LOOMIS – A Loomis teenager was rescued by a helicopter after falling about 40 feet down a waterfall.
Days later, Andrew Musgrave is out of the hospital, at home recovering and recalling what started out as hiking adventure.
“I just remember catching up to one of my friends and then getting too much speed and blacking out,” Musgrave said.
Musgrave was hiking with friends around Horsetail Falls on Monday when he fell down the steep rocks. He suffered a number of injuries in the fall.
“I fractured my jaw,” Musgrave said. “Then, I hurt my wrists and my right hip, but they are not permanent.”
Nolan Hargaray-Conter was with Musgrave when it happened.
“I guess he was kind of rolling down the cliff like a good 40 to 50 feet,” Hargaray-Conter said.
Hargaray-Conter said thegroup rushed down to their friend, where he was having a seizure. He said a large rock sticking out of the ground stopped Musgrave’s fall.
Some of the group continued down the mountain to call for help, Hargaray-Conter said. A group of strangers stopped to help those waiting behind.
The group and the strangers then worked together help Musgrave farther down so first responders could reach him.
“That guy volunteered, grabbed one of Andrew arms I grabbed the other and started just carrying him down the mountain,” Hargaray-Conter said.
They made it to a flatter piece of land along a trail that a helicopter could access.
The helicopter crew dropped off a California Highway Patrol officer/paramedic to help Musgrave. The chopper then flew back to Strawberry Meadow to reconfigure equipment for the hoist.
The crew returned and lifted Musgrave out safety, and took him to a Roseville hospital.
Musgrave’s mother said she beat the helicopter to the hospital, which she said was awful to wait for, but she is very thankful to everyone who helped.
“I am grateful that they got in there as quick as they did,” Karrie Musgrave said. “Because I do believe, if he was in there longer, it may not have been as successful.”
Karrie Musgrave said her son will have a long road to recovery, but the family and his friends are happy to be together.
The CHP helicopter crew, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team, along with the Lake Valley Fire Department helped with the rescue.