Canyonlands National Park was the setting of yet another multi-day story of survival, this one not of Aron Ralston and his ordeal that was adapted to the silver screen. The story is eerily similar though, as it starts in Blue John Canyon, the same location where Ralston had been trapped for 127 hours before freeing himself via amputation and being air-lifted to a hospital.

Last week, Amos Richards (same initials), a 64-year-old North Carolinan, had left his campsite at the Island Under The Sky section of the national park, drove over near Blue John Canyon, and set forth hiking — without carrying any gear or map — and, like Ralston, without letting anyone know where he was headed. Richards accidentally slipped and fell in the Lower Blue John only about ten feet, but he fractured his leg and had some internal injuries. With nothing but five liters of water and two energy bars, Richards crawled with his broken leg for four days and three nights (about 90 hours) looking for help — with no luck. It was only when the park rangers realized his campsite had been abandoned for days that they started a search for him via helicopter. It was this search-turned-rescue operation that found Richards, and brought him to Moab Hospital — where Ralston had been flown to years before.

Consider it a lesson learned: when a guy fails to tell anyone his whereabouts before getting injured in the wilderness and stranded for days without help, listen the first time.

[via Adventure Journal]