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| NPS Photo |
| Boats pinned on rock at Crystal Rapid. |
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Date: August 10, 2010
Contact: Shannan Marcak, 928-638-7958
Grand Canyon, Ariz. – At approximately 4:00 p.m. on Monday, August 9, rangers freed
the second of two boats which became stranded over the weekend at Crystal Rapid
on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park.
On Friday, August 6 shortly after 3:00 p.m., the Grand Canyon Regional Communications
Center received a report of
a boat stuck on the rock garden at Crystal Rapid.
River and search and rescue rangers and the park’s
inflatable Zodiac were flown by helicopter to a nearby beach where it was
determined that one of two motorized rafts in a Western River Expeditions
(Western) boat trip had become stranded
at the top of the rock garden at Crystal Rapid.
The Zodiac was deployed to rescue the boat’s passengers; and by 8:00
p.m., the 16 passengers and crew had been transported to shore where they set
up camp. The other raft in the party
continued on to Lower Tuna.
The following morning, an Outdoors Unlimited oar-powered
raft became stranded at the same location as rescuers were attempting retrieval
of the Western raft. Rescuers already on
the scene quickly rescued the boat’s operator and transported her to shore,
where she rejoined the Outdoors Unlimited trip.
On Saturday, a separate Western river trip passed
through the area and picked up half of the passengers from the stranded boat on
the original trip. On Sunday, a raft sent
by Western to take the place of the
stranded raft arrived at Crystal Rapid, resupplied the Outdoors Unlimited trip
which had lost gear when its boat flipped, then picked up the remaining
passengers and crew from the original Western trip so that they could continue
down the river and rejoin the rest of their group.
Once resupplied, the Outdoors Unlimited trip also
continued down the river. Their boat was
freed late in the day on Sunday and tied to shore downriver of the rapid so
that Outdoors Unlimited could retrieve it at a later date.
Yesterday at approximately 4:00 p.m., after unloading
and partially de-rigging the raft to lighten its load, rangers were able to
free the Western raft which will be reloaded and rigged and continue downstream
to the take out at Pearce Ferry. Final
operations and clean up at Crystal Rapid are expected to be completed by the
end of the day today.
No injuries to either boating party were reported.
-NPS-
