Boy Scouts stranded on Flaming Gorge Reservoir rescued

FLAMING GORGE RESERVOIR — A party of nine Boy Scouts and three adults from Saratoga Springs, UT, have been rescued after being stranded on Flaming Gorge late Thursday evening.

The group was on a rafting trip that started in the Green River near the Jamestown area Thursday morning.

Sweetwater County Sheriff, Mike Lowell said, “Their plan was to raft down the Green, onto Flaming Gorge, then south to Big Firehole, there to join other members of their party already camped there.”

By around 9:00 pm, the scouts had been traveling about 15 miles downriver but were still nine miles away from their destination. The group decided to paddle towards the eastern shore and call for help from their party camped at Big Firehole, after not being able to continue due to the heavy darkness.

The Firehole party received the message and drove east until they had cell phone service and contacted the Combined Communications Center in Green River, where Sheriff’s Office corporals, Steve Powell and Todd Poppie, responded to the call.

“The deputies estimated the stranded party’s position and, using the boats sophisticated radar, sonar, and GPS systems in the near-total darkness, navigated north and located the Scouts at about midnight,” said Lowell.

The scouts were located with no injuries and were transported to Big Firehole.

Lowell credited the skills and experience of both Powell and Poppie for the successful rescue.