On February 28, 1999 Tom Bell, 50, and Steve Harris, 57, were doing an exploratory run on the Raging River above Rt. 18. The river, a tiny tributary of the Snoqualmie, was running at 754 cfs at Fall City . This turned out to be a very high level. The run was rated Class IV, very continuous, with few eddies. The temperature was in the high 30's  with intermittent rain.

Bell was in the lead by about 50 yards when he disappeared around a blind bend. Harris followed. When he rounded the bend he found Tom caught beneath a river-wide strainer. Unable to eddy out, Harris was pushed under the same strainer. He hung there for a time before he was able to release himself and swim to shore. He then spent a long time on the shore recovering from his ordeal, coughing and spitting up blood.

Bell was floating face down and free of the log, but Harris could not get to him. At approximately 4:00 p.m. Harris started walking out to his car. Because he was suffering from hypothermia, it took him several hours to get out. After reaching his truck, it took him a long time to recover sufficiently to drive out and notify police. He is now in the hospital, recovering from hypothermia. A video clip of the accident site made the evening news; boaters who saw it said that there was a 5 foot drop, with the runout blocked by debris. There was no clear line anywhere.

The next day the King County Search and Rescue Team, along with the King County Sheriff's Department, went to the scene. They recovered Bell ’s body and brought him out. He was found approximately 200 feet downstream of where the accident occurred, about 1/2 to one mile upstream of the Route 18 bridge.

SOURCE: Jock Bradley, Washington Kayak Club Safety Chairman; Nick Borelli; Associated Press; Seattle Times

ANALYSIS (Walbridge):

1. When running whitewater, paddlers should not move ahead unless they can see a clear route to the bottom of each drop, or to the next sure eddy. This is especially important on exploratory runs, but becomes difficult when the water is high. This accident shows us the terrible potential consequences of running blind drops. Mr. Harris was extremely lucky.

2. High water increases the difficulty involved in making a controlled descent of an unknown stream. Low water is better for exploratories because of this, although on small creeks the window of runnability may be very small.