It all began with a fortune cookie message: “You will have an opportunity to shine this week.”
For one Oregon man, he just didn’t expect it to be a quiet hike on a normal day, that would lead to one of the scariest moments of his life.
And it was all captured on his GoPro camera.
Taylor Root, who has a YouTube channel, was out hiking and taking footage for a video, when he passed a mom and her daughter out on the same trail. He was on a path that was near Multnomah Falls, he said.
Just moments after passing the women, he heard a panicked call for help, and he took off running back to where he had seen the hikers.
Images courtesy of Taylor Root
He immediately was stunned by what he saw – the young woman was desperately holding on to her mother, who had slipped off the side of the trail, down the cliff. She was stopped from falling by one thing – her daughter, who had only one arm.
Right away, I jumped over her, and I saw the other lady laying on her back, the head was downhill as if you just sat on the trail and just dipped yourself back, feet were up in the air,” Root said. She was hanging off a steep cliff.
The mom began to panic, saying she couldn’t pull herself up. “The other fearful part of it,” Root said, “was not falling over ourselves.”
And that’s when the mom tried to sacrifice herself. “Let me go!” she told the pair. “You’re not going anywhere,” Root responded. “We got you, OK,” her daughter told her.
“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.
Root finally managed to grab a hold of the mom’s hand, and allowed her to twist her body into position, so her legs were dangling down, and her arms were in her daughter and Root’s hands.
“So I just kind of lean forward and grab her arm and I start pulling,” Root recalled.
With one final pull, the mom was back on firm land, and the whole ordeal, which lasted less than two minutes, was done. “It was a really intense situation that I’m glad to be done with,” Root said.
He said he was thankful he hadn’t moved further away from the two when he first passed the women.
If I was 100 feet farther down the trail, I wouldn’t have heard her because that waterfall is so loud,” he said.
After being reassured by the women that they were OK, Root turned back around, and headed home.
Later, when he had time to settle, Root posted a video about the ordeal. He said he felt lucky that he had been in the ‘right place at the right time.’ His fortune seemed a good reminder of reaching out to lend a hand when someone is in need, no matter how scary the circumstances.
Root most certainly did find a way to shine. Watch below for a look at the hero and the heart-stopping rescue.
