August 09, 2021
Scott Kirkland/PictureGroup/Sipa USA
Actress Julie Bowen and her sister, Annie, played the part of Good Samaritans when a New Jersey woman fainted and injured herself during a family vacation at Arches National Park in Utah.
A New Jersey woman was in for a surprise after fainting during a challenging hike at Arches National Park in Utah earlier this month.
Minnie John, a native of Oradell, in Bergen County, was on a trek with family members to see the sandstone Delicate Arch. The freestanding arch sits on the rim of a red rock canyon and is pictured on some Utah license plates. It's a common hiking destination, but requires a lengthy journey to get to the site.
In a Facebook post on Aug. 3, Minnie detailed how she began to feel unwell and had told the rest of her family to go ahead without her while she waited on the side of the trail.
PART THREE: I made it to the top but could not go any further. I was light-headed, felt like I was going to faint so...
Posted by Minnie John on Tuesday, August 3, 2021
"All I remember is sitting there with my head in my hands secure on the rock," she wrote. "Next thing I hear someone with a familiar voice kept asking me questions. I wondered if I might be watching TV. My eyes were closed and they said I will be fine and they were cleaning my face and bandaging me up. I heard that familiar voice saying I am going to be OK, a doctor is cleaning me up."
When Minnie opened her eyes, she found she was being cared for by two women, one of whom had a familiar face that she couldn't quite place.
"As my eyes started to focus more, she smiled and took her hair tie off and shook her hair for me to figure out," Minnie wrote. "Her sister the doctor asked me to guess and I told her I just hit my head, I can't remember. She said smiling 'Modern Family' and I said 'Of course!'"
It was Julie Bowen and her sister, Annie, rendering aid to Minnie. They explained that Minnie had fallen forward onto her face, but her glasses luckily had broken her fall.
Minnie said the Bowen sisters gave her electrolytes, dressed her wounds and contacted her family to help reunite her with them.
Bowen, 51, played Claire Dunphy on all 11 seasons of "Modern Family" and won two Emmys for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series. Though Bowen didn't post about the incident with Minnie John, she shared a few videos from her vacation in Moab.
"Love you Julie and Annie and now I have become famous for one minute for my antics!" Minnie wrote. "I also now have joined my husband and son Erick in my family as those who fractured noses. Daredevil or dumb as can be, I still consider this trek up the mountain as one of my proudest achievements in my life."
