Angel Lake is Aptly Named it Seems--Susanne Survives

By the time I reached the campsite I was parched and shaking from exaustion and reaction. I used restroom to pee, got a glass of ice water from out watercooler and chugged it, risking brainfreeze. God, it tasted good. Then I headed farther down to the Campground hosts trailer. On the way I ran into Annie, the lady we had talked to the night before. I told her that Susanne was stuck on the rock and I was looking for help to get her down.

“Where is she?” She asked. I pointed her out, and annie went to find binoculars. I kept going down the hill, promising to keep her informed. When I arrived at the camp host's trailer, both the husband and wife were sitting out front with citronella candles burning in the heat of the day to ward off mosquitoes.

“Y'all got a couple hundred feet a' climbing rope?” I asked. “Susanne is stuck on the rock,” I point, “right there.”

“Huh? What? Where?”

“Ok, my friend Susanne and I were hiking up the hill this morning, trying to get to the peak—there. When we got to the base of that big rock outcropping we decided it looked like a pretty safe climb, but that it would be chhallenging, so we decided to try it. We worked our way up there, then traversed over that way, then got stuck there. You can see her head if you look close. She's sitting down right now, just to the right of that shadow, near the small pine tree growing out of the face in the white section there, above the red stripe. I managed to get across that crack and come for help, and I almost fell, but somehow I made it down, and now I need help to go get her. If I had a rope, I could do it myself, but I don't.”

“Ok, slow down. Where is she again?” the wife said.

I stood next to her and pointed over her shoulder, “there, to the right of that Pac-Man looking shadow. The lower jaw points right at her. Just above the narrow point on the red stripe there. In between those two big channels.”

The husband came out with an enormous set of binoculars, They looked like some air-raid spotting glasses from WWII I have seen, meant to be mounted on a pintle, and set them on the picnic table. “Where?” he asked.

I went through it again. “OK, I got her.” he said, “Damn. How the hell did you get up there.?”

“Carefully. It seemed a lot easier doing it than it looks from here.”

The Campground Host lady spoke up, “I hiked up to the top of that thing a while back, but I wen't up the side. Damn, you guys are crazy.”

“Yeah, well, probably, but I still need to get her down.”

“Ok, we got a State Trooper camping with his family up the way. Let's go see if we can find him. Maybe he has some climbing gear with him...come on then.” She walked to her big blue truck, lighting a cigarette, and climbed in. I jumped in the passenger side, and rolled a smoke while she drove up the way to a camp above ours that was occupied by a nice trailer. She talked with the teenaged girls by the trailer, who told us their dad was fishing, so we went off around the lake to the day use parking area and looked along the shore for him. No luck.

“We'll keep looking, but I'm going to call the Sheriff's office and get them headed out to help.”

“Ok, I just want to get her down, however we have to do that. She is safe where she is, but it is hot up there and she doesn't have all that much water.”

“Oh. How much does she have?”

“Most of a quart and a Mountain Dew when I left.”

“Mountain Dew's not so good.”

“I know, It was in my pack, so I left it with her, better than nothing.”

“People dehydrate fast up here, particularly in the direct sun like that.”

“I know that too. We were stupid, ok. But, We weren't planning on getting stuck on the frigging rock when we left.”

She called the Elko County Sheriff's office and got patched through to a deputy who was down the Mountain at the Angel Creek Campground. He said he was on his way up, and that he would coordinate with the rescue guys.

We headed back over to the State Troopers campsite, and met up with him about the time the Deputy showed up. He was a K-9 officer, with a beautiful and irritable sheppard in the back seat of his Bronco.

The State troopers wife offered me a bottle of water, and I accepted it gratefully. More calling back and forth about what to do, and they determined that a climbing crew would be coming up either by car or helicopter, depending on whether or not they had the available people in Wells, or if they had to come from Elko.

After a bit of standing around and drinking water, listening, and feeling like a fifth wheel, I went back to our camp, re-filled water bottle with iced-water from the cooler, had a couple bites of meat and cheese, took a pee, then went back to the Troopers trailer and told them I was going back up to talk to Susanne.

“Don't go back on the rock.” said the Trooper.

“Don't worry, I'm done climbing for the day. I kinda shot out my arms and shoulders getting down, and we don't need me stuck up there too. I'm just going up to the base of the outcropping to holler at her and let her know what's going on. Then I'll come back down.” I replied.

“Ok then, tell her help is on the way.”

“That's the plan.”

So I trekked back up the path, then climbed up through the scrub at the base of the rock in the hot sun. I could feel my muscles trembling, and the heat boiling in my head, and the altitude getting to me for the first time, making me nauseous; I realized that I should have eaten breakfast as I swayed, dizzy for a minute. Reminding myself that Susanne was alone up there in the heat, I ignored it. Keep moving pussy. You can stop when she's down safe.

Getting to a position directly below her I shouted, “Susanne!”

No reply.

“Susanne!” Louder! “Susanne!” Damn, hearing aids. Hope they are on. “Sussaaannnneee!”

“James?” I hear her, “James? Are you there? Do you have a rope.”

“It's me Smiley. No one had a rope, so we had to call out for help. They are on the way.”

“How long, do you know?”

“Not sure. They might be driving up, or they might come in a helicopter. I just came back to make sure you are all right, and let you know what is going on.”

“I'm ok. I've been sketching and talking to God.”

“Cool.”

“It's hot, and I'm thirsty, I've been saving the water. If they are on way, I can drink it.”

“You might want to conserve some, I don't know how long they'll be. You'll be down today, but I don't know how soon.”

“Ahh...ok...damn.”

“Yeah. Sorry I couldn't find a rope.”

“It's ok. I found a place I can get my head in the shade if I stand up, but I can't stand there for too long at a time.”

“Be careful with the moving around up there beautiful. If you fall I'll follow you to hell just so I can drag you back and kill you again. I'm not done with you yet, and neither is the world.”

She laughed. “I bet you would.”

“Yeah, not likely you would end up in hell though, and they might not let me in upstairs, so be careful.”

“I will.”

“OK, I'm going to go back down now so I can keep track of what's going on, I'll come back up if they are going to be too long.”

“Hey, I'm all right here. There is plenty to do, I have my sketchbook and a beautiful view of the lake and the mountains. Go do something fun for you while you wait. Sit on the beach and read for a while. Go swimming or something.”

“Ha! Leave it to Susanne. Not likely, don't think I could concentrate on a book right now.”

“Really, take it easy, I'll be fine.”

“I'll see what I can do Smiley. See you soon.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.” and I trekked back down the hill. Back at camp I got more water, then went looking for information. I found a young blonde girl who was related to the State trooper, and who was a police explorer, who told me that they had moved down to the lower parking lot to wait for the helicopter bringing a rescue team in from Elko. The rescuers were apparently either on the way, or soon would be. The camp host and law enforcement on scene were clearing the lot so the chopper could land.

I checked the time, it was about three. We had left to go hiking just before ten. I had made it down to the camp host's spot at a little after twelve...time flys—having fun or not.

When I got down to the lower lot I met the Host lady again and realized I still didn't know her name. No time to ask, she started talking as I approached. “They are sending a helicopter in from Elko with a couple of Fire-Rescue guys to rappel her down. The 'copter just took off, so they should be here soon.”

“Cool. Susanne's doing good, but says she is hot and is running low on water. She can get some shade, but can't stand where the shade is for very long at a time. Crazy girl told me to sit on the beach and read for a while, enjoy the day. She's been drawing.”

“Well they'll be here soon, it is about a half hour from Elko by helicopter.”

“Ok, I'll go back up and tell her.”

I headed back up the hill and ran into a woman who asked if I knew about the girl stuck on the rock. “Yeah, I'm going to tell her the rescue guys are on the way.”

“Were you with her? How'd she get stuck.”

“Very carefully. We just went a little too far and she couldn't get down. I barely did, and Susanne is just not quite tall enough to reach the next place.”

“Wait,” I hear a yell from below and look back. “The pilot says not to go back up close to the rock. They'll be coming in in a few minutes.” The camp host lady is chugging up the road towards me.

“Ok. I don't want to be in the way, I'll just wait at the trailhead up here.” she catches up, and we walk up to the bathrooms and onto the trail. There is another woman there with a nice digital camera with a huge telephoto lens. She talks to the Camp host lady, then to me...I go through it again.

She says, “My husband noticed her up there and wondered if she was in trouble. So I put the lens on her and it just looked like she was sketching. I figured she was ok, just enjoying the day.”

I replied, “She is. She just can't get down, and she's getting thirsty. Susanne's a trooper.”

“Well, I'm getting a bunch of pictures, I'll be sure y'all get copies.”

“Thanks. I've been taking a few, but I don't have much zoom, and I've been kinda distracted.”

A few minutes later the helicopter arrived. First the distinctive thwap-thwap-thwap-thwap of the rotor noise echoing off the surrounding mountains, then a pale dot growing in the northern entrance to the bowl of the lake like some huge dragonfly, then we could see it clearly, a pale beige and yellow four doored bubble with a long tale and the blades blurring above it. He came in pretty high and circled the valley, near the walls, but far enough out for caution. After the first pass, he came around again and hovered over the rock outcropping she was trapped on. Then he settled down neatly on the top and three men carrying gear bags climbed out. The 'copter lifted off again, rotated in place, and moved on down to land in the lower lot.

We watched the rescuers move around on the top of the cliff, yelling down to Susanne, figuring routes, finding things to tie their ropes to.The pilot came hiking up the hill, a lean guy with a gret beard, sunglasses and tan boonie hat. The Camp host lady greeted him as Dale. After a few minutes the pilot headed up closer to the rock and I went with him.

The rescue guys communicated with Susanne by shouting back and forth, she had a hard time hearing because of distance, deafness, and the vagaries of hearing aids, so lots of stuff was repeated. They tied their ropes off well, belaying to three different chunks of granite to be extra safe, and then one of them headed down on a line payed out by the other two. He got to Susanne and harnessed her up, then had her lay down and ease herself over the edge while he held her to get her used to the harness. Fifteen minutes later, they were down at the bottom of the rock.

Turned out the guy who roped her down was named James too—there sure are a lot of us.She thanked him and gave him a hug. I thanked him, she gave him her name and date of birth for the record and we were free to go. We hugged each other and headed down the hill. Both of us a bit unsteady on the trail.

We got cold water, then went to the next site to talk to Annie and Kent (Kent was back from his hike) about the day's adventure. We didn't know it, but it wasn't over yet—not by a long shot.