Searchers Find And Rescue Missing Kayaker

A major search for a missing 13-year-old kayaker on Lake McDonald came to a successful conclusion when the boy was found and rescued on Tuesday evening. Earlier on that afternoon, the boy’s grandfather contacted rangers and told them that he’d searched for his grandson on the upper section of the lake for an hour but hadn’t been able to find him. High winds blowing at the time had churned the lake’s surface into very rough, choppy, five- to six-foot-high waves. The boy had last been seen in a plastic kayak near the middle of the lake. Rangers began a search, assisted by personnel from Glacier Park Boat Company, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Department, North Valley Search and Rescue, and Minute Man Aviation. Boats, a helicopter and ground searchers were employed in efforts to find the teenager. Around 4 p.m. rangers found a capsized kayak near the middle of the lake. An air, land and water search continued until just after 6 p.m., when the crew of a park tour boat saw the boy on the eastern shore of the lake about a half mile south of Sprague Campground. He told the rangers that he’d been capsized by a large wave and that he’d been unable to stay with the kayak. He then swam to the far shore of the lake. He said he was so tired and cold when he got so land that he crawled into a hollow log to warm up, fell asleep, and didn’t wake up for about an hour. A park medic treated the boy, recommending that he be taken to the hospital to be checked out after possibly suffering from hypothermia. The boy was wearing a properly fitting lifejacket and a “shorty” style wetsuit.