Teenager rescued from Cascade Creek waterfalls

Third incident at popular jumping spot in two weeks

By Mary Shinn Herald staff writer

A 16-year-old boy was rescued from the waterfalls at Cascade Creek Thursday evening,

Two waterfall jumpers cling to rocks in Cascade Creek north of Purgatory Resort in June. Three jumpers entered the canyon and soon realized that the water was flowing high and fast, making it dangerous to jump down the series of waterfalls. Another teenager boy found himself in a similar situation Thursday. Crews were able to rescue him, and he was unharmed. 

Two waterfall jumpers cling to rocks in Cascade Creek north of Purgatory Resort in June. Three jumpers entered the canyon and soon realized that the water was flowing high and fast, making it dangerous to jump down the series of waterfalls. Another teenager boy found himself in a similar situation Thursday. Crews were able to rescue him, and he was unharmed.

The rescue efforts for the uninjured teen started shortly before 4 p.m., said Ron Corkish, the president of the La Plata County Search and Rescue.

Emergency responders from the Durango Fire Protection District, San Juan County Search and Rescue and La Plata County Search and Rescue worked together to get him out of the canyon.

It was a textbook rescue that took about 20 minutes from the time the rescuer left the edge of the slot canyon to returning to the side with the teenager, Corkish said.

Crews rescue between three to six people from the falls each year, and the rescue workers have predetermined anchor points to use during the rope rescues, because many of them tend to get stuck in the same place, he said.

The water has also been running unseasonably high.

“What used to be standing up in a pool up to your ankles is now still raging,” he said.

This is the third rescue in two weeks.

Three young men were rescued June 27. On July 3, three more people needed help. Two were rescued, but one of them, Haley Clarke, 19, of Bayfield, drowned in the falls.

Those who have never jumped the falls can’t see all the waterfalls from the top and the amount of water in the canyon may catch some by surprise, said Patt Yeager Emmitt, who grew up near the falls.

“It’s really very hard to see what they are dealing with,” she said.

Jumping the waterfalls is not recommended, according to a warning on the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.