The group of young men had only prepared for a short hike over the weekend to catch the sunset at Kentucky’s Red River Gorge.
It only took the nine friends from the Chicago-area about 15 minutes to trek to the top of a hill. There, they enjoyed the “great view” as the sun went down Saturday.
But it’s when they decided to take a different route down to avoid muddy conditions that things turned south. As it got dark, they quickly became lost and confused. They worried that it was about to thunderstorm. They even stepped on a snake.
“It was pitch black, and when we got to where we were supposed to go, we didn’t really understand,” said Caiden Kupsik, 21, of Highland, Indiana. “It just looked like a cliff to us. So we kind of right there started panicking.”
Hours later, by early Sunday morning, the Wolfe County Search & Rescue Team rescued the group, a task that involved a 4-mile hike on a “dangerous” path and a 300-foot rope in high heat and humidity, officials said. The nerve-wracking journey is one the friends wanted to share not only to warn other hikers but to express their gratitude to the volunteer rescuers.
Kupsik, who recently moved to Colorado, had traveled back to Highland to visit friends. He planned to fly back home last week but the recent storms that clobbered northwest Indiana left him stuck. So he decided to join his friends for a hiking trip in Kentucky instead.
Kentucky’s Red River Gorge, about a six-hour drive from Chicago, is located inside the Daniel Boone National Forest. It’s one of the “most beautiful places in the world for climbing and hiking,” said Kevin Osbourn, a spokesman for the county’s search and rescue team. People from across the country travel there, he said.
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But, he noted, it can get quite dangerous at night.
“You can literally in the dark be on a cliff, and not know you’re 2 or 3 feet away from the edge of falling,” Osbourn said.
Prior to the Saturday night hike, the group’s trip went smoothly. They enjoyed about three or four other trails. They’re all relatively experienced hikers, Kupsik added.
“We weren’t really thinking too hard on getting lost on a trail because it’s never happened to us,” he said.
Around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, one of the men found a nearby trail they followed to watch the sunset. Because it was such a steep and muddy path, they found online an alternative trail, which was supposed to be slightly longer but easier.
“That’s when we went deeper and deeper into the top of the forest on the mountain,” Kupsik said. “And pretty much in no time we were lost because of the amount of trails that were up there.”
They argued for a little while about whether to go back the way they came or to move forward, he said. But when they made it to a spot around 9:30 p.m. called the “Indian Staircase,” Kupsik said they realized they were basically stranded.
Some in the group managed to stay somewhat calm but others panicked, Kupsik said, especially because they ran out of water quickly. They also stepped on a copperhead snake.
It was then an easy decision to then call 911 for help, even for Kupsik who said he was initially the “stubborn one” who didn’t want to call.
“We all settled down and was like, “OK, let’s take this seriously, because this could be like life or death,” Kupsik said. “We’re walking around on trails that are on the side of a cliff, so we don’t want to make a wrong step.”
There isn’t an official trail to Indian Staircase, Osbourn said, so the U.S. Forest Service doesn’t put up signs. Sometimes there aren’t visible paths and following user-submitted paths on apps like AllTrails can become disorienting.
There’s been at least 15 rescues near the Indian Staircase just this spring and summer, he said.
“It is not a place to be, especially at nighttime, when you’re up really high and don’t know where you are and could easily get in trouble,” he said.
When the group called 911, the rescue team — which is made up entirely of volunteers — got an alert. They then sent a locator link that appeared on one of the men’s phones. Once he tapped it, the group’s approximate location showed up on the team’s map, Osbourn said.
The rescue team, which included four volunteers who climbed and two who ran the “incident command center” at the trailhead, decided to take a loop trail to go up and around the top of the staircase instead of straight up for safety, Osbourn said.
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They found the young men and took them down the “very steep, slick rock face” one by one using a 300-foot-long rope.
It was about 4 miles in total, and if that wasn’t enough, Osbourn said it was nearly 100 degrees outside. They also had to hurry because a thunderstorm was about to come in. They finished by 2 a.m. Sunday. No one was injured.
“I believe that was the happiest group of people we’ve ever rescued,” Osbourn said.
Indeed, Kupsik said they were filled with a “sense of hope” when they saw the rescuers’ flashlights after waiting for a couple of hours on the ledge. When they made it back to their car, it was the “most relief I’ve ever felt,” Kupsik said.
“I’m just super thankful for the team that came out and saved nine lives that night,” he said.
Osbourn also said he wanted to commend the young men for calling for help. It’s the smart thing to do, especially in a dangerous area, he said. He noted that the team doesn’t charge for their services.
He recommends that hikers research trails ahead of time and be prepared with essentials like flashlights, water and food regardless of the distance. He said it’s also important to know your limits and turn around if necessary. Also let a friend or family member know where you’re traveling.
“It is a great feeling to get in your car and go home and know that you were part, even if it’s just a small part, of people going back to their families, their loved ones, safe and sound,” he said.