A Piggyback Ride from a Stranger

After an elderly woman broke her leg on a hill, a hiker spent hours carrying her down

- Sydney Page

Ursula Bannister, hitching a ride on Troy May's back, with Layton Allen, right, and other helpers.

ONCE A YEAR, Ursula Bannister climbs to High Rock Lookout, a viewpoint near Ashford, Washington, where she scattered her mother's ashes 23 years ago.

She usually hikes with someone along the 3.2-mile trail. Last August, Bannister, then 79, went on her own, figuring she'd be fine because she's an experienced hiker.

"It's steep so it's considered a hard hike, but because I've done it so many times, I wasn't nervous about it," says Bannister, who lives in Tacoma.

She arrived at the trail at around 11 a.m. and made her way to the lookout. As she headed back down, her foot got caught in a hole in the ground. She fell forward.

"By the time I sat up, my foot was pointing the wrong way. I knew right away I had broken my leg," Bannister says. She cried out for help, and before long, a stranger approached and called 911. They were told a search and rescue team would arrive in five hours.