Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

I have been going back and forth on whether I wanted to post this or not, but the more i think about it I think it would be best to help inform others of the real danger at Lower Mountain Fork near Broken bow.

Friday afternoon myself and Ronnie Gibson decided to go to LMF to boat. Neither of us had been up there to paddle since Bobbys death. I had checked the release sced, and they were supposed to start generating at 2 and run through 5 or so. It takes roughly 2.5 /3 hours for water to get there.

We got in our boats and made our way up stream a bit waiting on the water as it started rising we made are way down surfing and playing in the holes. when we got to the falls the pourovers were starting to form but were not too bad yet, i paddled in to one threw a couple moves and just didn’t feel comfortable with it.

We made our way back up the trail for another lap, water had come up quite a bit for the second lap and the surf/spin holes above the falls were really starting to come in. We both made the comment that we could not believe we had waited this long to return to that spot it’s such a beautiful place and a great place to learn how to run a river.

we made our way down to the falls, to find that the center pourover was much worse than I had remembered. while sitting there in the eddy we noticed a canoe and two girls coming down stream, they had already flipped and was heading straight for the pourover. Luckily their boat was half in and half out of the hole and as they held on it pulled them through.
We then realized that there was a man swimming with a life jacket and cooler, and was also going head first over the ledge. at that point we knew things were fixing to go bad. We both were in our boats at the edge of the boil line(20ft+) back from the hole, the man started to recirc barely coming up for air. we yelled to try and go deep but his life vest was keeping that from happening. It was also floating him just under the surface, and he could not get a breath. The man realized what was happening and removed his vest. (gut instinct tells you to go in after him, but the training I have received always states no more victims and if either one of us had went any further in we would have been victims ourselves.
The man continued to cycle even with his vest off. at this point he went completely limp and was still cycling. He finally surfaced almost at the top of the boil line, I made a stroke and grabbed his foot and managed to get into some downstream current after getting his head up I realized i would not be able to get him to shore in my boat, so I bailed as did Ronnie and started making our way to the bank, another person from shore meat us about 3/4 of the way in, and helped us get him to the bank. The man had no pulse wasn’t breathing, and was already blue. we turned him on his side to try and get any water out before starting cpr while doing so Ronnie noticed a faint Breath, as we rolled him back over another lady started giving Cpr Breaths maybe 2 at most and he started Breathing very vaguely. after a few seconds went by his pulse came back but was still inconsistent for a while. 911 had been called and the paramedics showed pretty fast considering.
The man ended up being fine but was still in shock and completely exhausted.

Looking back on this I feel that I should have been able to help the man before it got to that point. I don’t think a rope from the boat would have helped in this situation. I feel you would have pulled yourself in instead of him out.
I strongly feel that if it had not been for Ronnie and the others on the bank, that i would have never gotten him to the bank in time by myself. I have also thought about it, and im not sure that I could have swam out of this hole. technically he was not out of the boil line when I grabbed him.
This whole scenario has been an emotional roller coaster for me. it kinda ironic that this happens on my first trip back to a river that took one of my best Friends.


I have went back and looked at the river levels, this hole comes in around 2200cfs and continues to get worse until 3300 or so. The levels haven’t changed, but I truly believe that the hole has gotten worse since the big floods almost 3 years ago. this is same levels that Bobby passed away at as well. luckily the rental services on the river are not allowed to put on when the river is anywhere near these levels (they will be fined if they do).
but for those of us that like to paddle there we want these levels or higher for the play to come in.

So if your there please be careful. the falls themselves will form a killer hydraulic at the right levels.

Wow. First off, GREAT job doing the right thing! Sure glad it turned out as well as it did. Second...that's just spooky...sobering...good warning to all. Thanks.

Glad you posted this Heath. Scott told me your reasons for not wanting and I understand. But I believe God and/or the river angels put you in the right place at the right time. Glad you could help this man out and save his life. It sounds fortunate that there was a team of people there as well!

Thanks for posting, Heath. I agree with Renee, you was on the river for a reason that day.

Good job Heath!

I too am glad you decided to post.

I know it is a painful reminder of Bobby when it should be only a time for celebration, so I'm just going to go ahead and go there: Please don't be second-guessing yourself about that other day: Bobby's situation was different because of the foot entrapment. He was more exhausted from that fight, and I feel sure he went without air for longer as a result.

But this Friday, things were different, there was no foot entrapment to complicate the issue, and there is no doubt you and Ronnie saved that man's life. Good job!

Thank you.

Heath, you are one of my boating heroes. You were meant to be there to help this man. Thanks for posting and doing what you did.

Heath,
I'm sure there is a wife, son, daughter or mother/father that is eternally Thankful for your actions. Great Job and thanks for sharing.
Tim

thanks for the kind words, It truly was a group effort, I just happend to be the one closest to him at that point. Ronnie was ahead of me and got swept aside.

this was a private trip. the mans father was running shuttle for them and was waiting at the take out.

one thing I did learn is that a fold up camp chair works great for moving someone long distances, when he came to to a point that we could move him He couldnt walk(still in shock and shacking) so we used a camp chair to get him back to the truck( the peramedics didnt bring a board or anything down with them :roll:

I'm glad you were there to help!

You never know when its your time to be the angel. Good job!

Heath,

I understand the flood of emotions and reanalyzing of the events that occurred, its natural. Sometimes the timing and luck go in the positive direction, sometimes in the negative. This event, like ours in CO last year thankfully went in the positive. The luck and timing is that the victim had support personnel that just happened to be in the right place to respond timely. The other part is that the responders didn't panic and worked together to respond to the best of their ability and training.

You and Ronnie are to be commended for helping when you realized the trouble was starting. The victim should be thankful that he had guardian angles watching him that day.

Good job Heath and company!

Frequenting the LMF quite a bit myself, I am surprised that there are not more fatalities around the Pres. Falls area. Have seen so many close calls and helped un-pin numerous boats all through the "ledges" part of the falls. Even had a woman pinned by her canoe against a rock recentally. The signs upstream pointing rental boaters to take river left (the safer route through the "chute") have almost faded to the point of just being a piece of wood nailed to a tree. With the nine plus liveries operating on this river now, I would think that they'd maintain things a bit better!

Great job Heath!! It sounds like you guys did a great job on keeping your cool and performed a great rescue. I am sure that you saved that mans life, and by creating this post you also possibly saved many more. You should feel very proud!