Arthur at the Riverside Walk Trail

In the earlier drafts of The Narrows Escape, Arthur accompanied the rangers to the end of the trail rather than heading back upstream with Devin to search for Shane. Here is a deleted scene of his arrival at the trail's end:

          Arthur looked up, and there it was – the Riverside Walk Trail, the path that led back to the parking lot and civilization. But something was wrong. He had walked down the Riverside Walk several times over the years. On all his previous trips, there had been dozens of people milling about - playing in the river or just enjoying the scenery. Now there wasn’t anyone to be found. He looked up at the rain and quickly realized why.

          As he stood there, Arthur was quickly swallowed up with despair. He hadn’t realized it until now, but he had been fueled on by the hope that somehow he’d find Shane waiting for him here at trail’s end. As that hope flickered and died, he sunk onto the steps that led out of the river and dropped his face into his hands.

Now what do I do? He hadn't planned beyond this point, and his mind was too numb to think clearly. For the first time since setting out to find his son, Arthur wept. His emotions couldn't be contained any longer and they streamed forth in a raging torrent.

Finally, after letting go of his emotions, Arthur’s brain was clear enough to evaluate his situation. His first thought was to go to the ranger station to find out if they had any information on Shane. Hopefully they had found him and were holding him there, waiting for the rest of his family to arrive. The only problem was, he didn't have access to a car - and it was too far to walk.

He looked at his watch again. It was a few minutes after 1:00. The women weren't due for another hour. And being Allreds, they’d probably be late.

As he considered his situation, Arthur decided that he had three options. He could hike up the Riverside Walk Trail and wait for the women so that they could take him to the ranger station. He could hike down the river to search for his son some more. Or he could hike back upstream to reunite with his group and intensify his search.

          As he debated each option, a movement downstream caught his eye. There was someone down there. He was too far away to tell for sure, but it looked like a pair of rangers. Arthur immediately set out to find out what he could. On his way, he braced himself for the worst.

##

Arthur froze in his tracks. As the rangers approached, he could tell that they were carrying something. His worst nightmares were confirmed when he saw the body bag they were carrying between them. He immediately looked for a second one, hoping it was the couple he had heard about, rather than his son. But there was only one.

          He waited, unable to move, as they approached. His heart beat faster with each of their steps. Finally they reached him.

          "You shouldn’t be down here," one of the rangers informed him.

          Arthur tried to speak, but his tongue stuck in his throat. "My boy was taken in the flood. Did you find him?" he finally managed. The last part was so garbled that he wondered if they had understood him or not.

          "So you’re the father," the first ranger said, his voice softening with compassion. “Ranger Smith mentioned you when he radioed for us to start searching yesterday.”

          Tears streamed down Arthur's face as his heart burst open. The rangers carried the body to the riverbank and carefully laid it down.

"We found him just a few hundred yards downstream," the ranger explained as he unzipped the bag. "We were on our way back to our vehicle just now. I hate to do this to you, but we need you to identify him for us."

          Arthur didn't want to look, but he knew he had to. As the ranger folded back the bag, his heart leaped for joy. It wasn't Shane! "It's not him!" he announced gleefully.

Immediately he felt guilty for taking joy in someone else's pain. The happy expression faded from his face as he pictured the hiker's brother and family. "You didn't find his girlfriend?" he asked.

The rangers looked puzzled, so Arthur explained that he and the rangers had found the other group.

“We haven’t had any radio contact from them since early this morning – before you entered the Narrows,” Ranger Forte admitted. “So we hadn’t heard about the other group. But he’s the only one we’ve found so far.”

          "We're still searching. We'll find your son," promised the second ranger.

          For some reason, Arthur couldn't take too much comfort in that. He slowly followed the rangers back to the trailhead, fear once again gripping his chest. What happened to Shane? Is there any chance he’s still alive?

          When they reached the trailhead Arthur stopped, unsure of how to proceed.

          “What’s wrong?” asked Ranger Forte.

          “The rest of my group is still in the canyon,” Arthur explained.

          “Well, you should probably wait for them up at the parking lot where it’s safe,” the ranger urged him.

          “What do you mean?” asked Arthur.

          The rangers both looked up through the rain at the dark, cloudy sky and Ranger Forte said, “In all honesty, the conditions are ripe for another flood. We’re trying to keep everyone out of the area in an effort to avoid another disaster.”

Arthur felt his fear growing exponentially. His legs began trembling as he watched the rangers load the body onto a metal framed litter to wheel it back to the parking lot. What do I do now? Arthur didn’t know. He felt so helpless.

As they got ready to leave, they heard a shout from the river. Arthur turned excitedly, hoping to see Shane or his family. Instead, he saw the group of hikers he and the rangers had found inside the Narrows. Rangers Smith and Sorensen led the group, Smith bearing the injured teenager on his back. Arthur and the other rangers waited for the group to join them.

As they got closer, the hikers began noticing the body bag. Arthur could hear their gasps and sobs and see the grief plastered on their faces. The sight of them seemed to open the faucet to his own emotions. He could feel their grief as if it were a large blanket draped over his shoulders. His shoulders drooped further as he realized that the scene could very easily be repeated with his own family.

Assuming the group of foreigners had exited the canyon via Chamberlain’s Ranch, and his own family had continued downstream, that meant that they were the only ones remaining in the canyon. If there were another disaster, they would have to face it on their own.

After helping the teen onto a second litter, they began the relatively easy hike up the paved Riverside Walk. Although Arthur generally enjoyed such hikes, he couldn’t find any joy in this one.