APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. — William "Bill" Formanek is an avid hiker who was recently hospitalized after an accident in the Grand Canyon.
But after a release from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office said his friends abandoned him, he's setting the record straight.
He and four others planned a week long off trail adventure in Kanab Creek area near the North Rim. There, a misplaced step turned the trip of a lifetime into a brush with death.
“It was ugly,” Formanek said. “We planned to go down, turn around and come back.”
Formanek said he and another one of his buddies decided to hike a little deeper into the canyon, separating from their group. When Formanek slipped, fell, and dislocated his shoulder.
"It was really painful,” Formanek said. “It was probably dislocated about three inches.”
It was so painful Formanek said he couldn't continue hiking. Asking his friend to leave him to go find their group and call for help.
“The only logical thing to do was for my friend to catch up to the other people in front of us that did have satellite devices and see if they could request a rescue,” he said.
The stranded hiker said he had food and water. However, the pain from his should continued to grow. At the time, Formanek said he didn't believe he was going to die but didn't want to think about how much that pain he would be in if help didn't arrive soon.
Then once the sun went down and still no word from his group.
“I actually didn’t have any hope of getting rescued once it got dark,” Formanek said.
It turns out, his group was able to make contact with law enforcement using their phone's satellite capabilities leading to their friends rescue.
As he laid in the dark and narrow canyon, Formanek said he could hear something off in the distance. It was a helicopter belonging to the State Department of Public Safety searching for him. He could see it circling above him and used his headlamp to get their attention.
It worked.
“Amazingly and most gratefully they were able to find me and pull me out about six hours after the incident,” Formanek said.
He was flown to a Flagstaff hospital to recover, according to a social media post by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office Search and Rescue. That same post detailed the rescue, but Formanek said part of the post wasn't true. It said Formanek was abandoned by his friends who continued their hiking adventure without him.
It lead to dozens of, understandably, negative comments about his friends who he said did their best to save him.
“When I was injured there was absolutely nothing my friend could do to help me besides try to get me rescued,” he said.
The social media posts have since been updated with what Formanek said really happened.
He still has a way to go before being fully recovered, but it won't keep him down forever. Once his shoulder is healed, Formanek said he can't wait to get back out into nature.
“As soon as I feel capable enough to carry a backpack again, I’ll definitely be out there.”
WE ❤ ARIZONA
Explore amAZing people, places and things across our state on our 12News YouTube playlist here.