way led through willows, hours with an in short two improperly d the river, led over rocks, up did Ken Richardson realize that he that dark June night as the three tightened tourniquet. would need every one of them long beRichardsons rolled their sleeping bags and down the many gulches and across WITH THE flashlight they watched hot sandy desserts. fore that day would break. out on the plastic ground cover and preKarlans color and checked his pulse. It As from 15 The three oft tired were he their drifted looked to sleep, he pared to settle down for the night. was 130. Karlan, a long distance swimmile hike, but like true backpackers, up at Jacob Hamblin Arch, a prominent Opposite them, one wall of Coyote has a normal pulse rate of 50 or 60. were looking forward to one more day in landmark visible for miles around. He mer, Gulch rose straight up 300 feet and that the poison could soon Knowing also looked at those sheer cliffs and woninto the darkness. Above them, the wilderness with its promise of more be well on its way to the heart, Ken also sounds and to come. dered how they would ever get out a massive overhang jutted out 100 feet sights wrapped one of the elastic bandages just On that warm June evening they lay should there be a flood. into the gulch. below the knee with a prayer that he for down, fully clothed except WITHIN A few short hours, the would shoes, on AT SOME remote time, the Escanot get it too tight or too loose. of their sleeping bags. Ken Richardthree Richardsons would come face to lante River might have been a roaring top Once the tourniquets were in place, son laid out the things they would need face with danger folly as terrifying as a torrent washing out a network of huge Kevin made a straight line incision with for the next days hike. flood. gulches, all converging into this one, but Kens knife into the fang mark and It was 1 a.m. when Karlan awoke to , Nearby, water seeped down the face now it was a mere trickle in its sandy ed to suck, spitting out the venom as he his left sensation white in hot of the cliff, but there was no way to fill a burning bed. worked. In minutes he too was belching For the Richardsons, father Ken and the canteens. Dragging a rock out of the foot. Something bit me, he called to and retching. creek bed, Ken had scraped and chipped Kevin who was sleeping between the sons Kevin 32, and Karlan 22, it was an WASH YOUR mouth out, Ken ' with his knife until he had hollow four I think it was a mouse. two. a ideal spot for their favorite pastime, ed as he took over. He had heard on Kevin raised himself sleepily up back packing. Back when his boys were inches deep and eight inches across. was no point in sucking out the there still small, Ken Richardson had begun With the rock set next to the wall, it was his elbows as Ken awoke and reached for venom after four minutes, but the shone his light. He quickly it toward the possible to fill all five canteens by dipRichardsons kept it up for an hour. packing them off into the wilderness, foot of the sleeping bag. ping the water out with a cup. and his love for nature and the At the end of that hour, they took WHAT HE saw took his breath had soon cast its spell on them as stock. Karlans throat was paralyzed. His A rattlesnake lay coiled, its tonwell. soon away. fingers and toes had gone numb. It was Gulch teas in and out, moving toward "Coyote flicking gue almost 3 a.m., and if they were to get They werp hearty individualists. Kevins feet. terror-fille- d They back packed in winter, summer, to become help for Karlan, someone would have to Ken Richardson could not believe his hike out. spring or fall, usually without a tent, event. eyes. He had checked with the park sersleeping in the open. While still very They decided that Kevin could make vice not only this season but last. Noyoung, they learned to recognize various ' the best time. He put on a big pair of THE CANTEENS were nearby. The body had ever seen a rattler in Coyote animal tracks and to follow those tracks. boots, and scooped up some dried food Gulch. Two girls, university students knife was in his pocket. for his breakfast. Ken gave him his flashThey crawled on hands and knees Ken kept his flashlight by his side. working for the park service, had slept through the snow to spend hours watchlight grateful that Karlan had insisted on on that spot two nights before. It cant From past experience in the wilds, he Ken Richardson and Karlan are dwarfed by Coyote Natural Bridge. The his along, but when he gave the ing elk or deer. They slept through blizbringing he knew that mice and sometimes rats be, Hamblin Arch is four or five times the size of the Bridge. thought. zards high on the slopes of the Oquirrh button an experimental push, nothing But there it was. Although their Mountains near their Tooele home. They would scavenger at campsites in the work. did not The flashlight happened. minds were literally paralyzed with fear, night. He had made sure to fill it with had hiked all night through Ophir Cantwo-wa- y Inside the metal was corroded with rust. radio and dismissed the helithroat. As Kevin men both acted was in knew it and new batteries instinctively. good his knife, he scraped away at the With yon. They had spent nights watching the have to bring him out by well BY MORNING he copter. had one canteen lept to his feet, Ken shone the light on desert floor come alive with creatures of condition. Just before the three had left rust and tried again. This time the light basket, he said. left. was of Karlan now able water to closer snake. closer and he the decided Karlan to had their Moving pickup, many kinds. came on. It stayed on just until daylight. swallow, and Ken began pouring water HOW LONG will that take? flicked the light oft and on. The snake IN SHORT, the Richardson boys and bring his flashlight too. KEVIN SET off at a run. He was still down him. crackled the pilots voice. backed for climbfoot A away. rope, handy thirty their hither were as much at home in the tired from the days 15 mile hike, but he In the meantime the first of a series Welch told him six or eight hours. KEN at was an ALTHOUGH coiled down and expert lay gulches, wilds as they were in their own living ing up knew there was no other way to get of remarkable incidents began to take I was a helicopter pilot with the first aid in the wilds, he turned to Kevin. within easy reach. Also nearby so as not rooms. It was eight hours to the pickup at help. - events that would lead from one forces in Vietnam, the voice division bandthe in elastic some place were Kevin, special be to working security this forgotten The year before one, while son Red Wells. His goal was to try for a to another into a miracle. came back. Ive set down in tighter of the LDS Church, was a trained emerages. With hikers there was always a Karlan was away serving a mission, Ken shortcut of four hours up Hurricane On his way back out, Kevin missed chance of broken bones or a sprain, and places. gency medical technician. Because of his Richardson and Kevin had come to the Gulch. This was the most likely spot to Gulch. He was already an Hurricane SO IT WAS that Ken Richardson for love he had studied the and had Ken Kevin wilderness, Escalante Mountains to see the strange the year before, would be find campers. Hopefully, there hour part it before he realized that the scorchwitnessed treathis own miracle as the big textbook on the section across themselves found emergency walking rock formations in the red sandstone someone with a CB or at least someone landmarks were unfamiliar. He turned ment for snakebite on his own. came flying down the narrow helicopter ing hot sand. cliffs. The beauty of the place had lived who would give him a ride to the around and literally ran back, thinking it He had barely finished THE PATCH of ground on which canyon, around two bends in the river up to its promise. Coyote Gulch beneath the time he had cut two hours off all and right under the huge overhang. The before Gulch. came he to Coyote they had made their beds was just large the Jacob Hamlin Arch was especially Karlans chances for survival. Karlan had moved to the top of his pilot deftly maneuvered around a tree, enough for the three sleeping bags and intriguing, and the two had made camp series . . The HALF AN hour later, he smelled ba", with no room to spare, and set the craft the their packs. Beneath them, and over as soon as he was bitten. That was on this very spot. bag con frying. The smell came from a camp down on the sandy ledge. sand, they had laid a plastic ground the last thing he was able to do. Within It was this sight that Karlan, fresh hidden in some willows. He would not 15 or 20 seconds, he became deathly sick cover, comers braced against the prosfrom his mission had impatiently waited It was 11 a.m. Ten hours had passed have seen it had he come along earlier. pect of a wind by large boulders 20 to 30 began to take dizzy and nauseated. He began retchto see. Since his return, more important Karlan Richardsons pleasant since With the a camps occupants, couple events had intervened until finally in pounds in weight. ing. His stomach immediately distended dreams had been interrupted by a nightfrom Salt Lake was for he an It anxious forced a Ken, City, night began June, the trio had been able to get away. mare. march to their car. They would drive alone with his stricken son. Kevin had The day before, they had packed in him to the pickup. Quickly the men slid Karlan into the some of the outlined he could reactions from Red Wells where they had left Ken Richardson tried to shout his seat. At of the the met Art As Ken met top gulch, they expect in Karlan. they came, their pickup. It had been an eight hour thanks to the man, whose name he did Evans, a local rancher, riding horseback after crises crises. hike with each one carrying a 40 pound not know, over the roar of the huge toward Coyote Gulch. Once a year, Karlan, senses numbed by the vicious pack. rotors. The pilot grinned back beneath Evans rode the for had of but not through gulch bite, looking complained pain, FOR KARLAN it was somewhat of a dark This was that glasses. Then he skillfully backed In one 43 strays. day. years suddenly he felt the same stinging, burnhomecoming trip. A young man with craft the into the cave, maneuvered of the he had seen left. never in his a this time gulch riding sensation, Angry ing goajs, life seemed to be going just as he the around snake. tree, and flew out from under red streaks above the elastic bandage had planned. A mission had been one roof into the sunthe HE OFFERED Karlin to Ken out overhanging leaked told that had out bring poison goal: he had achieved it. He had a proshine. horseback on and his started on around some wrinkles. Quickly he way. mising job as a computer operator with AT LAST Karlan Richardson was on It was 9 a.m. Eight hours had passed a tight rope tourniquet below it applied anUnivac. had been Sperry Marriage his way to the hospital. since Karlan Richardson had been bitten and rewound smoothed and the carefully other goal, and now he thought of his Ken Richardson rolled the three by a rattlesnake. bandage. The pain left. wife, Valerie, who was waiting for him in the pickup, Kevin raced toOnce packs into one, hoisted them to his back WAS Karlan to IT watch frightening at home. And perhaps the greatest and climbed on the horse behind Evans. ward Escalante. He knew the park seras his muscles began twitching and quivmiracle of all - the young couple were It would be 10 hours before he reached vice had a helicopter, and he was prayhis mouth drawn in a ering, up pucker. expecting their first child in November. Karlans side again. Several times he drew his right leg up to ing that it would be there. Actually, it The backpacking trip into the Escawas more than 200 miles away that day. in his muscle a and At the hospital, another set of mirbody spasm, rigid lante was a minor goal to become one AT THE ranger station, Kevin was acles waited for Karlan. Of six doctors in Ken, his father, worked to straighten it. of the many trips which were now only told there was no way to get a heliAll through the night, Ken worked to the community, only one. Dr. Terry pleasant memories. copter, and the group that had quickly keep Karlan awake. His breathing beHenrie, had ever treated snakebite. Dr. But for Karlan Richardson, Coyote came labored as though he had a heavy gathered began to make other plans. At Henrie, who had moved to Fanguitch Gulch was soon to become an adventure that moment an employee from the local weight on his chert. The father knew he only two weeks before, happened to be he would never forget, a terror filled Bureau of Land Management office had to do something to prevent the paron duty that night. The hospital hapevent that would return to haunt him walked in. from leading to respiratory failure. alysis and on pened to have five vials of again. again He had seen a helicopter, which beBreath as deeply as you can, he hand. AS THE three bedded down on that AS HE ARRIVED at the longed to an oil exploration company kept repeating to Karlan. He almost Panguitch night of June 9, they were pleased with shouted it. working out of Cody, Wyoming. Hospital, Karlan looked at the emerthe success of the first two days of the At that very moment, there were two KARLAN THOUGHT his father was gency room clock above his head. It was 1 p.m. Although another helicopters warming up on the comtrip. They had arrived on June 8, a MonKevin Richardson and his father beneath the red sandstone cliffs. The wall angry with him. He had never heard him chapter of pain day, and made camp. The next day, leavand suffering was about to open, the oruse that tone of voice before. As he panys pad, and one of the pilots agreed to the back and right gives some idea of the awesome and inaccessibility of the deal in the wilderness was over. ing most of their gear at the spot, they cliffs. struggled to breath, to stay conscious. to fly Jay Welch, the park service medic. t strength. criss-crosse- ct rs a . first of a of remarkable incidents - I place." anti-veni- m |