Utah man dies rafting at Canyon of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument
UPDATE: The man was identified as Michael Harp from Sandy, Utah. The original story follows below.
DENVER (KDVR) — A 54-year-old man’s body was recovered after a rafting accident on Thursday on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.
According to the National Park Service, staff were notified of a boat pinned against a rock in the rapid named Hells Half Mile at about 4 p.m. on Thursday. One person from the group was missing, suspected to have been pinned under the raft.
The raft was eventually secured and unpinned, but monument staff reported that the person had been dislodged, lost his lifejacket and was unresponsive, causing him to drift downriver.
Utah fire captain, 9/11 hero dies rafting at Canyon of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument
On Friday at about 7:45 a.m., a commercial rafting company, Adrift, told staff they had found and secured the victim’s body about 10 river miles downstream from the accident. Monument staff, Adrift guides and the Classic Air Medical helicopter crew members transported the body to the Moffat County Coroner’s Office.
The park straddles the state line between Utah and Colorado in the Yampa River Canyon region. Hells Half Mile is classified as an III/IV rapid in the Canyon of Lodore, which is in the Colorado portion of the monument.
NPS said that the river’s flow rates averaged 4,700 cubic feet per second from June 25-28, which included additional water from a release at the Flaming Gorge Dam. The monument is best known for its dinosaur quarry, according to NPS, but whitewater rafters are also known to travel the globe to raft Dinosaur National Monument’s rapids.
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