Chilkat Valley News - Serving Haines and Klukwan, Alaska since 1966

A 15-year-old is safe after getting stuck in the mud for about seven hours during a duck hunt in the upper Klehini Valley.

“It was terrifying and I am still terrified,” said Kaitlin Combs, the boy’s mother. “I don’t think he’s afraid, but I don’t think he’s gonna be playing in the mud anymore.”

Combs said her son, Colton, probably had a body temperature dropped to around 90 degrees during the ordeal. She said she wanted to share the story as a safety concern to remind residents of the valley to carry satellite communication devices during outdoor adventures.

“We bought an inReach for him the next day,” said Combs, referring to the satellite-texting devices. “He could have died if he had been out there alone.”

As he often does on weekends, Colton joined a friend and his cousin for a duck hunt near Kelsall Road. The crew left in a truck around 5 a.m. and stopped for a quick nap in the truck before heading out to their hunting area, which they call Goose Bar.

“They were bored, so the three of them were playing in the mud, tapping it and watching it turn like Jell-O,” said Combs.

Eventually, they saw some birds, and two of the boys got in place behind a blind. Colton stayed behind in the mud. After a few minutes, he started yelling to them that he was stuck. At first his friends thought he was joking, Combs said, but after about 30 minutes of increasing panic, they came over and started digging with their hands to try to free Colton’s leg, which was wrapped in insulated neoprene chest waders that kept him relatively warm.

“They dug by hand for about four hours. They got one leg free, but the other was still stuck. It was very uncomfortable with more mud seeping in,” he said.

At that point, the boys’ ungloved hands were rubbed raw from digging in the coarse silt and they realized that they needed help. They tried sending emergency texts to friends on their inReach, but for some reason the texts didn’t send. The boys decided to split up, with one running into the Mosquito Lake community, where he knocked on the first door he could. That’s when Sean McLaughlin, a 36-year veteran of the Klehini Valley Fire Department, heard a knock on his door. He contacted other volunteers with the fire department and jumped on his four-wheeler with a couple shovels and zipped up the trail.

Meanwhile, Colton and his cousin were still working to extricate his leg. They realized they might be able to slip his leg out if they cut through the waders.

Unfortunately it backfired. His leg was still stuck, but cold water started to seep into his leg, chilling him.

“That’s when he started having a panic attack,” his mom said. “His cousin was able to calm him down, which was really lucky.”

McLaughlin arrived at the scene to find a cold and scared Colton, and other volunteers began to show up.

“Within a half hour, guys from town started showing up and thank god they did. It was a chore to get him out. It took every one of us,” said McLaughlin. “As fast as you can dig it out, it was filling right back in.”

With the help of volunteers, Colton was finally able to free himself right around the time Combs and her husband arrived back in the same area after a grouse-hunting trip.

They saw several ambulances in the parking lot where Colton had been, and their minds went for the worst.

“We had 30 seconds of straight fear,” said Combs. “My husband thought it was a bear attack. My mind went to someone drowning.”

As responders stripped off his clothes and put him under a heated blanket, they realized he would be okay, though his temperature was measured at 93 degrees by the time he reached the ambulance, and he had signs of heart stress.

He stayed at the clinic until 10:30 p.m. The next day, Combs reported feeling good and reported for wrestling practice on Monday. But she said Colton was also a little grumpy about having to miss the season crab opener on Sunday.

Combs said she’s grateful for the community response, and the fact that her son was in good shape when it happened. And she said, Colton and his friends learned a good lesson.

“It was kind of a joke at first. But now to all three of them, I think it was an eye opener,” she said.

McLaughlin said it was the first time he’d seen a similar incident in his more than three decades as an emergency responder with the department. The lesson he took from the experience was blunt.

“Don’t dally — if it’s soft either get through it or get out. Don’t play in the mud,” McLaughlin said.