On Friday, July 16, 2004 a call went out to the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue team based out of Yucaipa, California to look for a lost hiker in Joshua Tree National Park. We were supposed to meet at the Mill Creek Ranger Station (our base of operation) at 4am on Saturday, July 17, 2004 to arrive in Joshua Tree National Park by 6am and search the desert for a lost seventeen-year-old male. He had been missing for a week at this point and given the summertime temperatures in Joshua Tree, we knew that it if we found him, it would most likely be a body recovery not a rescue.
My best friend, Scott Johnston picked me up at my house at 3:30 in the morning. I drove off with Scott to the ranger station to meet the others. Scott and I put our gear into the search and rescue suburban and I crawled into the very back seat and lay down in the hopes of getting in a little more sleep before we got to Joshua Tree. Scott climbed into the seat in front of me. Shane, another team member, sat in the seat next to Scott. Dave and Phil (two veteran team members) were in the front. Dave was driving. We left a little after 4am.
We lead the caravan with three other search and rescue vehicles behind us. Scott immediately fell asleep and began snoring. We had a good laugh about Scott’s imitation of a whale giving birth. I soon fell asleep in the back seat as well.
The next thing that I remember is pulling myself up off the floor of the suburban. I sat up in the seat; I was very confused. Something had happened, but I wasn’t sure what. I quickly realized my legs were stuck under the seat in front of me. I tried to move them, but pain shot through my entire body. My legs were broken. I would later find out that we had been hit head-on by a man and his girlfriend severely under the influence of methamphetamine. They had been partying all night and decided to go get some breakfast and buy some more drugs. They were driving west bound on Hwy 62 toward Palm Springs and we were traveling east on Hwy 62 toward Joshua Tree. At the intersection of Hwy 62 and Navajo Trail Rd in Morongo Valley, the man passed out at the wheel, swerved into our lane, and hit us head-on. As usually happens with drivers under the influence, he was completely fine and walked away from the crash. His girlfriend, however, was in really bad shape. By this time our SAR caravan was a too far spread out on the highway for the other vehicles to have seen the crash, but they were on scene within a few minutes of it.
I shouted for someone to get me out of the vehicle. Dave, the driver of our vehicle, had been spared injury by the airbag and came over to me and tried
to get my legs out from under the seat. But it was no good, my legs were wedged under the seat in front of me. Dave didn’t want to injure me more, so he stopped trying to free my legs. Julie and Jim, or “Doc” as we called him (Jim was an Emergency Room doctor) were the first SAR vehicle to arrive on scene. Doc quickly took charge. They took Scott’s body out from the seat in front of me. Scott was not breathing and unresponsive. Doc and Julie placed Scott’s body on the street and began CPR. The Morongo Valley paramedics arrived soon after Julie and Doc. They brought over a defibrillator and attempted to jolt life back into Scott. But after ten minutes Doc pronounced Scott dead at the scene. The rest of the SAR team was on scene shortly after. Everyone was in shock to see their fellow team members injured or dead. But their training kicked in and everyone started helping wherever they could. Dave helped Shane out of the vehicle and into a comfortable position for the paramedics to assess his condition. He had a broken rib and a dislocated shoulder but was sent home from the hospital that day. Phil, who was in the front passenger seat took the full force of the crash. His legs were broken, but amazingly, he was talking and coherent after the crash. Doc checked him out and didn’t find any signs internal injury. Doc and Phil sent by ambulance to Desert Regional Medical Center about an hour away in Palm Springs. Phil was an older team member and the stress of the crash and his injuries caused his organs to start shutting down two days after the accident. There was nothing the doctors could do and Phil passed away at Desert Regional with his wife at his side.
Morongo Valley Fire Department had arrived on the scene shortly after the rest of the SAR vehicles arrived. They had to use the “Jaws of Life” to cut me free from the back of the Suburban. I was awake and coherent and cussing up a storm to get me out of the vehicle, which led everyone to believe that my only injuries were my legs. But Doc could see that I was turning pale and going into shock. He assessed that I had internal bleeding and that I would “bleed out” and be dead before I reached Desert Regional. So he did not put me on the ambulance with Phil. Doc, but ordered a helicopter to take me to Arrowhead Regional Hospital in Colton (where he worked). Arrowhead Regional has one of the best trauma centers in California and doc knew that it was my only chance for survival. I thank God every day that Doc happened to be on that call. If Doc were not there, the paramedics would have put me on the Ambulance with Phil and I would have been dead on arrival.
The Mercy Air helicopter flew me to Arrowhead Regional. Doc was right to send me by helicopter. When I arrived my breathing and heart rate were almost non-existent. The Trauma Center doctors immediately rushed me to surgery and cut me open to find and repair the severed artery before I bled out. They were
successful in stopping the bleeding and began to attend to my other injuries. I had suffered a compound fracture in my left leg, a crushed right foot, and a
shattered L5 vertebrae. They tackled my back first and put in a fusion from my L3 vertebrae to my S1 or tailbone. I have two rods and six screws holding my
back together. Fortunately, the L5 shattered outward and did not damage my spine or I would have been paralyzed from the waist down. Next, they put a rod and four screws in my left leg to put it back together. Finally, they put an external fixator on my right foot to put my shattered foot back together. I had five surgeries over the course of my first week in the hospital. I was in the ICU and they kept me unconscious because of all the surgeries I had to go through. I finally woke up about two weeks after the crash. I was moved to a regular hospital room. I spent over two months in the hospital allowing all my injuries to heal sufficiently enough to start physical therapy. I was moved to Loma Linda Hospital where I spent another month in rehad. I was finally discharged to go home almost three months after the accident. I was still mostly bed-ridden and needed help doing everything. A physical therapist came to my house three times a week for the next six months. Slowly but surely, I was learning to walk again and able to do more things for myself. I continued my own physical workout routine for another six months. I was off work for over a year after the crash. I still have nerve damage to my legs and chronic pain in my back and legs. I can’t run, but I never really like running any way. I got back in to hiking and back-packing and returned to the search and rescue for another ten years after the accident. I retired from the team when we started having children. The time commitment was too much, and I wanted to enjoy my time with my kids. It’s been almost twenty years since the accident. Now that I have hit my fifties, I’m slowing down a bit. My back and leg pain are making it harder and harder to get out into the wilderness. I have tried to finish most of the hikes and climbs that Scott and I had planned. But most of all I just miss my friend.
