Cyclist Endures Five Days in Idaho Wilderness Following Accident, Sustaining Life with Stream Water Intake
The jacket didn't truly shield him during the crash, but rather, it proved useful in the days following, as the 24-year-old found himself stranded in the wilderness and battling to sustain life.
Overpowered by his injuries, he couldn't fetch water for himself anymore and barely managed to move. He dunked the jacket into a nearby stream and sucked water out of its pocket, he admitted to CNN.
DeMoss, hailing from Missoula, Montana, was left alone in the mountainous Idaho wilderness for a whole five days post the accident before he was rescued by a long-time friend.
"I'm just so grateful to be alive. I was battling so much with pain and the specter of death in the woods," he told CNN. "But I kept telling myself it was either an endless sea of pain or a brief dabble in death, and I wasn't going to pick the latter."
DeMoss and his black 2000 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle went missing on August 12 along Highway 12 in Idaho while riding with two other bikers. He never returned to their meeting spot.
Law enforcement joined hands with DeMoss’ family and friends to scout a 99-mile area nearby, but later announced that they would be reducing their search efforts starting August 15.
Over in Oregon, DeMoss’ friend Greg Common, 45, decided to take matters into his own hands as authorities scaled back their search.
"I rang up my wife from work and said, 'We’re going'. My wife started charging up my stuff and preparing all my gear while I headed back home from work. Then we headed up the mountain," Common said.
DeMoss and Common's elder son had been close friends since meeting in high school when the Commons lived in Montana. Common suspected he might find DeMoss due to his familiarity with the area and biking expertise.
At first, he didn't even recognize his friend.
"I'd covered 30 miles the day prior. I covered 5 miles that morning and had done a mile up by then, making it the sixth mile of the day. Then I spotted this guy lying down by the creek. I didn't recognize him... so I yelled at him. And he turned towards me and said, ‘Man, I’ve been in an accident. I’m in bad shape.’ And then I realized, I’m talking to Zach!", Common said.
DeMoss recounted swerving to avoid hitting a deer and then basically leaping 40 feet over a creek on his motorcycle into a remote grassy area, thereby losing contact with his bike.
"It happened incredibly fast, but I remember soaring through the air before I impacted," he recalled.
"I managed to get water for the first two days before collapsing and becoming virtually immobile despite my best efforts to crawl back to the creek," DeMoss said.
He had a portable campfire starter sold with his motorcycle, which could've helped others locate him if he had been closer to his bike, according to Common.
‘You don’t think you’re going to find them alive’
For Common, DeMoss’ survival serves as a testament to his friend's grit and tenacity.
"The sheer will that it must've taken to endure five days like that... I can't even begin to fathom," Common said. "That boy survived five days on that mountain."
He said as soon as DeMoss heard his voice, he instantly recognized the older man.
"He was like ‘Oh, man, thank God,’ said Common, ‘And so literally, he's trying to hug me. He’s like, ‘I love you, man.’ And all he can move is an arm and his head. The rest of him is pretty battered.'
He described experiencing a profound sense of euphoria upon discovering DeMoss. "After five days when someone is missing in the country like that, you don't think you're going to find them alive,” Common said.
DeMoss was recuperating from his injuries at a hospital, having recently transitioned from intensive care to a regular room, he told CNN.
Rickenbacher, DeMoss' mother, listed his injuries in a Facebook post, including a slightly collapsed lung, a shattered hip, and cracked ribs.
"It was like he took a beating like a ragdoll," she wrote.
His family is hoping to raise funds for his "protracted and expensive recovery" through a verified GoFundMe campaign.
DeMoss relied on the jacket's pocket for water when he was stranded, as he couldn't fetch water himself due to his injuries. In the hospital, DeMoss' family was hoping to raise funds for his recovery through a verified GoFundMe campaign, as his injuries were extensive, including a slightly collapsed lung, a shattered hip, and cracked ribs. [us]
