Lakeside man survives 120-foot fall

Twenty-one-year-old Evan Kreps is alive and relatively well after falling some 120 feet on a mountain Saturday afternoon.

Kreps, from Lakeside, and Kalispell resident Tyler Schaefer, 22, were hiking and bushwhacking through forest on Kakashe Mountain near Mission Falls east of St. Ignatius about 2 p.m. Saturday when Kreps slipped and fell.

It was a pretty crazy ordeal, Schaefer said Sunday after standing watch over a friend he’s known for only three months.

Schaefer, who relocated to the area from Palm Springs, Calif., for the summer, was hiking behind Kreps when he heard “ghastly death screams. I threw off my pack and ran to him,” Schaefer said.

Kreps had fallen over rocks in 15-foot increments several times before a final fall Schaefer estimates at 40 feet.

Kreps had gashes in his head, forearm and leg.

“He’s lucky he didn’t hit a tree” on the way down, Schaefer said. Kreps “was bouncing off rocks. It’s amazing he didn’t break any bones.”

For complete story, check out the Aug. 19 edition of the Lake County Leader.