Woman survives bad break in woods with serious injuries

For more than 12 hours, 57-year-old Susan Stronberg waited for help to arrive.

Injured after falling down an escarpment Friday while navigating a log that had fallen across a trail about 2 miles south of Blue Bay in the Mission Mountains, she broke her wrist in two places and suffered a compound fracture in her left shinbone.

It took the Yellow Bay woman two hours to crawl from the place where she fell to her car.

As morning turned into afternoon, afternoon turned into evening, and evening turned into night, Stronberg used everything available in her Toyota FJ Cruiser to keep warm as the temperature fell - including newspapers and a dog bed.

She was in excruciating pain the entire time.

"She used anything and everything, plus sheer guts and willpower to stay alive," said her husband, Michael Stronberg.

Susan, who on Monday was undergoing one of what will eventually become many medical procedures at Kalispell Regional Medical Center and could not be reached for an interview, has yet to fill in her half of the story.

But Michael said Susan had left the house about 10 a.m. Friday to take their two Airedales on a hike, something the couple did almost daily. Susan drove the dogs to a trail she had hiked before but not incredibly often - trail 2100, located about 7 miles south of the Stronberg's home.

While returning from the hike, Susan went over the escarpment - breaking her wrist in two places and sending her shinbone four inches through her skin.

Michael had last talked to Susan at 9 a.m. Friday from Missoula, where he owns a company that prints and processes business mail.

When he called Susan as he left work at about 3 p.m., he got no answer but didn't think it unusual. He arrived home at 4:45 p.m. and noticed the dogs and car were missing.

"Again, I didn't think anything of it," said Michael, observing that Susan could have been out about town or hiking, where cell coverage is spotty.

He found her cell phone, still at their Yellow Bay house with missed calls from a cousin at 2 p.m. and his own at 3 p.m.

"Around 5:30 I began to get anxious," Michael said.

He checked trails above and below the house, but didn't see Susan's car. Michael notified the Lake County Sheriff's Office that his wife was missing by 6 p.m.

Deputies began searching the roads for Susan's car and broadcast an ATL, or attempt to locate. By 9 p.m., the search and rescue team had been called out. From a command post near Blue Bay, rescuers grid-searched around the house and likely hiking trails.

"By the time it was all said and done, there were 40 people involved," Michael said.

Rescuers came up dry again and again. Then about 1:30 a.m. Saturday, Michael remembered trail 2100, which has a lot of shade for the comfort of the couple's non-shedding Airedales.

By 2 a.m., more than 12 hours after she left home, Susan was found by Brian Ducharm, a fish and game warden with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. The dogs were still in the area.

With substantial loss of blood and going into shock, Susan was transported via ALERT helicopter to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

"Had she picked a brand new trail that I didn't know about, I wouldn't have a wife today," Michael said.

Lake County Search and Rescue team members were unable to release any information Monday.

While she waited for rescuers to arrive, Michael said Susan tried to drive the car out. But it's hard to drive stick shift with one good leg and a compound fracture in the other, he noted. So she laid on the horn, hoping it would be heard.

The trail Susan picked suffered heavy tree damage from a late snow, which increased the danger in hiking it, said Michael.

On Monday, Susan was in serious condition at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. Her wrist will require several plates or screws, and Michael is now sure she'll keep her leg - which went untreated in the wilderness for so many hours.

Susan, who does home health care for a subsidiary of Kalispell Regional Medical Center, is expected to undergo months of recovery.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com