Accident Database

Report ID#69183

1993-04-13
accident date
Kristen Maren
victim
24
victim age
Colorado
river
3. Cisco (Rose Ranch) to Moab
section
Big Bend Area
location
n/a
gage
Medium
water level
I
river difficulty
PFD Not Worn or Present
cause code(s)
Does not Apply
injury type(s)
Cold Water, One Boat Trip
factors
Private
trip type
Other
boat type
status?
status

Description

WOMAN MISSING AFTER CANOE CAPSIZES Colorado River near , Utah : April 13, 1993 DESCRIPTION: Kristen Maren, 24, a teacher from Milwaukee, Wisconsin was on a spring vacation trip to Utah with her fiancée. They were paddling their new canoe near the Big Bend Campground on the Colorado when they flipped in a class I rapid. Neither person was wearing a PFD, and witnesses saw them holding onto each other until the current separated them. Her partner managed to grab hold of a flotation cushion and get to shore, but she disappeared and was still missing two days later. SOURCE: Milwaukee Journal ANALYSIS: The river here is not difficult, and the woman would have almost certainly survived had she been wearing a life vest.