So these poor folks (Chris and Sally) were trapped across the river and completely exhausted from hiking all day. They were hoping we could figure out a way to help them get across. The two men who had flagged us down were trying to help them, but were coming up short with ideas on how to do it. So Adam and I tried to assess the situation as well. The two men and Adam ended up trying to throw a rope over to Chris and Sally in hopes that they could tie it around their wastes and try to cross the river in a shallow part, but just getting the rope across proved to be an almost impossible task. They tried throwing the rope, but getting it to go that far across raging water was pretty hard. They eventually found a spot in the river that was a little narrower and they eventually were able to throw the rope onto a fallen log where Chris could go out and get it! YES! Still the hardest part was yet to come and that was getting them both safely across the river. Chris first hooked up Sally to the rope (they hoped if she fell down in the water that Adam and the other two men could pull her to safety or at least keep her from going over the waterfall which could mean her death), but within the first step or two out in the water, the current took her down into the icy waters almost immediately. Sally panicked and screamed and although she had Chris right there holding onto her, and three other men holding the rope she went into shock and just completely lost it, and refused to move at all. Chris finally got her to put her feet back under her to stand up and then he helped her back to shore. But she was completely soaked and the sun had already gone down and we were all worried about hypothermia.
After Sally fell in – we all realized that getting anyone across that river without professional help was going to be near impossible. The river was just moving so fast and was extremely dangerous with a waterfall just below that it didn’t make sense to attempt anything more. And so the man and his friend who originally flagged us down agreed to drive to the nearest town to call 911 to get help. Adam and I decided to stay with the couple so they wouldn’t feel alone (even though we had our 5 kids with us and it was getting pretty late).
Then Adam tried talking to Chris to find out more about their situation (if they had food, water, matches for a fire, etc.) and while he did that I saw Sally stripping down to her underwear (to try to get out of her wet clothes and keep warm) and I had an idea come to my mind to help them. I ended up running back to our car and gathered up our big beach towels, warm sweatshirts, a few water bottles, and newspapers and then went back down to the river to Adam to tell him about a place in the river near the waterfall that I had seen where I thought he could easily throw some supplies over to our friends.
Adam ended up walking down with me to the place near the waterfall and then I had to move our car down as close as possible as well so that I could shine my lights on the rocks so Adam could see where I was talking about. He agreed that he thought he could get the clothes and towels across, and so he walked back up river to talk to Chris and Sally. They were trying desperately to get a fire going, and told us they wanted to try that first, and asked us to shine our headlights on them so they could see, but after 10-15 minutes of failed attempts they decided to try out our idea of sending over supplies. So Chris (who had a head lamp) followed Adam down to the waterfall while I drove the car down to shine my lights on them, and Adam was able to swing two big garbage bags full of warm clothes and towels, and water, and newspaper (to start their fire) over to Chris. And within minutes Chris and Sally were both dressed in warm dry clothes and were able to use the newspaper to get their fire going. Yay! I was so happy my idea had worked and they were able to get warm. Then we just continued shining our headlights on them, so they could continue finding fire wood to keep their fire going and we continued to wait for additional help.
Eventually (about 45 minutes later and close to 11:00 pm) help did arrive and two young men from Search and Rescue showed up with a big rubber boat to check out the situation. They were so grateful we had stayed with Chris and Sally and even more thankful that we knew what had happened to them and had been able to get them some temporary help. We also were able to show them where we had tried to throw a rope over as well as the towels and supplies which they said helped a lot because they knew they too could get supplies to them in those two places. But after assessing the river and how close it was to the waterfall, they decided that the best thing to do would be to get a throw bag over to Chris and Sally with sleeping bags, food, and supplies and then have them just camp out for the night. It was just going to be too dangerous to attempt a rescue mission that late at night, in the dark, and so close to the waterfall. In fact, they told us that it would most likely require a helicopter to come in to get them the following morning. Wow.
So after they had things safely in control and a plan of how to help Chris and Sally- they sent us on our way and we were able to drive back to our campsite. It took us about an hour to get home and if I remember right we pulled into camp around 12:30 am. Whew! Sure was an exciting night though and Adam and I both felt very humbled to have been able to help in our small way. We were just so grateful that Chris and Sally were being taken care of and would be okay. We also felt grateful to have been able to teach our kids about serving our fellow men even when its not convenient – which goes perfectly with what they are learning in cub scouts right now. The kids really did great though, and were happy as clams watching movies in the van while Adam and I helped. It was really a pretty neat experience to be able to help and serve this couple in need.