After hiking alone for hours, McNeill was able to call for help, and rangers located her close to the trail head, according to a news release by Zion National Park that detailed the rescue. A search-and-rescue team immediately set out to look for Osmun, who they found several hours later. He was not freed from the quicksand until late in the night, forcing rescuers to stay with him as temperatures plummeted and the park received another four inches of snow.<doc-sep>SPRINGDALE, Utah -- In the span of two days, an Arizona man got stuck in quicksand for hours and then had to spend the night coping with a winter storm before being rescued.The ordeal began Saturday as 34-year-old Ryan Osmunm and his girlfriend, Jessica McNeil, were hiking at Zion National Park in Utah. Osmun's leg got stuck in quicksand in a location that was about a three-hour hike from the start of the trail they were taking, called the Subway route. "His leg was buried up to his knee and he was unable to free himself," a release from the National Park Service said.Osmun and McNeil tried to free his leg, but were unsuccessful. So McNeil left him "with warm gear and clothing" and hiked for three hours until she got cell phone service to call 911. "I didn't know if I would ever see her again," Osmun said. "It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. The scariest thing. I didn't know if I could do that hike by myself. At one point I thought, I might as well turn back and... we could just be together for the last moments," McNeil said. "The water was so cold I thought for sure I would lose my leg, because there was no way she would be able to get back fast enough to get me out," Osmun said.A Zion search-and-rescue team began hiking to find them, the release states. National park rangers found McNeil, who was showing signs of hypothermia, at the beginning of the trail and treated her.Several hours passed before the rangers could find Osmun, who was described as "stable but suffering from exposure, hypothermia, and extremity injuries," according to the park service. "When he walked up, he said, 'I'll be honest with you, you should be dead or unconscious right now,'" Osmun said of his rescuer.The Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS) said he had been exposed in water for 10 hours. It then took several more hours into the night before his leg was freed. Rangers then rewarmed and treated his leg.But the mission wasn't over.Winter storms in the area brought "four additional inches of snow," according to the park service, so the rangers and Osmun spent the night at the site.A Utah DPS helicopter was dispatched from Salt Lake City the next morning, the release from the agency states. The winter storms made it hard for rescuers to see all morning, the release said, but a small break in the weather that afternoon helped rescuers find Osmun and rangers -- as seen in a video the DPS posted on YouTube.Osmun was then taken to a local hospital. Both he and McNeil are expected to be OK, according to CNN affiliate KUTV "To the rescue crew that saved me, there's not enough I can put into words how grateful I am to them," Osmun said.Quicksand develops when saturated sand acquires the characteristics of liquid, according to Britannica Academic. It's usually found at the mouths of large rivers, flat stretches of streams or even beaches where water pools up and fills with sand.Britannica states that while a person or animal can get stuck in quicksand, they "cannot sink below the surface" because of body buoyancy. Struggling, however, can lead to losing balance and possible drowning.<doc-sep>A 34-year-old Arizona man was rescued after his leg sunk down to his knee in quicksand during a hike at Zion National Park in Utah on Saturday. Park officials said on Monday that the man, who was not identified, was hiking in the Left Fork of the North Creek when he became stuck and was unable to free himself. He was not alone at the time, his female hiking companion was with him, but their combined efforts to free him were fruitless. Before the woman left for help, she gave the man extra clothes to keep warm. Temperatures on the trail were frigid and reached the low teens, park officials said. The woman then hiked for three hours in order to gain cellphone service and call emergency authorities, park officials said. When she was located by authorities, they had to treat her for hypothermia. When the park rangers located the man several hours later, he showed signs of hypothermia, exposure and injuries to his extremities, park officials said. It took several hours to free him from the quicksand. The park rangers ended up spending the night with the man because he was in no condition to hike out. While there, they began to rewarm him and treat his leg as four inches of snow fell overnight, park officials said. On Sunday morning, Feb. 17, a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter responded from Salt Lake City, Utah, to pick the man up. However, according to park officials, winter storms in the area caused low visibility, delaying the helicopter's rescue. Once a small break in the weather occurred in the afternoon, park officials said the DPS helicopter was able to safely get the man out of the park. He was then transported to a hospital by ambulance. Quicksand is not normally a problem in the park, said Aly Baltus, spokeswoman for Zion National Park. However, she said the weather at the time was a contributing factor to its formation. "Colder temperatures, shorter days, snow, ice, and cold run-off can make easy hikes difficult and strenuous ones treacherous," Baltus said. "Visitors are advised to use extreme caution during poor weather events at Zion."<doc-sep>
A hiker was rescued at Zion National Park in southwest Utah over the weekend, hours after his leg got stuck in quicksand during a snowstorm. Ryan Osmun and his girlfriend, Jessika McNeill, had hiked for about three hours through the park, up the Left Fork of North Creek trail, also known as the Subway, on Saturday when McNeill tripped, and her hands and knees fell into quicksand. "I was trying to calm her so she wouldn't sink more," Osmun, 34, told ABC News in an interview that airing on "Good Morning America" on Tuesday. "As that was happening, I didn't realize my right leg was sinking into the sand." The quicksand swallowed Osmun's entire leg by the time he'd helped free his girlfriend from the dangerous mixture of sand and near-freezing water. McNeill tried to dig him out but the water kept refilling the hole. When she left, I was really scared, mostly for her. "He eventually told me I needed to leave him and hike back to get cell service and call 911," McNeill told ABC News, adding she thought she would never see her boyfriend again. "I knew the only way to save his life was to leave him, but I didn't know if he had the time left," she said. "It was the hardest thing I've had to do, the scariest thing I had to do." McNeill hiked three hours back to find cellphone service and call for help. Rangers with the Zion Search and Rescue found her close to the trail head and treated her for hypothermia, according to the National Park Service. By that time, the sun was starting to set. "When she left, I was really scared, mostly for her," Osmun said. "I just hoped the best for her, honestly, because I didn't feel like I was going to make it out." After several hours of searching, rangers located Osmun, who was suffering from exposure, hypothermia and extremity injuries. It took rescuers two hours to free him from the quicksand. "The water was so cold, I thought I was going to lose my leg," Osmun said. "I was in the water for 11 hours total. There were two snowstorms while I was waiting, just sitting in the water. It was just pouring snow." Rangers spent the night in freezing conditions tending to Osmun, according to the National Park service. Zion National Park reported 4 additional inches of snow overnight. The Utah Department of Public Safety dispatched a helicopter to the search and rescue team the following morning. It took the helicopter until Sunday afternoon to safely land due to extreme weather conditions. The National Park Service advises hikers to use extreme caution during this winter season. Osmun and McNeill, both from Arizona, said they'd never hiked the park's Subway route before. "There was nothing I could change," Osmun said. "We were as prepared as we could be."