Thank you, rescue buddies!
My friend and I were out on Paulina Lake this past Saturday on our paddle boards all the way out by the springs when a sudden lightning and hailstorm hit the other day. It took us almost 2 hours to get back, freezing wet (with no shoes lol), but I want to thank the 3 strangers that helped us out! I was near hypothermic, and things could’ve ended much worse if I didn’t find help when I did.
Once we made it to the shore near the campground, we ditched our boards, and I ran into a bathroom for shelter. The sweetest couple and their dog Ziggy picked me up and let me stay warm in their truck for a bit, and the kindest park ranger (Travis, I think?) helped me out as well.
I can’t thank you all enough if you see this!!! I’ll never forget my emergency foil blanket at home ever again lol. Always nice to be humbled by nature every now and again!
UPDATE: I typed everything above in the car :) apologies for the shite grammar and brevity. Here’s a picture of the conditions before we hit the springs, for those appreciating the reminder of nature’s fickleness:
https://imgur.com/a/eVWuSR6
I cannot even begin to state how insane this was to go through. We nearly missed several lightning strikes (the ranger looked at his map) by constantly bouncing on/off random shores to seek shelter when the storm started hitting again. If you know the shores of Paulina… imagine rushing onto them with a heavy board, barefoot, while it’s raining/hailing and flooding lol. At one point, we hid under a shrub, on top of reeds. I’m missing a chunk of my toe, and my feet are covered in obsidian-induced cuts.
Terrifying/extra-humbling detail I left out earlier is that we TRIED calling for help. I had a camelbak with water, a first aid kid, waterproof phone protector (+ charged cell phone), and a SOS whistle. My phone never connected to 911, and nobody heard me after whistling for 20 minutes (I’d guess a mile at most from the campground). SO, even if you have those items… they can fail. The level of helplessness/desperation I was experiencing mentally after that was pretty wild. Don’t recommend it lol.
So anyways, stay safe, but keep enjoying nature everyone!
I’ll end in saying that none of this deterred me from getting back on the water 2 days later, and shouldn’t deter anyone else either :) !