Community Chat

[Mindy D]

Jaime Stong, her sister, said "The doctor was shocked she was so dehydrated. Her potassium levels were extremely low...Her levels of her kidney function were very bad. She was starting to show signs her kidneys were shutting down."

She hit her head early in her hike. Strong continued to say, "Once she hit her head she did not have the energy to walk out. She was praying to be found, and we were all praying to find her." Her sister also said, "She had a really hard time moving because of a lack of energy, lack of water, food." According to her sister she was near a river but couldn't drink the water because of toxicity concerns.

After checking the park's website, I found that there has been an ongoing problem with the river being contaminated with toxic Cyanobacteria.

Her daughter, Kailey Chambers, said her mother was so dehydrated "she couldn't open her mouth."

When she was found she had a big bump on the back of her head. She had hit her head after tying her hammock to a tree. The hammock is what was sighted by visitors to the park who then alerted authorities. 

Quotes are from CNN online. 

"Rescued hiker Holly Courtier was dehydrated, hurt and 'praying to be found' in Zion National Park, her sister says" by Paul Vercammen, CNN

Updated 6:55 AM ET, Wed October 21, 2020

Sorry if this post seems disjointed. 

[kaydee50]

I'm happy that she was found alive but no intelligent person would go off on a hike alone.

[Kachina624]

There were other hikers in the park who saw her (they're the ones who reported seeing her) and who she presumably saw.  Why didn't she ask them for help?  Did they offer and she refused?  I'd like to hear their version of this story.

[Pearlee]

There is an article on the Foxnews site about things in the hiker's story not adding up.

[Carmie]

She also walked out on her own unassisted.  Didn't need help....if she was so sick, how did she do that?

[proudlyfromNJ]

And $12,000 so far on her GoFundMe page.

[50Mickey]

Nothing that the family says jives with the condition that the park service found her in. Daughter says that she could not even take 2 steps and was so dehydrated that she couldn't speak. The Utah sheriff said if she was in that condition the park service would have called for a transport to take her out. Daughter also said that she stayed near a water source the Virgin River, the sheriff said if she was drinking water from this source she would be very ill and possibly dead. If she didn't drink this water and had none she would have been dead in a few days.  My guess is that the authorities are suspicious and will investigate and get to the bottom of this. They usually do not take kindly to someone causing rescuers to expend scarce resources to look for a hiker who may very well have faked this whole thing. 

[Pearlee]

Same for the supposed head injury the daughter said her mother had which disoriented her. The rescuers didn't need a transport for her so there are doubts about the supposed serious head injury too.

[Kachina624]

If you've ever been to Zion, you know there are many fresh water springs with clean, drinkable water.  I remember one place where it poured over a long cliff, just like rain.