Mom rescued while dangling off cliff on hike with one-armed daughter: video
A hiking Oregon man captured the moment he jumped into action and helped a young woman pull her mother back up to safety after she slipped off the side of an elevated trail.
The dramatic scene unfolded Wednesday at the Columbia River Gorge where Taylor Root’s GoPro footage shows him running toward cries for help before finding the daughter, who only had one arm, holding onto her mother dangling off the side of the cliff.
“Right away I jumped over her and I saw the other lady laying on her back, head was downhill as if you just sat on the trail and leaned yourself back,” Root told KPTV. “Feet were up in the air.”
Root’s footage shows him grabbing the older woman’s arms as she tried to get back on the trail near the top of Multnomah Falls.
“I’m gonna give you a big hoist here,” he told the woman, who he then yanked back to safety with the help of her daughter.
Root told KPTV that he believes he reached the woman right before she lost all hope of surviving the harrowing experience.
“It was sad because I distinctly remember her so vividly saying, ‘Just let me go,’ and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, she’s ready to die here,’” Root said.
Instead, the GoPro footage ends with the unidentified woman and her daughter tightly embracing.
Back in his car, Root said on a video he posted on Facebook that a Panda Express fortune foreshadowed his heroics.
The fortune read, “You will have an opportunity to shine this week.”
“They’re right every time, baby,” he said.