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Merrell Founder Wife and Grandson Swept Away

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    • That is scary and sad. We were hiking the Mist Trail in Yosemite a few years ago in the summer after a particularly wet spring. Several hikers had been carried over Vernal Falls earlier that year and never found. As I was hiking I thought to myself that the dropping summer water levels might reveal some things I didn't want to see. As it turns out, a body was found the day after we hiked the trail.
    • odd man out wrote:

      That is scary and sad. We were hiking the Mist Trail in Yosemite a few years ago in the summer after a particularly wet spring. Several hikers had been carried over Vernal Falls earlier that year and never found. As I was hiking I thought to myself that the dropping summer water levels might reveal some things I didn't want to see. As it turns out, a body was found the day after we hiked the trail.
      Same, that wouldn't have been maybe '93? Although it happens all to frequent out there.
    • Drybones wrote:

      The power of water is so easy to under estimate...I've had several opportunities to be a goner.
      Me too. Pinned under a raft in a snag. Lost footing on fast creek crossing, swept over a mile downstream, ditched pack in the tumbles, never saw the pack again. SubCue Emphysema from an emergency SCUBA ascent and then aspirating water because the freaking vest(no BC's for me back then...) pinned my head into the waves causing pneumonia,( count that, TWO lung injuries/illnesses from a single incident!). Pinned underwater in vicious surf in Cancun for a very very long time. Saw stars and then the shrinking tunnel. Closest to death, ever. Same trip a local from my hometown died just one hotel over in the same surf. I don't count riptide events...not really near-death...

      I personally know two folks who died ten years apart being sucked into hydraulics and pinned to the bottom. The second required a multi-day expedition with cables and come-a-longs to winch them out. The first eventually got spit out and was found a week later, 40 miles downstream...

      Just like bear don't care, water don't care.

      To say I have a healthy respect for water/oceans/rivers is an understatement...
    • We did a 9 mile night hike after 3 days of rain and a down pour happening during the hike, 6" streams became dangerous, I didn't realize how bad until one of the ladies got swept away on the first crossing, fortunately I was standing where I could grab her, we both went under for a ways before I could get footing and get us out, fortunately I had brought a rope to use on the other streams....was a fantastic hike!
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      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.
    • meat wrote:

      I see now you said a few years, not many years, anywho same thing, someone went over...hell of a way to go!
      I'm thinking it was about 5 years ago. It was a particularly wet year. We were there in Aug and the waterfalls were still flowing strong. In the early '90s we were in Yellowstone in mid June when they had the highest flow rate ever recorded in the Yellowstone River.

      The post was edited 2 times, last by odd man out ().

    • ScareBear wrote:

      Drybones wrote:

      The power of water is so easy to under estimate...I've had several opportunities to be a goner.
      Me too. Pinned under a raft in a snag. Lost footing on fast creek crossing, swept over a mile downstream, ditched pack in the tumbles, never saw the pack again. SubCue Emphysema from an emergency SCUBA ascent and then aspirating water because the freaking vest(no BC's for me back then...) pinned my head into the waves causing pneumonia,( count that, TWO lung injuries/illnesses from a single incident!). Pinned underwater in vicious surf in Cancun for a very very long time. Saw stars and then the shrinking tunnel. Closest to death, ever. Same trip a local from my hometown died just one hotel over in the same surf. I don't count riptide events...not really near-death...
      I personally know two folks who died ten years apart being sucked into hydraulics and pinned to the bottom. The second required a multi-day expedition with cables and come-a-longs to winch them out. The first eventually got spit out and was found a week later, 40 miles downstream...

      Just like bear don't care, water don't care.

      To say I have a healthy respect for water/oceans/rivers is an understatement...
      A good friend served as a police chief in a small town. He wanted to learn kayaking and was too impatient to wait for a class after buying one. He called one weekend and invited me to come along on one of his first open water outings, but I was previously committed. He and his young son went on a river just after a storm dumped 3" of rain upstream. He was caught in a hydraulic and did not surface. He had put the boy ashore just prior. The boy continues to suffer an emotional toil from the experience.

      Lest we forget.....



      SSgt Ray Rangel - USAF
      SrA Elizabeth Loncki - USAF
      PFC Adam Harris - USA
      MSgt Eden Pearl - USMC
    • Dan76 wrote:

      ScareBear wrote:

      Drybones wrote:

      The power of water is so easy to under estimate...I've had several opportunities to be a goner.
      Me too. Pinned under a raft in a snag. Lost footing on fast creek crossing, swept over a mile downstream, ditched pack in the tumbles, never saw the pack again. SubCue Emphysema from an emergency SCUBA ascent and then aspirating water because the freaking vest(no BC's for me back then...) pinned my head into the waves causing pneumonia,( count that, TWO lung injuries/illnesses from a single incident!). Pinned underwater in vicious surf in Cancun for a very very long time. Saw stars and then the shrinking tunnel. Closest to death, ever. Same trip a local from my hometown died just one hotel over in the same surf. I don't count riptide events...not really near-death...I personally know two folks who died ten years apart being sucked into hydraulics and pinned to the bottom. The second required a multi-day expedition with cables and come-a-longs to winch them out. The first eventually got spit out and was found a week later, 40 miles downstream...

      Just like bear don't care, water don't care.

      To say I have a healthy respect for water/oceans/rivers is an understatement...
      A good friend served as a police chief in a small town. He wanted to learn kayaking and was too impatient to wait for a class after buying one. He called one weekend and invited me to come along on one of his first open water outings, but I was previously committed. He and his young son went on a river just after a storm dumped 3" of rain upstream. He was caught in a hydraulic and did not surface. He had put the boy ashore just prior. The boy continues to suffer an emotional toil from the experience.
      That's just terrible. No one ever thinks this could happen on a fine outing paddling and doing some father and son bonding. Sorry to hear that.