MURRAY, Utah -- His leg was securely wedged between a pair of boulders. He was waist deep in a rushing creek. And as Dean Ririe propped himself against a rock half the size of a Volkswagen and prepared for what would be a more-than-16-hour wait, he began to think he might not make it out of Little Cottonwood Creek alive. The Murray man frequents the Cottonwood Canyon waters on fishing excursions and said he had been trying to reel in a small fish when he stepped over a boulder and onto some smaller rocks. Suddenly, the rocks released, the strong current pulled him under and Ririe was swallowed up by the cold creek. He was able to wriggle half his body to the surface, but his waders had ripped and filled with water. More importantly: His right leg remained trapped. From his hospital bed in Intermountain Medical Center's intensive care unit this week, Ririe relived the painful trial that left him hypothermic and nearly cost him parts of his right leg. "My foot was pinned between two boulders," he said. "I couldn't wiggle out. It just held on and blocked me in." At first, Ririe said he struggled. He reached for logs and for a couple of hours tried to pry the boulders apart. But when he realized he wasn't making any progress, Ririe focused instead on keeping his body temperature up. He folded his arms inside his waders, started yelling and keeping himself alert through the night. He rested every few minutes by leaning against the boulder and breathing. "I was afraid to sleep. I might have sunk," Ririe said. "So the easy part was staying awake. I was more worried about passing out." Finally, morning rolled around. Ririe said he grew a little more optimistic, but that hope began to fade when he remembered he had wandered to a remote region of the Tanners Flat area to fish. For Ririe, relief came just after 9 a.m., when 11-year-old Alex Malin saw him while wandering along the creek looking for firewood to feed his campfire. Alex ran to get his father, Brian Malin, and returned to Ririe's side. "I'm lucky they found me," Ririe said as he began to weep, adding that he hopes to meet Alex and his dad. "I'd tell them thank you." The Malins notified authorities. Soon after, search-and-rescue crews showed up. Meanwhile, Ririe's wife, Tracy, and son, James, who had been looking for Dean's car through the night, had finally located it a short distance from where Ririe eventually was found. Rescue crews managed to force the boulders apart and Ririe was flown to Intermountain Medical Center in serious condition. When Ririe arrived at the hospital, his body temperature had dropped to 33 degrees below normal, according to Jody Carter, a member of the trauma team caring for Ririe. Doctors expect him to make a full recovery. Ririe acknowledged that the ordeal changed his life. But he said he hopes he is able to keep his feet and toes because he still would love to fish and ski. "I'm just grateful to be alive," he said. Tracy Ririe said her husband was trying to catch a fish for his 13-year-old daughter, Melanie, and added that Melanie has since told her father he is no longer allowed to go on fishing trips alone. When asked what helped him endure through those 16 harrowing hours before he was finally found, the father -- left with a gravelly voice from a night of yelling and a pain-filled day -- looked over his shoulder at his two daughters, his son and his wife as tears welled. "My wife," he said. "My kids." E-mail Steve Gehrke at sgehrke(at)sltrib.com (Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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