PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon hiker who survived a 50-foot fall, broken bones and three nights in a national forest says a strong drive to live led her to keep moving, eat bugs and even try a bite of a slug.
Pamela Salant told reporters Monday that the snail-like mollusk “looked really tasty, but it was not” and she spat it out after giving it a chew.
The 28-year-old Portland nursery school art teacher was rescued Aug. 2 by the crew of an Oregon Army National Guard helicopter. While on a camping trip with her boyfriend July 30 in the Mount Hood National Forest, she walked off to look for a campsite, got lost and fell.
Speaking from a wheelchair at a Portland hospital, Salant says she survived on caterpillars and berries. She was wearing only shorts and a tank top when she got lost, so she covered herself with moss to stay warm.
Salant suffered a broken tibia and fractures in her middle back. She followed a creek drainage in hopes of reaching the Columbia River, crawling and scooting on her bottom because she couldn’t walk.
