Providing further evidence that hiking serves no purpose, 64-year old Amos Wayne Richards picked up a copy of 127 Hours recently, and James Franco’s gritty performance totally inspired him. The film, of course, tells the story of hiker Aron Ralston, who decided to go hiking in Utah’s Little Blue John Canyon by himself and eventually had to amputate his own arm with a broken credit card after being trapped under a boulder for, well, 127 hours.
So Richards decided to take a trip to Little Blue John Canyon and go hiking by himself. Wanna take a guess at what happened next?
Canyonlands National Park rangers found Richards four days later. Along with the leg injury, he had dislocated his shoulder but was able to work it back into place.
“It took me about three or four minutes to work my shoulder and get it back in place, and once I got it back in place, I stood up and realized my ankle hurt a little bit,” Richards told WBTV in Charlotte, N.C.
Without cellphone service and only two protein bars to eat, Richards began crawling back to his car across the rocky terrain. He filled his water bottles with rain as he painstakingly retraced his steps, eventually dragging himself almost five miles.
(Via the Los Angeles Times)
Broken leg. Four days crawling across the desert in the middle of Bumblefart, Utah. All because he was inspired by a movie about a guy who already got trapped in the desert. I may not be the most fitness-crazy guy, nor do I really give a squat about nature (hooray technology!), but I’ve been told they have machines at gyms that can simulate this kind of exercise and adventure. Hell, if you want the experience of losing a limb, I’ll run you over in the parking lot. Beats the crap out of traveling 2,500 miles.
