HIKER INJURED AT THREE SISTERS FALLS TELLS HER STORY

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Wants falls to stay accessible to public; offers safety suggestions for hikers--and for the U.S. Forest Service
 

By Miriam Raftery
 

February 13, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) – “Someone was watching out for me,” says Ofelia Gutierrez , 56, who is home from the hospital after two surgeries for serious injuries sustained when she tumbled head-over-heels at Three Sisters Falls in East County on February 6th. In an exclusive interview with East County Magazine, the seasoned hiker shares her dramatic story.
 

 

An experienced hiker who has served as a trail guide at Mission Trails Regional Park, Guttierez was in good physical shape before the ordeal. “I’m very active. I do triathlons. I kayak. I love the outdoors,” said Guttieriez, who has also climbed Cowles Mountain on a regular basis. A teacher in the Sweetwater School District and a resident of Chula Vista, Gutierrez heard about Three Sisters Falls from a friend.
 

She set out with three friends who were also unfamiliar with the rugged trail. “We went early to enjoy the falls. Nobody was there,” she recalled.
 

But on the return trip, they couldn’t find a trail. “We were kind of blazing our own trail back,” she recalled. The terrain is rocky, with loose rocks and gravel in many areas.

 

“There was a boulder. I thought I’d lean on it and catch my footing,” she recalled, “but I totally lost my footing. Maybe I leaned forward…I tumbled down head over heels down to the canyon. They said it was 20 to 30 feet. I remember hitting myself several times in the head, very hard.”
 

Her three friends reacted swiftly. “They all three saw me fall and thought the worse,” the accident victim said. “I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
 

One of her companions is a fire department dispatcher, Gutierrez said. “There was no phone reception. So he went up to high ground to get reception.” Meanwhile, the other two friends moved Gutierrez into a partially shaded area and stabilized her arm, which had a compound fracture.
 

“More people came. They offered us water. There were three gentlemen who had a reflector blanket,” she said of a group of hikers that stopped to assist. “That really helped pinpoint where I was for the helicopter.” Ironically, as a member of a local Community Emergency Response Team, Gutierrez said she also carries a reflective blanket in her CERT pack.
 

A Sheriff’s search and rescue team arrived via helicopter. “They dropped somebody in and stabilized me, then put me in a basket,” she said.
 

Despite hitting her head multiple times, Gutierrez did not sustain any brain injury. So after flying her out of the canyon, rescue personnel loaded her into an ambulance to transport her to Palomar Hospital.
 

Her arm required two surgeries. “They were afraid of infection so they couldn’t put all the bone back. It wasn’t salvageable, so they put a metal plate in and I had to have a bone graft,” said Gutierrez, who also suffered bruising and a black eye.

 

Released from the hospital this weekend, she faces roughly a two-month recovery now, she said.
 

The trail, located within the Cleveland National Forest, is not maintained by the U.S. Forest Service—or anyone else, and has been the site of other falls, as East County Magazine reported in a recent story. But the increasing popularity of Internet hiking guide sites has led more hikers to seek out the falls, once a destination known only to a few.
 

“I would hate to see such a beautiful area closed due to accidents such as mine,” said Gutierrez.
 

Asked whether she believes the Forest Service should do more to protect public safety, she acknowledged that people should hike at their own risk and use precautions. She recommends wearing sturdy hiking boots, using a walking stick or even an old ski pole to improve traction, and carrying a whistle to help summon help.

 

But she added, “Ideally, because it is government land, I would love to see some kind of trail there because it’s so beautiful, so that more people can enjoy it. But with the economy, it’s not a priority.”She suggested that if the Forest Service lacks funds to maintain the trail (which is not an officially designated trail), “Why couldn’t they have a friends group?” Other local areas with trails have established such groups, such as Friends of the San Diego River.
 

The injured hiker also thinks the federal government should warn hikers of potential hazards.“They should at least put some signs up warning people in the more dangerous areas, such as at the top of the falls, where people get too close or lean too far over.”
 

In a recent interview with ECM, Sheriff’s deputy Tony Webber, a fire rescue pilot, recalled rescuing a pair of hikers who fell over the upper fall at Three Sisters, suffering compression back injuries. “There is a long history of injuries there,” he said, adding, “We are surprised that we aren’t pulling more people down from there.”
 

The canyon where the falls are located has been ravaged by wildfires that burned off vegetation and more recently by heavy winter rains which loosened up rocks and gravel.
 

Despite her injuries, Gutierrez hopes for a full recovery.

Another visitor to an East County waterfall,  however, suffered a far worse tragedy. This weekend a rock climber died at nearby Mildred Falls, after becoming entangled in his rope and pulled beneath the waterfall cascading downward.

Gutierrez realizes just how fortunate she is to be alive. “I'm very lucky,” she concluded.

A friend of hers has memorialized the experience in a poem:
 

Three Sisters Waterfalls
“Graciela, Eva, and Ofelia”

 

By Bobby Hedrick

 

A hunter loses his way; a fire burns uninterrupted through heavy vegetation.
Lives are lost, homes aflame, and a city is shaken.
Winter storms erode the landscape of a canyon in the watershed.
Waterfalls continue their magnificent display; the years march on.
Organic peanut butter and jelly, the taste of a fresh smoothie, the celebration of new friends, the promise of the day unfolding, a stolen kiss, a rapid heartbeat, collecting oneself.
Bob Marley, the Temptations, a pleasant chatter of new friends, the destination an adventure, thirteen miles of dirt road, cardio, beauty, camaraderie, spirit, laughter, and frolicking like children, both human and dog alike.
Earth, rock, trees, vegetation, flowers, water, dirt, a misstep, and angel’s intervene, we hiked in with four but left with only three.

 

 


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