MORGAN COUNTY, UTAH — It was just supposed to be a weekend for Nicholas Lemoine to go camping.
But as he was driving down a trail near Francis Peak, the sky got darker and the winds got faster and suddenly, Lemoine found himself caught in the middle of a tornado.
"I was very surprised to see an event like this this high up, nobody expects a tornado in the mountains,” said Lemoine, who lives in Bountiful.
On Friday afternoon, Lemoine got an alert on his phone.
"In the mid-afternoon, I get a tornado warning and about two minutes after that I get a tornado, so I hunkered down in the truck."
With no time to react and nowhere to go he stayed in his truck and waited out the winds.
"Strong winds came through the camp area and just tore apart a lot of old growth, virgin forest out here,” said Lemoine. “So, we're out here cutting up, trying to clear the trail so I can get my truck out."
The winds uprooted dozens of trees and blocked his truck from getting out.
"The truck's not stuck, like stuck stuck, the truck just can't get out because the road's being blocked ... so I guess the truck's stuck right?"
The stuck truck got left behind when Lemoine realized he was able to hike back to a drivable road.
"I had to hike up to the radar domes by Francis Peak to get out of here last night."
But the next day, he returned with reinforcements.
"We got out here, around 11:00 and just started working our way down the trail, it took us about 4 hours to get to where we are now and we're probably about 30 to 40 trees to getting my truck out,” said Lemoine.
Close to 40 trees that Lemoine thinks could take a day or two to properly cut and clear from the trail. But with no injuries and no visible damage to the truck, he's counting his blessings.
"I'm lucky to be here, I'm lucky I didn't get injured or worse than that, so it'll be a fun story to tell for a long time."