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Couple "Humbled" By Water Rescue
May 19, 2011 - wowt.com
A fun outing to look for mushrooms turned tense as an Omaha woman was
lost for hours and rescue teams worked to find her. It happened
Wednesday night near King Lake, along the Elkhorn River.
It all started as a hunt for morel mushrooms, a lot of people like to
look alongside rivers and in forested areas. Michelle Smith and Thomas
Hawke says their hunting trip was routine, something they do every year.
They headed out around 5:00 Wednesday evening, split up to look for the
mushrooms, and then decided to meet back at the truck around dusk.
Smith got turned around, and couldn't find her way back to her husband.
"I thought I was going to die," she said. "I was scared, I just wanted
to get out and see my family, and I prayed like I've never prayed
before."
As she walked along the river, she got stuck in some mud, which went up
to her waist.
Hawke was watching and waiting for her at their meeting place. "I'm
thinking, ok, it's getting a little darker, a little darker, and
finally, it's pitch black, and I'm like, well she ain't here yet."
He called 911. The Douglas County Sheriff's Department, rescue crews,
and helicopter all began to search for Smith.
"I was going through the worst case scenario, cause when they started
looking down there in the river, I was like, no, no, no," said Hawke.
Smith, who had lost her cell phone, was turning her lighter on and off,
in hopes someone would see it. "He said he'd seen my light flickering,
and they finally found me, and oh gosh, I've never been so happy to see
a police officer in my life," she said.
Smith was about three miles from the truck, and stuck out on an island.
Rescue crews had to build a "bridge" of logs and tree branches to free
her from the mud.
Shortly after 1:00 Thursday morning, Douglas County rescue teams pulled
her from the creek, nearly three hours after the call to 911.
Paramedics checked her out on the scene and she returned home with her
husband.
"Seeing my son for the first time, and seeing her was the two best
things I ever seen in my life," said Hawke.
Smith said she was embarrassed, but wanted to share her story just to
remind everyone to let others know where you are. As for mushroom
hunting again, Smith isn't too sure about that. "I don't know if I ever
want to go mushroom hunting again, if I do you're not leaving my side
this time," she said to Hawke.
Smith said she is able to laugh about the situation now, even though
she was terrified for several hours. Hawke teased her about her will to
keep the mushrooms she had already picked. "I even bet the deputy, I
said, you know I bet you a dollar she still has her bag of mushrooms
with her, even though she lost everything else, I bet she's got those
mushrooms."
Smith said she did have the bag, until she had to crawl across the
make-shift bridge. That's when she left them behind.
The couple says it was a very humbling experience, and they are
grateful to those who came to help.
"I can't express my feelings on how grateful I am, my heart goes out
them, my praises and my prayers go out to them," said Hawke.
"I don't think I can find the words to, to thank them, how do you thank
someone for their job?" asked Smith. "I just think they're very special
people to do that."
They say smoking kills, but in this case, her smoking habit (and need to have a lighter at all times) may have been the only thing that saved her. Moral of the story is if you are going shroom hunting in muddy areas, bring some smokables and a light.
that shit almost happened to me i was knee deep in some kind of peat moss bog shit this morel season but i got myself out.
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[quote]KristiMidocean said: Good now thats clear.WHO FUCKING CARES. If I am fat u all keep pointing it out like its suppose to be a secret.LIke u really have nothing better to do then make fat jokes. If o know its like I do I know yall can come up with NEW AND BETTER SHIT . This shit is old and boring . I left in the first place cause this shit got boring not because of the fat jokes . Fat jokes dont bother me but seriously its old[/quote]
Being lost and being rescued are wonderful things if they happen it that order. I've been lost and it's scary. This is a good read and good advice to anyone who hunts morels outside of places that they know. Getting lost is part of why I loose myself looking for morel mushrooms but being lost is a darn upsetting thing. I liked reading this story and I'm glad that there were intelligent and kind folks that rescued her. A story like this is so much better than a story about how badges with hand/machine guns broke into another house and shot someone and were unlucky enough to make the news or they'd have gotten away with it. A morel hunter that was helped by the ones lucky enough to be their help in a time of need; now that's good news. God bless them all.
-------------------- "Freedom is something that dies unless it's used." H.T. I've come to believe that the heart is the filter of the enlightened mind. Epilson Lyrae
Desert father - no need for psychedelics in a tense and deadly situation like that. You'd be high naturally I imagine.
This is an example of why it's always bad to travel alone in an area that you aren't 100% familiar with, even then it's good to have a canine companion in the case of wild animals or wild humans.