Lucky to be alive: Amos Richards was injured in a fall during a solo hike through Canyonlands National Park
A hiker inspired by the film '127 Hours' nearly ended up in his own disaster movie after breaking his leg whilst walking in the same canyon where the drama took place.
Amos Richards, 64, went out on his own to Little Blue John Canyon near Salt Lake City in Utah, but fell 10ft down a hole and hurt himself.
With a broken leg and dislocated shoulder he was forced to drag his body through the desert for four days until a search helicopter saw him.
Mr Richards later revealed had only gone to the remote park after watching '127 Hours' in which James Franco players a climber who is forced to amputate his right arm to free himself from a boulder - after falling down a canyon at Little Blue John.
Mr Richards' version began when he tumbled down the hole and realised the full horror of his situation - his mobile phone was not working and he only had two protein bars to keep him going.
He also realised it would take him days to reach civilisation or get back to his car but given nobody knew where he was he had to set off.
He later recalled: 'I was just thinking that this may be it, I may not be found.'
Desolate: Richards fell 10ft while hiking in the
Maze district's narrow Lower Blue John Canyon, and could not put weight
on his right leg
Scripted: James Franco as mountain climber Aron Ralston in Danny Boyle film 127 Hours
Impossible odds: Aron Ralston tells Tonight Show host Jay Leno about his amazing climbing accident
As he crawled along the ground Mr Richards filled his water bottles with rain as he painstakingly retraced his steps, eventually dragging himself almost five miles.
Each night he had to sleep under the stars with no tent or a cover sheet as temperatures plunged to barely 10C.
He said: 'I was actually following my GPS, crawling right on top of my feet print that I had hiked in on.'
Rangers at Canyonlands National Park sent out search parties when his camp site was discovered unattended and two days later they found his car.
Isolated: The National Parks Service describes the area as 'the least accessible' of Canyonlands
Come day four he was tracked down by a helicopter and taken to Moab Regional Hospital, where he was treated for leg fractures, internal injuries, trauma and dehydration.
Mr Richards, from Concord, North Carolina, is expected to make a full recovery.
The 2010 Danny Boyle film '127 Hours' was based on the account of climber Aron Ralston who went hiking in Little Blue John Canyon without telling anybody where he was going.
His autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place detailed his struggle including the awful moment he had to chop off his arm with a pocket knife or face dying in the desert.
Paul Henderson, the assistant superintendent of Canyonlands, said the incident was 'at least the third or fourth time that we've had issues at Blue John since since the movie.'
He said: 'He made some of the very same mistakes that Aaron Ralston did.
'He went into a very remote area and nobody knew what his travel plans where.'
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