A 13-year-old boy was rescued from being swept over a 270-foot waterfall in Washington state Sunday, but not before spending 8 hours clinging to a river rock until rescuers could reach him in Wallace Falls State Park, the Seattle Times reported.

The boy was hiking with his father and another boy Saturday afternoon when they waded into the Wallace River. The boy slipped and was swept over a 10-foot waterfall before he was able to grab a rock, saving himself from plunging over the main falls. 

A helicopter reached the boy before dusk and tried to lower a rescue worker to grab him. An overhanging cliff severed the rope the rescuer was hanging from, sending the rescuer plunging into the river. A belay rope attached to the shore held tight. 

"That's the only reason he didn't go over the falls,"  Lt. Susy Johnson of the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office said. 

Another party of rescuers hiked up to the boy, who was wet and hypothermic, AP reported. They threw him dry clothes and food while they set up rigging to rescue him. The boy made it off the rock around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Ten rescuers camped with him overnight until a helicopter retrieved them at 6 a.m.

The boy, whose name was not released by authorities, lives in Burien. He did not require medical treatment, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

"He was on that one rock for all those hours," Johnson said. "He's a pretty lucky kid."