Biker survives in Idaho wilderness for five days by drinking creek water after crash

By Taylor Galgano and Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — The leather jacket Zachary DeMoss was wearing when he got into a motorcycle accident in Idaho might have saved his life.

It’s not so much that the jacket protected him during the crash. Instead, it came in handy during the days afterward, as the 24-year-old was lost in the wilderness and struggling to survive.

Too weak from his injuries to get water for himself anymore and barely able to move, he dipped the jacket in a nearby creek and then drank water out of the jacket pocket, he told CNN.

DeMoss, 24, of Missoula, Montana, spent a total of five days stranded in the mountainous Idaho wilderness after the accident before he was rescued by a family friend.

“I am so happy and thankful to be alive. I struggled so much with pain and death in the woods,” he told CNN. “But I just kept telling myself it was either a whole lotta pain or a little bit of death, and I wasn’t going to choose death.”

DeMoss and his black 2000 Kawasaki Vulcan motorcycle went missing on August 12 on Highway 12 in Idaho, according to the Idaho County Sheriff’s office. He had been riding with two other bikers and failed to return to their meeting spot.

Authorities teamed up with DeMoss’ family and friends to search a 99-mile stretch nearby, but then announced they would be “downsizing their search” over the coming days on August 15.

One state over in Oregon, DeMoss’ family friend Greg Common, 45, decided to take matters into his own hands after hearing authorities were downsizing the search.

“I called my wife from work and said, ‘We’re going.’ And my wife began charging all my stuff up and everything and getting all my gear ready while I drove home from work. Then we headed up the mountain,” Common said.

DeMoss and Common’s oldest son became close friends after meeting in high school when the Commons lived in Montana.

Common thought there was a chance he could find DeMoss because he also rides motorcycles and knew the area – and he was right.

But at first, he didn’t even recognize his family friend.

“I had been searching. You know, I’d done 30 miles the day before. I did five miles already that morning, and then I was about a mile up, so sixth mile of the day,” said Common. “I look over and I see this guy laying down by the creek. I didn’t even recognize him… so I’m hollering at him. And he turns towards me and he says, ‘Man, I’ve been in a wreck. I’m in a bad way.’ And then I realize, I’m talking to Zach!”

DeMoss told CNN he swerved to avoid hitting a deer and then basically flew 40 feet over a creek on his motorcycle into a grassy remote area, separated from his bike.

“It happened really fast but I remember soaring through the air before I impacted,” he recalled.

“I managed to get water the first two days before I collapsed and was unable to move much anymore despite my best efforts to crawl back to the creek,” DeMoss said.

DeMoss had a torch for starting campfires packed in his motorcycle, which could’ve helped someone find him if he had been closer to his bike, according to Common.

‘You don’t think you’re going to find them alive’

For Common, DeMoss’ survival is a testament to his friend’s determination and willpower.

“The sheer will that it must have taken to survive five days like that. I can’t even imagine,” Common said. “That boy lived five days on that mountain.”

He said as soon as DeMoss heard his voice, he instantly recognized the older man.

“He’s like ‘Oh, man, thank God,’” Common said, “And so literally, he’s trying to hug me. He’s like, ‘I love you, man.’ And all he can move is an arm and he can move his head. The rest of him is pretty banged up.”

He described experiencing “a lot of elation” after finding DeMoss. “After five days when someone’s missing, in the country like that, you don’t think you’re going to find them alive.”

Common said he discovered DeMoss in a dark hole in a pretty overgrown, forested and remote area. He was found on the Lost Creek Campground, near milepost 136 on Highway 12, according to the sheriff’s office.

Common immediately used his Garmin inReach device to make an SOS call, while his wife flagged down someone in a pickup truck who contacted a DOT representative down the road. The DOT representative got in touch with emergency services, who were already on the way due to the SOS call.

Around 30 minutes later, a Life Flight helicopter was on the ground, according to Common.

“I wasn’t going to leave him on the mountain,” he said.

DeMoss is still recovering from his injuries. He recently moved from intensive care to a regular hospital room, he told CNN.

Ruth Rickenbacher, DeMoss’ mother, described his injuries in a Facebook post, including a partially collapsed lung, a broken hip, and broken ribs.

“It’s like he was shaken like a rag doll,” she wrote.

His family is also hoping to raise money for his “long and expensive recovery” through a verified GoFundMe.

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