Bannister arrived at the trail around 11 a.m. and made her way to the lookout. As she headed back down, she made a misstep, and her foot got caught on a hole in the ground. She fell forward.

“By the time I sat up, my foot was pointing the wrong way. I knew right away I had broken my leg,” she said. “I tried to get up with my hiking pole and it collapsed on me.”

Bannister cried out for help, and before long, a stranger approached and called 911. They were told a search and rescue team would arrive in five hours.

“It wasn’t very encouraging,” Bannister said. “I asked this man to please ask anybody if they had pain killers, because at that point, the pain was pretty substantial.”

No one in the vicinity did. But two young men at the lookout came over to see what was going on. When they saw Bannister on the ground in agony, they immediately made an offer: They could carry Bannister to the bottom of the trail.

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