Bob & Symbiosis,

My uncle and I were the last 2 to get off of the sandbar. I helped rescue the father and son who you saw stuck in the middle of the rapid that you went down. The father wasn't wearing waders, plus they weren't working together. I waded out to help by holding onto a long alder branch. If we hadn't been there I don't think they would of made it. Sym, my uncle Clay and I were the one's that were fighting the fish when you came down.

When we got to sandrock at 10:45 a.m. we were able to walk down to the first gravel bar in only a foot of water. By the time we tried to get back at 4:00pm it was over my waist ( I am 6' 5"). The river came up in a matter of minutes. Clay fought his fish for over 40 min. before it broke him off. In that time frame it rose, and I noticed that I had to move our stuff up from getting wet. It was like someone had opened the "dam" up, instant flood. Clay and I were able to wade, not swim to shore, by heading straight up stream. We worked together, by taking turns moving. When we finally made it to shore we told them on the bar that we were going for help, and not for them to try to cross.

We got to Three River and placed a call to 911, and told them the situation, that there were 5 adults, and 2 kids stuck on the Sol Duc at the sandrock hole. We then took the La Push officer back to the sand bar, so he could assess the situation. He went back to the car to radio the info in. Then the coast guard, county sheriff, and another La Push officer showed up. Anyways , not to make a long story any longer, but they brought the helicopter, but the lady in the air didn't want to use the basket, she wanted them to use a canoe to rescue them. Yeah Right.
Like my uncle says "like an monkey f****** a football". They wasted over an hour of daylight when they should of tossed a line and pulley over to be able to send clothing and food over to them.
Bob , I agree with you. We definetly need some kind of trained individuals who know what to do in this type of situation. There was a whole lot of Red tape that needed to gone thru. They needed to get those people off the bar that night. Only 2 of them had waders on, plus the older man was wet up to his waist. hello hypothermia. Anyways, there is the correct story. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me. morseyan@hotmail.com

Elkman