Missing Flaming Gorge Boaters Found Safe

A party of boaters from Colorado who were reported missing on Flaming Gorge Reservoir over the holiday weekend was found the next morning after having spent the night on the shore of the gorge, according to a spokesman for the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department.

Dick Blust says the Sheriff's Department was contacted around 10:45 p.m. Sunday by a Colorado woman who said several of her family members were part of a group of boaters who had left the Big Firehole area of the gorge earlier that day and had not returned.

Deputies began looking for the missing boaters and found their boat grounded about seven miles north of the Big Firehole Boat ramp on the eastern side of the gorge. Although no one was with the boat, the deputies found tracks showing the party had left the boat walking south.

The search continued, and around 8 a.m. Monday a boating party spotted the stranded group and took them back to Big Firehole. No one was injured.

The boaters were all from Castle Rock, Colorado, according to Blust.