Really? Really?
Inspired by the James Franco film, 127 HOURS, about hiker Aron Ralston’s time spent trapped in a canyon with his arm crushed under a boulder, a 64-year-old hiker decided to hike to the same area…and actually became trapped himself!
According to published reports, Amos Wayne Richards decided to go on the same exact hiking trip as Ralston earlier this month through Little Blue John Canyon. Richards took a ten-foot fall, broke his leg, dislocated his shoulder, and spent a total of 96 hours (3/4 of the time of Ralston) trapped.
In an interview with WBTV in Charlotte, Richards describes what happened after the initial shock wore off:
“It took me about three or four minutes to work my shoulder and get it back in place…Once I got it back in place, I stood up and realized my ankle hurt a little bit.”
Park rangers realized something was wrong when the Richards failed to return to his campsite. Two days later, they found his car near the Little Blue John trailhead. Richards, who had been slowly dragging himself back the way he had come, was treated for a shattered leg and dehydration.
He was ironically very close to where Ralston was trapped almost a decade ago.