A family who were stuck above a powerful 40ft waterfall ended up being rescued because they put an SOS message in a bottle.
Hikers discovered the desperate message and summoned help after Curtis Whitson's ploy.
Curtis was with his girlfriend and 13-year-old son in Arroyo Seco, California, when the trio realised they were trapped.
The family were on a four-day camping trip when they got stuck in the remote gorge.
With no phone signal and anxious how long they could survive without food, Mr Whitson, 44, scratched the word 'Help' onto his water bottle.
Inside he put a note with the date and the words: "We are stuck here at the waterfall.
"Get help please."
He then flung the bottle downstream in the hope it would be found.
Incredibly two hikers discovered it and contacted a nearby campsite, which alerted a search and rescue team.
The three had used rocks to spell out the words "SOS" on the floor, which made them easier to find when a helicopter flew over.
Mr Whitson told the Washington Post it was a "scary" position to be in, saying: “It was a sad realisation, to know that our trip was over and we needed help.
“Every inch down that river had committed us to a spot where we couldn’t get out."
Girlfriend Krystal Ramirez, 34, said: “I knew that our friends would call somebody at some point when we didn't show up, but I was worried about how long it might take for anyone to find us."
Thankfully as they camped outside they were woken by the sound of a helicopter, with a loudspeaker announcing they had been found.
Pilot Joe Kingman told the Washington Post that in 23 years carrying out rescues, he had never heard of a message in a bottle being used.
