Utah man shares tale of family’s near-death experience on Kalalau trail in new book

A Utah man recently published a book about his near-death experience on the Kalalau trail over a decade ago, and how he became close friends with the rescuers who jeopardized their lives to save his family during one of the biggest trail rescues in Kaua’i history.

“There were amazing, amazing men and women who are strangers, who are other hikers, who came to the aid of our family,” said author Rich Greenberg, on the experience that is the basis for his book “Surviving a Miracle.”

“There were rescuers who put their life on the line for total strangers to go flying in a dangerous canyon to rescue a bunch of people,” he said.  

Greenberg detailed the April 6, 2014, experience in a recent interview, saying he and his wife, Carrie, along with his three young children, Zach, 12, Samantha, 9, and Marla, 3, were hiking to the Hanakāpīʻai Falls — an 8-mile round trip hike on the North Shore.

However, as they approached the waterfall, the weather suddenly shifted from sunny to windy, and a storm hit. 

He and his family decided to turn back, but while they were crossing a stream, a flash flood started. “We had just crossed it like 10 minutes before, no problem,” Greenberg said. 

Twelve-year-old Zach then slipped on one of the rocks and was swept into the river by a strong current. 

Greenberg tried to reach out and grab Zach by the arm, but he was also swept into the stream, along with his 3-year-old daughter, Marla, who was in a baby carrier on his back.

“It was like someone just shoved me in the back really hard, and then my daughter and I were now in just huge force rapids,” he said. 

Greenberg was able to grab onto a large rock, where a bystander — who happened to be carrying a 9-foot-long camera tripod — was able to pull him and his daughter out of the water.

 Greenberg then ran down the stream’s edge and found Zach had climbed on a ledge just above the river. 

Without cell service to call for help, Greenberg said he and other hikers relied on word of mouth to alert rescue crews of the incident. 

An emergency County of Kauaʻi helicopter eventually flew to the scene, and about 10 to 12 first responders assisted hikers stranded at different points along the trail. 

Kauaʻi Fire Capt. Aaron Hawthorne arrived in the helicopter to assist with the situation and recounted the emergency crew’s efforts in a story similar to Greenberg’s. 

Hawthorne said he found Zach in a dangerous situation, mentioning the young boy had been clinging to the rock for about five hours, waiting to be rescued. He also said that they only had about one hour before it would start getting dark outside. 

“You can imagine a small kid being stranded on a rock in the middle of a raging river,” Hawthorne said. “He was definitely in a desperate situation, and the other people were cold and wet … But nobody was in as precarious a situation as him.” 

Hawthorne described being lifted down from the helicopter and into the river to rescue Zach, but the rope suspending him prevented him from reaching the child. “I was about waist deep in the raging water trying to get over there, and the kid jumped off the rock, and I ended up catching him in the water there,” Hawthorne said.

Zach held onto Hawthorne as the helicopter lifted them hundreds of feet into the air to get to safety. “Then we went back and started getting the rest of the people that were around there,” Hawthorne said. 

120 people were rescued on the trail that afternoon and the following morning. 

Greenberg, a faithful member of the Church of Latter-day Saints, sees the incident as a miracle from God. 

“Almost always, when there’s a flash flood here and someone falls in, we pull their body out the next day. That’s what the reporters say. We report on a recovery. We don’t report on people making it out of that river when it floods,” Greenberg said.

“It’s just unheard of, and so I truly believe… that God was involved.”

Hawthorne also called the rescue miraculous, noting the improbability of Greenberg and his two children making it out of the river unscathed.  

“The technical rescue was something based on training and equipment and hours and hours practicing to be able to perform something that technical under those conditions,” Hawthorne said. 

But Hawthorne, who has been involved in similar rescues, said people don’t usually survive being swept into the rivers.

“So people don’t get swept down our rivers and typically make it out. Unfortunately, they hit their head or get caught in branches or something tragic happens. So for a dad, a baby, and a small boy to do that – that dad and the baby luckily washed into a rock and were able to get pulled out by somebody who had a tripod. And a little kid ended up on a rock in a stream, and nobody knows how he got there,” Hawthorne said. “Yeah, it was pretty miraculous.” 

That year, Hawthorne and several other Kaua’i firefighters won the Benjamin Franklin Award of Valor in Dallas for their efforts, winning national recognition for the heroic rescue. 

“It does feel really good to know that you did make a difference and help that family out,” Hawthorne said of receiving the award. 

Greenberg, Hawthorne, and other rescuers involved later became close friends, having gone on ski trips, barbecues, and back to the Hanakāpīʻai  Falls trail together. 

“We get together once a year and have a barbecue over here, and every one of us that was on the rescue has visited them. They’re out of Salt Lake City,“ Hawthorne said. “So it’s really great to not only make a difference in their life but then make friends with the family and someone that you know will be around with forever.”

During Greenberg’s most recent visit to Kauaʻi, he held a book signing for his novel at the Talk Story bookstore in Hanapēpē.

“The goal was to tell the story, to bring awareness to what Kauaʻi firefighters do every day,” Greenberg said of his book’s aim, emphasizing the fire department’s continued rescue efforts. Greenberg also noted that a portion of the proceeds from book sales will be donated to Friends of the Kauaʻi Fire Department to fund emergency supplies and other tools for rescues.

“People are good and do amazing things to help people, and people should believe in miracles from God,” Greenberg said of the book’s message. 

Greenberg’s novel, “Surviving A Miracle: The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Rescue along the Nā Pali Coast of Kauaʻi” is currently available on Amazon for pre-order and will be officially released on Aug. 13.