IDAHO, USA — After tumbling 60 feet while hiking below Hells Canyon Dam along the Idaho-Oregon border, Eric Valentine, 80, was not scared.
"I prayed that the Lord would send his angels to protect me," he said. "Lo and behold, He sent me Boy Scout Troop 77."
The troop was on their monthly trip, canoeing down the Snake River. Valentine said they saw him after being waved down by a woman across the river.
Valentine said he had pulled himself back up to the trail after laying out his bright red jacket as a beacon. At that time, he knew his right foot was injured along with his neck.
The troop, including scouts Nathaniel Jacob and Henry Cavanagh, rushed to Valentine's side. As a photographer, Valentine frequently hiked the area.
"I just ran up the hill," Cavanagh said.
The scouts and their troop leaders looked over his injuries and did some first aid. Valentine recruited Jacob to take to document the incident.
Despite all the injuries, Jacob said Valentine was in a positive mood.
"I want to be like him," he said. "We should all be like him and just be optimistic and happy about everything."
The group soon got ahold of emergency services, which flew Valentine via Life Flight to Saint Alphonsus in Boise. Valentine said he broke several vertebrae and severely injured his lower right leg.
He is now home in La Grande, Oregon, recovering after spending several weeks in the hospital. As a former scoutmaster and assistant scoutmaster, Valentine said the rescue exemplifies why scouts are so important.
"I just have this wonderful memory of Troop 77 appearing when they did," he said. "I was in very competent hands."
Some members of the troop visited Valentine while he was in the hospital. Jacob said rescuing someone reminded them being involved with boy scouts does mean just learning first aid skills for fun.
The group regularly goes through fake wilderness survival scenarios. He said troop leaders give them feedback on what to improve upon.
"This is not like, 'Oh, we can just get a bad grade on the judgment, you know. This is, like, an actual situation,'" Jacob said. "And so, then I just kind of took that in, and I'm like, everything that they teach me, like, I have to absorb."
Cavanagh agrees.
"It makes me think that the things we do are a lot more real and practical," he said.
Valentine said he is looking forward to when he can get back on the trail. Although this time, he will bring a buddy. His wife even gifted him a GPS watch for Father's Day.
Through this experience, Valentine learned being too confident outdoors can lead to some bad things.
"What Troop 77 did is a sterling example of why we need scouting," he said. "I mean, what program would have had scouts trained and reading to save me."
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