Man rescued after being pinned by 700-pound boulder while hiking

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU/Gray News) - An Alaska man somehow escaped serious injury after being trapped by a 700-pound boulder for three hours during a hike in a remote area last weekend.

Kell Morris, 61, says he ventured out for a hike with his wife on a Seward hiking route last Saturday.

He said the two decided to do a day hike, choosing to go out along a quieter path without any designated trail due to the busy holiday weekend, with plans to turn around once they felt they had gone far enough.

However, a giant boulder derailed those plans, tumbling from the canyonside and triggering a multi-agency rescue effort.

Morris said he was staying 10 to 15 feet away from a rock pile, but couldn’t find a nearby river crossing, so he started to head back toward his wife.

“I was coming back, and those same group of rocks — crossing in the same place up above them, where I’d crossed before — it all came loose,” he said. “The whole side of that rock scree just came loose, and I was sliding with it.”

He added, “Then it’s a blur. I went tumbling. I landed in the water. You could hear the noise that large rocks make as they’re rolling over each other. I landed face-down in the river, and then I felt the rock hit me in the back and pin me down.”

Seward Fire Department crews said they were alerted to an emergency in the Fourth of July Creek headwaters that afternoon.

A woman had called in, stating that her husband was underneath rocks and stuck.

With coordinates to reference, crews were now looking for the 61-year-old who had reportedly been pinned by a boulder miles down the creek. He was stuck there, ice-cold water flowing around him, with water levels rising by the minute.

Knowing a journey was ahead just to get to where Morris was located, SFD immediately enlisted other agencies for assistance.

Rescue crews began their trek toward him on foot and all-terrain vehicles. SFD characterized the terrain as “extreme.”

About halfway to Morris, the ATVs were no longer viable for the journey, but rescuers had already made with a ing helicopter and that aircraft was simultaneously en route to the accident site to assist.

The first outside responder to get to the slide site was Sam Paperman. Paperman and his pilot arrived to find Morris and his wife surrounded by rocks, with creek water running underneath them. Morris was face-down in the water and hypothermic, unable to speak clearly by the time additional rescue crews were on scene.

Morris’ wife was holding his head out of the water, as the water levels were continuing to rise noticeably around them.

Still, Morris said he had no idea about the size of the rock that was pinning him down. He began to dip in and out of consciousness, but soon, a half-dozen other first responders arrived to help save his life.

Rescue crews landed in a riverbed and picked up three firefighters who had to jump out of the helicopter from a few feet up since the aircraft couldn’t land on the rocky terrain.

First responders said it took half a dozen of them to push the rock enough to get to Morris.

Once the rescue crew had gotten Morris free, he was taken out of the water, put in dry clothes, and into warming blankets. It took about half an hour for him to come around again, and another hour or so for him to be hoisted out and taken to the Seward Airport before heading to the hospital.

“I cannot believe he is as well as he is,” Fire Chief Clinton Crites. “Every star was aligned. It was a beautiful, sunny day. We had tons of crews available. We had a private helicopter tour company that was willing to help us. We had a cell phone signal.”

After a two-night hospital stay, Morris said he was feeling pretty good and “ready to go dancing.”

“This isn’t even the worst thing that’s happened to me,” Morris said. “My wife says I’ve used up 20-something cat lives. We’ve decided, in our ‘advanced age,’ that we’re going to stick to trails from now on.”

Morris and Crites both expressed gratitude for those involved in the weekend rescue and emphasized the importance of skilled emergency crews, including the people who volunteer with local departments.

“We can’t do this without volunteers,” Crites said.

Morris, who hails from Texas, is in Alaska working as a foreman for Catalyst Marine Engineering in Seward.

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