A group of Boy Scouts and their leaders found themselves in a dangerous situation and in need of help Thursday night on Flaming Gorge. According to the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, a party of nine scouts and three adults from Saratoga Springs were on a rafting trip that started Thursday morning on the Green River in the Jamestown area with a plan to raft down and onto Flaming Gorge and then south to Big Firehole where they would join other members of their party. “By about 9:00pm, the scouts had traveled about 15 miles downriver from Jamestown, but by then were on Flaming Gorge and still nine miles, and in heavy darkness, from their objective at Big Firehole,” shares the Sheriff’s Office. “Unable to paddle farther, they made it to the Gorge’s eastern shore and used hand radios to summon aid. The party camped at Big Firehole received the radio message, drove a distance east to a point where cell phone coverage was available, and contacted the Combined Communications Center in Green River.” The Sweetwater Sheriff’s Office Marine Unit responded to the call for help. Deputies estimated where the Boy Scouts were stranded and using sophisticated radar, sonar, and GPS systems were able to locate the scouts at around midnight. The group was transported to Big Firehole in the Marine Unit boat and no injuries were reported.
