The boating accident that claimed the lives of two Utah men Saturday in Cataract Canyon is a chilling demonstration of the power of the Colorado River.
On Thursday, the river was blasting through rapids at 65,600 cubic feet per second, its highest volume since 1984.Paul Henry Shields, 77, Salt Lake City, and David Rory Burt, 70, Layton, were killed in the accident, while a companion, William Jay Call, 41, Denver, was rescued unhurt.
The men were in a three-hull motorboat, participating in the annual Friendship Cruise from Green River, Emery County, to the Moab vicinity. But they missed the turn up the Colorado River at the confluence of the Green and Colorado rivers, and continued into Cataract Canyon.
Still believing they were above the confluence, the men passed the first 10 rapids, then went through a calm stretch. Next they entered the dangerous Mile-Long Rapids.
"It was at that time that they expected they were in Cataract Canyon, but the rapids came so fast, and with the speed of the water taking them downstream it was really hard for them to navigate," said Larry Frederick, spokesman for Canyonlands National Park.
The boat veered into a hole in the river behind a huge rock. Water goes over the rock so fast it is called the Little Niagara. The boat flipped, and the force of the river pounded it to pieces.
Frederick said it was amazing anyone got ashore, "from the standpoint that they didn't have life jackets on," he said. But Call grabbed two life jackets after he was thrown from the boat. The river tore one from his grasp but the other saved his life.
Rangers patrolling downstream saw pieces of the boat carried down on the current, and they headed upriver to look for survivors. Call went through several rapids and managed to swim ashore. The rangers found him and rescued him 20 minutes later. Shields' and Burt's bodies have not been recovered.