GARDEN VALLEY, Idaho — On Tuesday afternoon, the Boise County Sheriff's Office, Idaho Mountain Search and Rescue, Lowman Fire and the Garden Valley Fire District and EMS all responded to a call for an injured rafter near Big Falls.
The South Fork of the Payette River is a popular class four stretch for kayakers and rafters with a mandatory portage around Big Falls. This run has a wilderness feel to it because in most places the road sits far above the river, and that includes at Big Falls.
Check out the video to learn more about this area and this dynamic rescue:
"The first deputy on scene went down with no rope or nothing," said Allen Rice, a deputy with the Boise County Sheriff's Office. "He went down to assess her medical condition."
It's unclear what happened at Big Falls, but according to Rice, an oar raft with six people got separated from their raft. Two children in the group climbed around 400 feet up to the road to call for help because a 59-year-old woman was injured and also had a pre-existing medical condition. Rice told us that Garden Valley Fire extracted the woman on a backboard.
"They were able to strap her into that and then use the pulley system to pull her all the way up the side of the mountain," said Rice.
The canyon stretch is one of my favorite runs, and I just happened to be out there Tuesday morning kayaking with Eric Turner.
"It’s definitely not for beginners, it is pretty challenging, it's also really fun," said Turner. "You got really good water quality, lots of really fun rapids, and you get away from the road, there is some really stunning scenery down there."
But that also makes this run more problematic if something goes wrong, and boaters need to be aware of Big Falls because people have died at this rapid by dropping into it by mistake, and it is even more dangerous right now because of a giant log at the bottom.
There are three signs, and they are located on both sides of the river, warning people they need to get out and portage around Big Falls.
"The portage is a bit of an adventure," said Turner. "You are going to get out and carry your craft around the rapid, and you are going to have to do some scrambling on rocks; it is definitely going to be a little challenging."
I talked with a kayaker who encountered this group when they were on the other side of the river from the portage. The group told the kayaker they lost control of the boat during the portage. The kayakers were able to catch up with the raft and tie it off below Blackadar Rapid.
Raft companies also serve as search and rescue on the river as they go out of their way to help people in need. Bear Valley Rafting Company escorted the remaining people from the oar raft safely down the river.
"It was a big spectacle is what it was in a really good way," said Rice. "I think being able to see how different agencies that don't train together are able to come together, and it is completely selfless, which includes a raft company that comes along and says hey where do you need up?"
The kayaker take-out and the Danskin take-out both require people to climb out of the canyon. This is a run boaters should do in a group with people in good physical shape.
"This is my favorite run class four stretch in the Boise area, it is really good," said Tucker.
