A 50-year-old man had a rocky start to his Thanksgiving when he got stuck in a small crevice between two boulders on South Mountain.
“Like a sandwich," said Johnny Moto.
Johnny Moto isn't describing his Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, he's talking about the position he was stuck in on South Mountain.
“You know you get to a point and it’s like, 'Am I gonna get out of here?'” Moto said.
The 50-year-old man was hiking with his wife and family from Chicago. They made it to one of the mountain's popular spots, Fat Man's Pass. It is a crevice between two massive boulders. He tried to make it through.
“I started going lower to get down and work my way through, and as I went lower it was wedged," said Moto.
Moto ended up completely stuck.
“I felt like a snake was constricting around my chest and it was getting harder and harder to breathe," said Moto.
Making matters worse, Moto has a heart condition. His family and good Samaritans tried to get him out, but after close to 30 minutes with no luck, they called for help.
“Him being wedged in between those two very large boulders presented its own challenges on how they were going to free him," said Captain Danny Gile of the Phoenix Fire Department.
Thankfully, a group of firefighters was able to rescue Moto, allowing him to hike down uninjured.
“It was a unique situation; they told me I was probably the only person who ever got wedged in Fat Man’s Pass, and you can tell I’m really not that fat," Moto joked.
Moto and his family left the mountain to go home for Thanksgiving dinner feeling especially thankful.
“They came to my rescue and I just am so appreciative of that because I feel like I’m a very fortunate person. I’m blessed," said Moto.
Moto had a good sense of humor about the incident. He joked he won't be back to Fat Man's Pass until he eats a little less Thanksgiving pie.