6 may 2019 | rd.com
timroberts^ photography/shutterstock^ (mountain).^matthew^cohen^(photoborder).^mikemReader’s Digest
DEAR READER
M
Yet he and his buddy had planned
to walk 1.3 miles up Camelback Moun-
tain, just as every hiker visiting Phoe-
nix does. So up the trail they started.
Right away, everything felt off. Matt
and his friend are young, and proven
backpackers. But every two or three
steps, they had to stop to drink.
They were 45 minutes in, now barely
moving, and their eight quarts of water
were almost gone. “Time just slowed.”
From around a bend came a lone
hiker bouncing down the trail with a
knapsack on his back.
“Are you guys OK?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Matt said, lying.
The man searched Matt’s eyes.
“You look like you’re about to pass
out.”
Matt stared back at him, his
dehydrated brain barely working.
I know that face, he thought.
Amazingly, he did. Matt
had seen a video about the
guy right at his desk—at
Reader’s Digest.Bruce Kelley,
editor-in-chiefMeeting
Our Hero
picture of a man devoted to saving
hikers from the sneak-up-on-you heat
of Camelback. We had read about him
and wanted to put him in the maga-
zine. Now the hero was in front of Matt,
and it was Matt who needed saving.
Scott Cullymore guided Matt and his
friend to a rocky seat. Then he pulled
chilled bottles of Poland Spring from
his jury-rigged insulated pack. Only
then, sitting, did Matt realize, Wow,
he’s right—I am not doing well.
As he came to his senses, Matt even-
tually remembered he had his camera.
His impromptu photograph of Scott,
and our story, run on page 10.
“I don’t know what to say,” Matt
reflected afterward. “I talk to every-
day heroes a lot for my job, but to
get help from one—it made kind-
ness and heroism all so real.”Write to me at
[email protected].