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MAGNA - Heels dug into the edge of a 50-foot cliff, Mickey Horak cradled a bleeding 3-year-old who had stumbled off the Timpanogos Cave trail and fallen about 75 feet.

The child's cry hushed as she lay in her rescuer's arms along a precipice that already had claimed the life of a family friend, Vitaly Tsikoza, who had tried to save her.

Horak had scrambled down the mountainside moments before to reach Paulina Filippova, who had wandered off the Timpanogos trail late last Sunday and tumbled within two feet of the cliff's edge. The slope was deadly steep - a 60-degree incline in some places - and covered with loose rocks that toppled over the cliff like running water.

Yet Horak, a 26-year-old electrician from Texas who had just toured the cave, somehow reached the girl safely. She lay still, clutching a root.

"Hey baby, you're OK," said Horak, bracing her with his hand as she slid slightly. "Don't move, baby, I'm here for you. I'm not going to let you go over."

The child had fallen near the top of the Timpanogos trail. It was no different there than anywhere else - a 6-foot-wide paved path winding down Mount Timpanogos. If anything, the grade was a little gentler where the girl fell, park officials say.

Like the rest of the 1.5-mile trail, the path had no railing.

Paulina, a snow-blonde 3-year-old, had emerged from the Timpanogos caverns just minutes before. She paused briefly on the trail for a potato chip snack, then began the leisurely trek downward about two steps in front of her mom.

Along the way, she toyed with the potato chip can, shaking it like a rattle to hear the crumbs bounce about. Just several hundred feet from the top, however, she took her eyes off the trail to peek inside that chip can.

In a moment forever etched in her mother's mind, Paulina veered off the path.

Olga Filippova lunged after her, grabbing at the air but missing her jacket by less than an inch. Then she watched as her child disappeared over a cliff and tumbled about 75 feet.

"I thought this was the end of it for her and, in a way, for me," her mother said. "I started thinking, 'How am I going to live after that?' ''

Marc Ellison, a seasonal park ranger, was about to take his last tour group of the day through Timpanogos Cave when he heard of Paulina's fall. Horak already had reached the girl, but just barely. The girl still was on the ground, but alive.

The ranger coached Horak in how to check for neck injuries, then clambered down the mountainside himself, dodging occasional rocks dislodged by onlookers.

"The fear for human life took me there," said Ellison. "If there had been a million-dollar bag of gold there, I wouldn't have done it."

Ellison took Paulina in his arms, relieving Horak, who had lain down at one point to keep from sliding. As Ellison sat and held the child for 20 to 30 minutes, he reflected on his own 3-year-old son and on the "miracle" that kept Paulina from falling any farther.

Unbeknownst to either of them, a 41-year-old family friend had tried to rescue the tot. But Tsikoza, visiting from Novosibirsk, Russia, couldn't stop sliding and fell about 200 feet to his death. Rescuers called the act "heroic."

Search and rescue crews descended the mountainside with ropes late last Sunday and took the child. Ellison and Horak then used the same ropes to pull themselves up.

Paulina was flown by helicopter to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. She was released Monday with stitches and a neck brace, but no broken bones or permanent injuries.

The child scampered about her Magna home late last week, scooping up a kitten in her arms, then giving her mother a scare when she ventured too close to the front steps.

Olga Filippova paused before speaking about her child's health, fearing that she might jinx Paulina's good fortune. Then, choosing her words cautiously, noted that her daughter has "recovered well."

Her husband was less-reserved.

"It is a miracle," exclaimed Andrey Filippov.

The Timpanogos trail likely will remain unchanged, despite Tsikoza's death, which was the park's first fall-related fatality since Timpanogos Cave National Monument opened in 1922.

Superintendent Kit Mullen said the park has suffered only one other serious fall since officials created an asphalt path leading up to the cave entrance in the late 1950s. Before that, the trail required ladder-climbing.

"As far as we know, this is probably the safest mountain trail on the Wasatch Front and in the Intermountain West," Mullen said.

The superintendent said her staff keeps the trail clean of tripping hazards and alerts visitors to potential problems. She said even the lowest-ranking employee has the authority to close off the trail if conditions turn troublesome.

Mullen said the park does not intend to install railings, however. She said hand rails likely would create more safety issues than they would prevent. Officials tried them before, but found visitors leaning on them, sitting on them and even swinging on them.

Mullen said she couldn't possibly keep the railings strong enough for that kind of use, particularly in a mountain environment where avalanches have been known to tear them right off.

"You would have to have an army of people just to maintain the railing," she said.

Mullen said the park simply will continue warning visitors - verbally and on the back of their admission tickets - that they need to tread carefully on the Timpanogos trail.