SANDPOINT — A hitchhiker and rail rider was seriously injured Sunday after falling from the Sand Creek Byway.

“We figured he fell 25 to 30 feet,” said Bonner County EMS spokesman Bob Abbott.

The 26-year-old fell onto the gravel alongside the bike and pedestrian path that parallels east side of the creek.

The man was with two other traveling companions who were hitchhiking and hopping trains across the country. The trio was heading southbound on the U.S. Highway 95 bypass when one began to run to catch a train at the Sandpoint station, Abbott said.

The man went over the guardrail near Cedar Street Bridge, possibly because he tripped or lost his balance while wearing a fully loaded external frame backpack, Abbott said.

Abbott suspects the oversize backpack may have protected the man in the fall.

“His big backpack saved his head, his spine and possibly his life,” said Abbott.

It’s believed to be the first reported fall from the byway, which opened in 2012.

Abbott said the man suffered multiple injuries to his extremities in the plunge.

“He was seriously injured,” said Abbott, adding that the injuries were not life-threatening.

The man was flown from Bonner General Health to Kootenai Health in Coeur d’Alene.