Kittitas County Rescue Snags 6 Stranded Kayakers on Yakima River

A Friday rescue on the Yakima River saw six kayakers pulled to safety.

    The Kayakers Put in on A Rough Stretch of The River

Friday, July 3, Deputies with the Kittitas County Search and Rescue team were alerted to a group of kayakers who had been spilled from their watercraft on a rough section of the Yakima River.

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The callers, who were all from the Sequim, WA , told the rescuers they had launched into the river near the South Cle Elum Ball Fields. Shortly afterward, near Hanson Pond Road, the six saw their kayaks capsized by very rough water.

According to the KSCO:

"Two members of the group were able to stay in their kayaks and make it downstream to a gravel bar. Of the four who overturned, one grabbed a fallen tree and pulled himself to shore. Another was swept past multiple logjams before climbing out on an island. The final two, who were wearing life jackets, drifted downstream to the gravel bar and joined the others."

  Despite Not Having Lifejackets On, All Survived

Rescuers were able to reach all of them,  three of the kayakers had life jackets tied to their watercraft, but were not wearing them.

The KCSO says with spring runoff, and high water volume due to providing irrigation water to farms and others in the Valley, the only safe region for kayaking now on the Yakima, is the in the lower Yakima River Canyon.

The kayakers admitted they had not checked water conditions, and were not prepared for what happened.  Video courtesy of the KCSO