OutdoorsJuly 17, 2003

Associated Press

LONGVIEW, Wash. -- Jacob Brown doesn't remember what happened after he tried jumping a 3-foot gap on a trail along the Muddy River near Mount St. Helens.

Next thing he knew, he was in cold, fast-moving water that sent him feet first over a 65-foot waterfall and then plunged him over a 25-foot drop.

"I really should have died," said Brown, 19, of Springfield, Ore., from his bed at Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, one day after his brush with mortality Sunday. "I think it was my gymnastics training that saved me, because I'm really limber. That's what saved me, knowing how to roll."

Five people have died along Lava Canyon Trail since 1995. Scoured clean by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, the canyon offers the hazardous combination of slick rock and swift water.

Brown's misstep occurred as he hiked with his brother Toby, 16, and five friends and co-workers from a gymnastics club in Eugene, Ore.

The group had crossed a bridge over the Muddy and was taking an early afternoon break when Brown decided to venture upstream, said Kennedy Fung, Brown's boss at the gymnastics club.

The jump over a little stretch of water looked like a snap. But something went wrong.

Brown likely landed on basalt, slick from river spray, and went tumbling into the river. He looked for something to grab onto, but there was nothing but rushing water and smooth rocks.

He drifted by his brother.

"He looked very calm, like he didn't know what was going on," Toby Brown said. "I guess he didn't see there was a waterfall."

Brown says he didn't have time to be scared.

"I just remember thinking, 'Here I go,' then whack, whack, whack," he said.

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"It was like real time stopped. While I was falling, it was sort of like a dream. It was surreal."

He plunged down two waterfalls -- a total of about 90 feet -- his back slamming into rocks and outcroppings before he landed in a shallow pool and pulled himself onto a rock in the river.

He had two cuts on his head, an aching back -- magnetic resonance imaging later revealed a small chip in his spine -- and a broken ankle.

At first, the other hikers thought Toby Brown was joking when he told them what he'd seen.

Then, "I feared the worst," Fung said. "This is my second time in this area, and I've seen how tall this waterfall is."

He rushed to look over the falls and saw Brown pull himself onto the rock.

"I realized, thank God, it wasn't his time," Fung said.

Fifteen minutes later, two members of the group had climbed down to the pool and helped Brown to shore.

Those with cell phones tried calling for help but couldn't get a signal. Fung ran back up the trail to the group's van and drove down the road but couldn't find a pay phone or anyone to call for help.

So he returned with dry clothing, water and other supplies, including a first aid kit. On his way back, he came across another party of hikers, who agreed to go for help.

Rescue divers from the Skamania County Sheriff's Department, who'd been practicing in the area, were the first on the scene. Then a rescue team from North Country Emergency Medical Services arrived, donned harnesses and rappelled off a cliff to reach Brown.

An Army rescue helicopter from Fort Lewis was dispatched, airlifting Brown to Portland at about 7:30 p.m. -- roughly five hours after the accident.

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