SALT LAKE CITY - A North Carolina man crawled four days across the Utah desert after breaking his leg on a solo hike, inspired by a Hollywood movie about a man who cut off his own arm to save himself after being trapped by a boulder in the same canyon.
Amos Wayne Richards, 64, of Concord, N.C., is now recovering at home.
Canyonlands National Park rangers found Richards four days after he fell 10 feet in Little Blue John Canyon on Sept. 8. Along with the leg injury, he dislocated his shoulder but was able to work it back into place.
""It took me about 3 or 4 minutes to work my shoulder and get it back in place and once I got it back in place, I stood up and realized my ankle hurt a little bit," Richards told WBTV in Charlotte.
Without cell phone service and only two protein bars to eat, Richards began crawling back to his car across the rocky terrain. He filled his water bottles with rain as he painstakingly retraced his steps, eventually dragging himself almost five miles.
Rangers discovered his car two days later at the trailhead for Little Blue John Canyon. Within hours, a helicopter spotted Richards - who used the flash on his camera to catch the pilot's attention - only a couple of miles from his car.
Richards was treated for the shattered leg and dehydration at a hospital in Moab, Utah, before returning to North Carolina to recover.
In 2003, climber Aron Ralston hiked into the same canyon also without telling anyone his plans. He became trapped by a boulder and was forced to cut off his own arm to free himself. Ralston went on to detail his struggles in a book. His story was later adapted into the Oscar-nominated movie "127 Hours."