A Love Etched in Stone : Injured Man Stranded in Canyon Carves Message to Wife on Boulder

For the 12 hours that he was stuck in Laguna Canyon with a broken leg, the one thought that constantly crossed Daniel Songster’s mind was how much he loved his wife, Elizabeth.

He also thought that she would not like it if he died. So just in case the worst happened, and he didn’t get a chance to see her again, the 43-year-old Lake Forest man used a small, sharp rock to carve a heart on a boulder. Then, in awkward block letters, he scrawled: “Elizabeth, I love you!”

“I did it so she’d know that I was thinking about her in case something bad happened,” said Songster, recovering on his hospital bed at South Coast Medical Center. “And I’m glad I did it because now, she’ll always know that I love her.”

Songster had surgery on his broken leg and was released from the hospital Thursday. For the next two weeks, he will continue physical therapy at his home.

Songster’s ordeal occurred Dec. 21.

That morning, he had gone to Canyon Acres with a friend, Mike Lindsey, to see what vegetation had regrown on the barren hills that had been scorched by the fires in October. The two men, both groundskeepers for the California Native Garden at Golden West College in Huntington Beach, often explored the hills together in their spare time.

Instead of heading home after he and Lindsey parted, Songster--on an impulse--decided to head up Laguna Canyon to see what plants he could find in the area. He hiked up the canyon a couple of miles and took pictures of shrubbery, flowers and ferns that had sprouted on the hillside.

But when Songster began to head back, he stepped on a water-soaked slope that gave way. After tumbling and bouncing his way through trees down a 35-foot cliff, he finally landed on a ledge, with his left leg out of joint at the hip.

“My left leg was crossed (atop) my right leg at an angle it shouldn’t have,” he said ruefully while Elizabeth Songster cried softly nearby, reliving her husband’s nightmare once more. “I waited until my head was cleared and begin to think of ways to get down the canyon. Once I realized no one really knew I was up there, I knew it was up to me to get myself back down.”

But before he began, Songster looked around, found a rock and carved the message he hoped his wife would eventually find.

He then began his difficult 12-hour trip to safety. He braced his broken leg with the other so it would not move. He put his weight on his hands and inched down the soot-stained canyon.

Throughout, Songster kept thinking about Elizabeth. Every once in a while, he thought of having a cellular phone to let her know where he was and that he was fine. And he would ask her to take him a ham and cheese sandwich because he hadn’t eaten all day.

As the sun crept behind the horizon and the temperatures dropped into the 40s, Songster said, it took all of his willpower to continue down the canyon. Often, he would stop to rest and yell for help, hearing only his own echo.

It was getting harder to go on every time he stopped, Songster recalled. “I knew I had to keep moving, because if I didn’t, if I fell and lost consciousness, I would die.”

Finally, Songster reached the bottom of the canyon, a spot he recognized because it was marked by the three oak trees he had seen that morning. He was too tired to move on. Once more, he cupped his hands to his mouth and bellowed, “Help!”

This time, a voice he recognized answered: “Dan, is that you? Dan, I hear you!”

It was the voice of his stepson, Jeb. Help had finally arrived.

Notified by Elizabeth Songster earlier that night, Mike Lindsey reported to police that Dan Songster was lost in the canyon. Lindsey, Elizabeth Songster and her family joined paramedics and police in the search.

“I had been praying all night, and I tried to remain calm,” Elizabeth Songster said Thursday when her husband finished his tale. “When I heard my son say that he could hear (Dan), that’s when I fell apart.”

When she was told of the inscription on the rock, Elizabeth Songster wept anew.

“I told him, ‘How could you even take one minute from saving yourself to do something like that?’ ” she said. “Not only was it a wonderful act, it was so romantic.”