So it turns out dad set out with the dog, made it in to where he wanted to go ok, but had a little incident on the way back.  He fell on a slope (he was very vague on how far he fell, but probably a pretty good distance).  The fall wasn't too bad all things considered.  The smashing into a broken branch at the bottom, however, left something to be desired.  Actually he got quite lucky, as the jagged end merely ripped across his shin bone and cut  him seven stitches worth.  He could have either been impaled or broken his leg.  Either way there was some significant patchwork to be done, then a five mile hike to the car, then driving in to Comox to the hospital.  By the time he reached St Joe's it had been six hours from the original fall and the cut had started to close.  Which meant having it opened again so the doctor could clean it out must have been fun.