Woman Who Survived 100 Foot Fall: 'I Just Prayed'
DENVER (CBS4)- A young woman is thankful to God for answering her prayer to live after she fell 100 feet from a cliff.
"I just prayed, Jesus be with me and in that moment I saw, like, two bald eagles," said fall survivor Maggie Michael.
Michael, 21, said her faith kept her calm after falling down the side of a canyon in Larimer County on Monday, tumbling some 100 feet. Initially rescuers believed she had fallen 50 feet.
Michael knew she was hurt but didn't know how much.
"I could see my jeans were cut and there was blood," said Michael.
Michael, a wildlife biology student at Colorado State University, was cataloging rare "aletes humilis," a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common names Colorado aletes and Larimer aletes. She was taking inventory of the plants, which grow on cliffs, for the Nature Conservancy near Andrews Park when she fell.
"I was pretty close to the edge and a rock when out from under my foot, so I lost my footing," said Michael.
She tried stopping her fall by grabbing at rocks, "And then I went over a 30-foot edge and so I did a 30-foot free fall."
She landed on a ledge but her momentum kept her going.
"And I kind of hit and immediately flipped over," said Michael.
She had tumbled another 70 feet and stopped herself by grabbing at plants. If she would have gone another two feet she would have suffered an even worse fall.
"If I didn't land exactly where I did, I would've gone over the next cliff which was well over 200 feet," said Michael.
She tried walking out, "After a few steps, my vision got hazy and then black."
After she yelled for 30 minutes her team spotted her. Another two hours later she was in the Poudre Valley Hospital.
Michael considers herself lucky to be alive and appreciate of her rescuers, "They were just so kind and I won't ever forget them."
Next week she should learn if she needs surgery on her left knee. She's also not sure if she wants to continue looking for rare plants on a cliff.
