Greenville Reporter

The rescue of a Randolph County woman was no easy feat, but the hiker is alive and her father is hoping to use the story as a cautionary tale for other nature lovers. The woman fell off a cliff Sunday afternoon during a hike between Badin Lake and High Rock Lake, according to WGHP.

First responders were called after the accident, but they had trouble finding the unnamed woman because she and her hiking partner did not know where they were located.

“We don’t know which direction they’re actually in because the details we had was they could see a campfire, stuff like that. They couldn’t give us actual landmarks,” Deputy Matthew Niblock of Davidson County told WGHP.  

First responders knew only that the victim was approximately 25 years old and the friend she was hiking with had seen a sign for Newsome Road before the accident, WGHP reported.

A firefighter hiked around the area to try to find the location the woman had fallen from. After he radioed in that she had been found, he struggled to get her down the rocky terrain, according to WGHP.

“Just trying to keep her comfortable as we could,” Niblock said, in reference to the time spent trying to figure out the logistics of getting the woman off the mountain.

The questions going through the minds of first responders ran the gamut, including “What equipment do we need?” Caleb Thomas of Davidson County EMS told WGHP. “What can we physically carry to this patient? Because we are not going to be able to take everything with us.” 

“We actually had to use some trees in the area to wrap the rope around to assist with lowering her down the last stretch,” Niblock said. “It was about a 20-foot section we had to lower her down. A few of the firefighters had to crawl down on their hands and knees to get to the bottom, in order to catch her when she did make it low enough.”

While they were dealing with getting the woman to safety, they also had to provide emotional support. 

“Just kept her talking, trying to keep her mind off what’s going on,” Niblock said, according to WGHP. 

Other deputies at lower elevation were providing similar support for the hiker’s family members, who had come after learning of the fall.

“Especially with your child, not knowing if they are going to live,” Tim Smith, Davidson County deputy, said. “… Being able to be there for them and an emotional need like that –  help them through that is an honor to do that.”

The patient was airlifted to a hospital so she could receive medical care, WGHP reported. Her parents later told the news station that she made it through surgery to repair forehead, eye socket, and spleen injuries. Subsequent surgical procedures are to come for knee and ankle injuries. 

While she was listed in serious condition on Monday, peripheral nerve testing showed that the woman could wiggle her toes and feel contact on her feet, according to WGHP.