On the evening of Wednesday, May 18th, rangers met with a woman at Pruitt Landing who’d reported that her 19-year-old son and six-year-old granddaughter were missing from a kayaking trip on the river. She told rangers that the two had last been seen kayaking down the river from Pruitt sometime after noon and that they were supposed to try out the kayak, then return to Pruitt within the hour. Her son had invited his niece to go along, and she sat in front of him in the single-person kayak. The pair were dressed in swimwear and lifejackets and had just one bottle of water with them. Rangers from the Upper and Middle Districts attempted to locate the pair at various river access points downriver to Woolum Landing, approximately 26 miles away from Pruitt, while a kayak was launched from Pruitt to begin searching down the river. Several campers along the river reported seeing the kayak go by with the man paddling strongly and singing loudly, showing no signs of stopping. By 10:30 p.m., fog rising off the river dramatically reduced visibility and the river operation was halted until first light on Thursday. The parents described their son, a college student, as a genius, but very much lacking in common sense. They did offer some encouraging information, though – he had recently completed formal survival training. Overnight lows along the river dipped down below 40 degrees. An NPS johnboat was immediately launched in the morning, and searchers found the pair alive and well along the river approximately 23 miles from Pruitt. The man said that he was a “paddling machine” who didn’t think about turning around until it started getting dark, despite numerous opportunities to stop and ask for help along the way. He at least used his recently acquired survival skills to stay warm overnight by building a large leaf pile and huddling in it with his niece. They were boated three miles downriver to the Woolum access, where they were reunited with other members of their family.
