Rescued Hiker Ready to Hit the Mountains Again

Rescued Hiker Ready to Hit the Mountains Again


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Alex Cabrero ReportingThe last hiker from the group stranded on Mount Olympus this past weekend is back home from the hospital. Kiok Abeyta broke her arm after falling more than a hundred feet.

Rescued Hiker Ready to Hit the Mountains Again

She's part of a Korean hiking group here in Utah, and every Saturday they go on another adventure. Abeyta wants to go hiking again this weekend, but her family won't let her.

It's all smiles now at the Abeyta household, but just a few days ago, no one was laughing at all.

Kiok Abeyta: "I believe in God and I really think through, and he's always there for me."

She knows how close she came to the end. Kiok Abeyta was with a group of hikers coming down Mount Olympus Saturday, when their adventure went terribly wrong. One man slipped and took everyone with him for a hundred and fifty foot fall.

Rescued Hiker Ready to Hit the Mountains Again

Kiok Abeyta, West Haven: "I feel the blood coming down my face."

Abeyta broke her arm and shattered her wrist.

Brandy Jameson: "She's a tough woman."

Her daughter came home from Oregon to help out and is watching mom closely, because she knows her mother would just go hiking again.

Brandy Jameson: "She's not going back next week. She has to wait until she's healed."

Abeyta has been climbing about as long as mountains have been around. Escalante, The Grand Canyon, The Tetons, she's done 'em all and wants to do more.

Kiok Abeyta: "It's just so beautiful, it takes your breath away."

As long as it doesn't take away anything else.

Kiok Abeyta: "I want to go this Saturday, but my family put their foot down and said I'm not going."

Doctors think she'll make a full recovery. She's planning on going again in two weeks because her daughter will only be home for one week.

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