Close Call For River Floaters In GTNP

Five river floaters on a private float of the flat-water section of the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park Friday Night were very lucky when their raft overturned, spilling the five who were not wearing life vests into the river.  Park Spokesperson Jackie Skaggs says all five were thrown into the fast-moving water in a channel near the historic Bar BC Ranch and swept under the raft.  Skaggs says a Triangle X river guide was the first on the scene and was able to rescue the five boaters and get them safely in his raft with his paying guests.  Skaggs says this is often the case where a commercial guide is the first on the scene of an incident and can provide assistance before rangers can respond a remote river location. The five were taken on the Triangle X boat to the Moose Landing where they were met my rangers and it was determined none needed medical attention.  Skaggs says several of the five not strangers to floating that stretch of river, which may have led them to not put on the life vests that they had with them.  Skaggs says this could have been a much more serious incident than it turned out to be, and part of that seriousness is related to the fact that none of them was wearing a life jacket.  She points out that wearing a life jacket is required when on a river trip in the park. Park rangers returned to the overturned raft which was pinned under the root ball of a downed tree, and salvaged what they could of the raft and its contents.