That’s what Boy Scouts learn about handling emergency situations.
Remembering that lesson, and praying a lot, helped 13-year-old Charlie Finlayson face a monumental challenge last week in the Idaho wilderness — one worth all the merit badges in the world. He helped save his dad’s life.
“They should have a badge for rescuing your old man,” David Finlayson said Tuesday by phone from Utah.
The 52-year-old mountaineer and his son were camped at Ship Island Lake in the Bighorn Crags of the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness northwest of Challis. On Aug. 17, the two were scouting a climbing route when a boulder rolled off the mountainside. They hadn’t started climbing and don’t know what dislodged the big rock.
“Dumb luck. It didn’t come off too far above me, so it wasn’t rolling too fast,” Finlayson said.
But the refrigerator-size boulder knocked him off the ledge, and he tumbled 20 to 30 feet down the mountain.
The blow broke his back, his left arm and left heel. It carved a foot-long gash on his shin, exposing the bone. It dislodged a crown on one of his back teeth, ripped off his helmet and briefly knocked him out.
Their camp at the lake was on the other side of the boulder field, a mile away. They were about 13 miles from the trail head and nearest ranger, where they might be able to summon help. And they were in the middle of a 12-day trip, so they weren’t overdue. No one was going to come looking for them.
