Trabuco Canyon : Mission Viejo Hiker Suffers Injury in Fall

A 19-year-old man, hiking with friends near rocky falls in Holy Jim Canyon, fell 30 feet Sunday afternoon, but apparently suffered only fractures to a leg and ankle, authorities said.

The hiker, Alan Barbour of Mission Viejo, was airlifted from the deep canyon to Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo, where he was reported in stable condition, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Orange County Fire Department paramedics at the scene said Barbour did not appear seriously injured.

“It wasn’t a free fall, it was a slide down the falls, and then he hit the water at the base,” said Fire Capt. Dennis Trone, who hiked into the canyon with other rescue workers.

“There was a tree trunk that couldn’t have been three feet from the bottom of the waterfall, and it had a limb sticking straight up about 10 inches long,” Trone said. “He could have been impaled.

“But (Barbour) said when he hit the water, he doesn’t even remember it. All he remembers is the water was cold and he said ‘Oh (expletive),’ and jumped out.”

Trone said Barbour’s companions contacted the Fire Department’s Trabuco Canyon substation about 3 p.m. and a Sheriff’s Department helicopter was dispatched to the rugged area east of O’Neill Park to confirm the location of the fallen hiker, Lt. Larry Khune said. He said the falls--slippery, wet and inaccessible by vehicle--are located about 1 1/2 miles from Holy Jim Trail.

As firefighters hiked to the scene, a Marine Corps helicopter, carrying Fire Department paramedics, was pressed into service, and the young man was airlifted out about an hour later, Trone said.

“I think the scariest part of the whole thing for (Barbour) was getting into the helicopter,” said Trone. “You’re on a rope 800 feet in the air and the only thing you can see is the bottom of that helicopter. And those blades going ‘round and ‘round.”