A pair of overdue kayakers were lucky to be rescued after a trip through the Cottonwood River, north of Quesnel turned sideways.
According to Quesnel Search and Rescue, the kayakers entered the area from Highway 97 with the intention of coming out at the Old Prince George Highway Bridge on Sunday afternoon.
Bob Zimmerman with Quesnel Search and Rescue told Vista Radio the adventure seekers underestimated the waters and it got them in some trouble.
“They had not given themselves enough time to do it. The float would have taken them 10 hours and they only gave themselves four hours to do it. They got part way through, in their kayaks that were built for lake kayaking, not swift water kayaking and were a little too long in what they were trying to do.”
“They were walking around bare foot in the bush trying to find a way out and they didn’t do a good enough study ahead of time to figure out where they were going and what to anticipate. They had no idea the waters they were going into, the canyon walls close in and there are some pretty good rapids.”
Crews from Williams Lake and Prince George assisted with the search. Both kayakers were found safely on Monday morning with the assistance of a helicopter.
Initially, the helicopter found the subjects’ kayaks along the river but not the two who were missing leading to a little bit of a wild goose chase.
“They got off lucky. They did get out of the water but they should have stayed with the kayaks. They had no emergency equipment with them either.”
“They ended up having to cache their kayaks at the side of the river and rather than staying with their kayaks, which would have been easier, they decided to walk through the bush to find a way home.
Search and Rescue advise people to not go downstream of the Cottonwood Bridge due to hazardous conditions.
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