SALT LAKE CITY — Jay Hutchinson slipped on a rock, fell down a waterfall, broke more than a dozen bones and spent three months in a wheelchair. Now that man is warning other hikers so they don't meet the same fate.

Hutchison gave his warning as Unified Police Department search and rescue teams responded Monday to the third fall at Donut Falls in Big Cottonwood Canyon in just over two weeks time.

“Just know that when you’re hiking, be careful — or else you could be that next person,” warned Hutchinson, 21.

Hutchinson was the victim of a 30-plus-foot fall at the waterfall in Bell Canyon last November. His friend, who had been hiking with him, told his family members at the time Hutchinson stepped on to what looked like a dry rock at the top of the falls to take a picture of the view and slipped.

He fell 5 feet onto a ledge, then 30 more feet, landing face-down into the knee- deep water below.

“People have died falling from the same waterfall, people die from falling off of other waterfalls up in the mountains,” he said.

Hutchinson described what happened to him as a “fluke deal” that could happen to anyone.

“That was a normal day for me. I went to school, went to class, got a text from my friend — ‘Hey, let’s go hiking,’ Hutcherson said. "And the next thing I know, my arms are broken and I’m in a wheelchair for three months.”

Rescuers cautioned hikers Monday to use common sense and warned that even getting within 10 feet of a river or stream bank can put someone at risk.

“Anytime you are closer [than] that, then you are putting yourself at risk for tripping, falling,” said Sgt. Travis Skinner, supervisor for the Unified Police Department’s canyon unit search and rescue team.

UPD rescuers have responded to Donut Falls three times since June 7. Two weekends ago, a woman died following a 100-foot fall there. And on June 14, a man survived a 45-foot fall at Donut Falls.

Monday, Skinner said a man fell near the falls and was lucky to suffer mainly scrapes and bruises.

“Price for failure is a good thing to think about,” Skinner said.

Hutchinson said he had no memory of his accident.

“I remember telling my friend that I was with that I’m going to go to the top of this waterfall and take a picture,” he said. “Next thing I know, it’s two days later, I’m in the hospital.”

“First thing I checked when I woke up — I could see that I was damaged and last thing I remembered I was hiking, so I figured I had some sort of hiking accident,” he recalled.

Hutchinson said once he was sure he could “think straight” and he could move his legs, he believed he would be on the road to recovery.

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Injured hiker is 3rd to be rescued in Bell Canyon this year

Search and rescue crews carried an injured hiker out of Bell Canyon Tuesday after he fell about 30 feet. Unified Police Lt. Justin Hoyal said it was the third rescue his department has conducted in the canyon this year.

Though doctors told him the recovery process would take eight to 12 months, he was back to running around and refereeing soccer games before it was officially spring. He said he considers himself lucky.

“I could be paralyzed, I could be quadriplegic, I could be dead,” he said.

Hutchinson said he plans to hike again, and even visit the falls at Bell Canyon.

“We haven’t gone back to where I have fallen, we plan to do that at some point,” Hutchinson said. “I don’t know if it will be hard on me, because I barely remember it. I want to go back more out of curiosity — what it looked like, what happened exactly — to see if I can figure out everything that happened.”

Skinner recommended hikers wear shoes with “aggressive” treads, and that they research their routes and take water and cellphones with them.

He suggested the best view of waterfalls isn’t necessarily from on top.

“I believe the falls are just as beautiful from a lower standing point as they are from above,” Skinner said. “I would really ask people to ask themselves if it’s worth the risk.”

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