Posted on 08/06/2010 12:29:04 PM PDT by JoeProBono
DENVER, - A man who was struck by lightning while hiking the highest summit in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park said he is eager to return.
Brandon Baker, 31, of Princeton, Minn., said he was atop the 14,259-foot summit of Longs Peak when a storm rolled in Wednesday and he lost consciousness shortly after spotting lightning bolts, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported Friday.
"The next thing I knew, I woke up the next morning," Baker said.
Baker said he woke up feeling sore and was met on the way down by a camper who came to find him when he did not return the previous evening. The camper pointed out a large wound on the back of Baker's head and emergency crews informed him he had been hit by lightning.
"I have a mark on each foot, a mark on each elbow, (and) I have a mark on my left shoulder blade," said Baker. "It looks like I was hit by one blast."
The hiker said medical staff at St. Anthony Central Hospital in Denver told him he was lucky to be alive. They said he might be released as early as Sunday.
Baker said he is eager to return to hiking.
"I would go right back up there tomorrow if my legs didn't feel bad," he said. "It's amazing once you get up there. You just don't understand until you get to the top of a 14,000-foot peak."
14ers are not for the faint of heart .... or faint of legs ... or faint of lungs .... you get the picture.
...or faint of conductivity.
Baker has now taken the nickename “Flash”.
Baker has now taken the nickename “Flash”.
I’m searching for that old logo that the electric companies used. It looked like a little man made out of electric arcs.
I think they called him Reddy Kilowat.
What really sucks is that, while the odds of getting struck by lightning are greater than that of winning the lottery, the odds of both happening must be infinitesimal.
The best this hiker can say is that the chances of getting struck again are also infinitesimal.
Figured he was an out-of-stater.
Locals know you need to start by 5am, and have summitted and be back below treeline by noon at the latest to avoid the inevitable afternoon thunderstorms you can get on a 14'er.
I've turned around on a hike at 11 am because I didn't like the way the clouds were building.
Actually, I don’t know if its an urban legend, or an old wives tale, but supposedly once you are struck once your odds of being struck again increase substantially for whatever reason. There was a guy at one of our plants in texas who we nicknamed mumbles because his speech was incomprehensible. He was struck by lightning 6 times and was pronounced dead for 5 of them. He finally did die, though not from a 7th strike.
That’s a great hike but be off the top by about noon.
He's been infused with the spirit of Yogi Berra!
Is Chasm Lake at the bottom of the peak? I’ve hiked there...and you are definitely exposed to lighting on the hike....best I remember. I remember how tired I was.
Yeah, it’s in a bowl below the peak.
We were in Estes Park a couple of weeks ago and they were advising starting your hike at 3 AM for Long’s Peak.
Those storms do blow up in a hurry.
When you go above tree line in July and August your odds of getting hit by lightning go up dramatically.
It`s really amazing to see those clouds pile up against those mtns and so quickly get dark clouds formed up..lightning in just minutes
A 19 yo girl got struck and killed by lightning yesterday in Russelville Ky digging potatoes
That is sad. Up here in the high country the storms do come and go very fast. One is brewing up now. The really scary thing is that lightning can jump from a storm cloud as much as six miles to another peak.
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