Graham County SAR assists canoeist out of Gila River

Contributed Photo/Courtesy Cochise County Sheriff’s Office SAR: Rescuers search the Gila River for the body of missing kayaker Dylan Archuleta in March. Archuleta’s body has not been recovered. More recently, a canoeist was rescued out of the Gila Box area after attempting to float from the San Francisco River down the Gila River to the 8th Avenue Bridge in Safford.

By Jon Johnson

jonjohnsonnews@gmail.com

GILA BOX – A canoeist was rescued out of the Gila Box Wilderness area Tuesday night after failing to meet up with his wife near the 8th Avenue Bridge at his designated time. 

According to a Graham County Sheriff’s Office report, the man had been dropped off and departed the Owl Creek Campground on the San Francisco River around 4 p.m. on Monday with the intention of canoeing down the Gila River. He was supposed to meet his wife at the 8th Avenue Bridge around 4:30 p.m. the following day. When he did not show up by 6 p.m., the wife called authorities and informed them of the situation. 

The man’s wife said she had spoken to him that morning at about 6:40 a.m. and he was in good condition at that time. However, when a deputy attempted to call the man the phone rang once and then went to voicemail. 

The man was in a neon green Coleman canoe and was outfitted with a sleeping bag, fishing poles, five small bottles of water, a can each of corn and salmon, and a backpack with a change of clothes, according to his wife. 

After not locating the man at the first diversion dam inside the Gila Box off Bonita Creek, the deputy attempted to text the man and received a response. The man wrote that he was in good condition but needed help out of the canyon. 

The Graham County Search and Rescue team was paged and a command post was created. A team then left the command post and traversed to the man’s last known position. The man was found uninjured and was driven back to the command post, where he was reunited with his wife.