Sandthrax Canyon Rescue

JulieKT

JulieKT

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Sep 7, 2014
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Some video snippets on the Wayne County sheriff's dept. page of a rescue from Sandthrax Canyon earlier this week. (Just linked one video but there are several, you have to scroll a bit to see them all.) Also a brief news segment in which one of the rescued hikers talks about it. It sounds like they maybe thought they were in Leprechaun and somehow got themselves into Sandthrax instead? Not sure. Guess they were confused. It probably doesn't help that news outlets kept saying Sandthrax is near Boulder. Good thing at least the SAR team knew where to go!

No one was seriously hurt from what I heard, though they did get taken to the hospital to get checked out. I'm kind of amazed they got in as far as they did without realizing they were in way over their skill/preparation level.
 
No kidding. When they first posted about this, several people were questioning the exact location, because I think no one really thought these people could have gotten that far into Sandthrax. I’ve never done it—bit more intense than I think I’d like, and I’m not a canyoneer anyway—but I’ve seen the videos. I can’t imagine heading in there and thinking it would be relatively simple.
 
Nick said:
Wow. That's a pretty big mistake. Like Tom said in that article, it's seriously amazing that one of them got out to get help.
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If this is the case, overlooking the fact that Leprechaun has multiple (3+) forks at the head versus a single for Sandthrax seems like a major oversight. This is why I don't do meetup group canyoneering trips.
 
fossana said:
If this is the case, overlooking the fact that Leprechaun has multiple (3+) forks at the head versus a single for Sandthrax seems like a major oversight. This is why I don't do meetup group canyoneering trips.
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Much like backcountry ski partners. Basically, if there's a chance that my partner's job is to save my life, I'm not going with randos. Not fair to me or them.
 
Unfortunately, too many people use meetup groups as a guiding service and abdicate personal responsibility and/or overstate their abilities. That group of seven that died in Keyhole Canyon in Zion after ignoring the forecast comes to mind.
 
That's one of the beauties of going solo - you know you're responsible for yourself and nobody else is going to save you, so you tend to plan better. Once on the trail, you have a heightened awareness. For me, that's part of what makes it such a rewarding experience, you test your competence, though there's usually not much to test if you plan and equip yourself like you should. It's knowing you can take care of yourself that gives you the ability to then kick back mentally and enjoy the wilds.
 
Rockskipper said:
That's one of the beauties of going solo - you know you're responsible for yourself and nobody else is going to save you, so you tend to plan better. Once on the trail, you have a heightened awareness. For me, that's part of what makes it such a rewarding experience, you test your competence, though there's usually not much to test if you plan and equip yourself like you should. It's knowing you can take care of yourself that gives you the ability to then kick back mentally and enjoy the wilds.
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I agree with this @Rockskipper . Going solo means I not only go above and beyond preparing since I know its just me, but also being more aware once I am on the trail. Of course, perk for me is experiencing nature at its finest. There is just something about being on your own out there.
 
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