WEST GLACIER – Two teenage hikers are recovering after they were struck by falling rocks in Glacier National Park earlier this week.
Todd Wharton, a spokesman for Whitefish’s North Valley Hospital, says 19-year-old Joseph Burrows of Aurora, Ill., was discharged from the hospital Thursday afternoon.
Kalispell Regional Medical Center spokesman Jim Oliverson says a 13-year-old boy was expected to be discharged later in the afternoon. Authorities did not release his name or say how serious his injuries were.
Glacier National Park spokesman Wade Muelhof says the two hikers were in separate tourist groups on the park’s popular Highland trail Wednesday when rocks the size of bowling balls fell 100 feet from a cliff.
Burrows told the Missoulian he suffered slashes on his thigh, a shattered pinky and a large cut on his head.
“It started with one rock, but that rock hit other rocks, and they hit rocks. Everyone ran away, except that little kid,” he said, referring to the 13-year-old boy.
Burrows told the newspaper the boy stood still as the rocks fell around him.
“We were lucky,” he said. “The really large boulder missed us both.”
A medical helicopter flew the boy to the Kalispell hospital, where he was in stable condition Thursday.