On many bachelor and bachelorette parties, the late nights might be hard to remember. But for two wedding parties evacuated from the Colorado River this past weekend, the late night will be impossible to forget.
Cole Griffin likes “type two” fun — uncomfortable or challenging in the moment, but rewarding after the fact. So when his childhood friend said he wanted a bachelor party that involved being outdoors and maybe a relaxing float down a river in inner tubes, Griffin suggested pack rafting.
“I assured everyone that this would be 'type one' fun and a casual thing to do,” the Denver resident said. “And then it wasn't.”
Griffin’s group was among the more than 120 people who were rescued from the Ruby-Horsethief Canyon area over June 27 weekend as the Snyder Fire approached. Mesa County Search and Rescue has said the 11-hour operation was among their largest and most complex in recent memory.
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Griffin's group wasn’t the only prenuptial celebration on the river that weekend.
Sidney Burleson, who lives in Salt Lake City and is getting married in September, was on her bachelorette party with a group of 16 women — some of whom met through the Virginia Tech whitewater club.
“We've all been going on river trips and boating together for more than 10 years now,” Burleson said. "A lot of the guys in our friend group have gotten married and gone on river trip bachelor parties, so since it was my turn, I was like, we're doing a ladies river trip.”
The trip began with blue skies and high vibes
“Friday was a perfect day, like amazing weather, didn't have to really paddle that hard to get downstream, just a chill party day on the river,” Burleson said.
Then things took a turn.
“Saturday morning we woke up, and there was some smoke in the air, and things only started getting progressively worse from there,” she said.
The wind became strong enough to blow the rafts upstream, making continuing down the river a constant battle.
“It was way more of a workout than any of us bargained for,” Griffin said. “My main workout was going to be my elbow and the beer to my mouth, and I think we all only had, like, a couple drinks, and that was it.”
That evening, search and rescue crews and sheriff's deputies approached in jet boats to tell groups they were beginning evacuations.
Those evacs would be a bit unorthodox, with Union Pacific Railroad stepping in to provide one-directional, hi-rail trucks that can drive on train tracks to take campers and rafters to safety.
For Annie Francl, who was on Burleson’s bachelorette, the news that they would have to leave the river came as a bit of a shock.
“I was having to just take a moment to, like, trust the authority figures who were telling us that it was time to evacuate and come to terms with it, like, we were gonna have to abandon stuff, and go on a train at 2 a.m.,” she said.
But the groups gathered their things and made their way out.
“Our group had a really fun energy, even though it was this serious situation,” Francl said. “We definitely were still on a bachelorette trip, and we were gonna have fun no matter what.”
Riding in the back of the rail truck was like a "ride at Disneyland," she said, and the upbeat energy was complete with a singing of "County Roads" atop the train tracks.
After they got off the rail truck, there was a welcome surprise waiting for them.
"They had Taco Bell and water waiting at the buses that would take us to our cars," Burleson said.
While those 120 people — plus six dogs and a cat — evacuated from the river corridor all made it to safety, the fire turned out to be far more serious than either of the groups had realized at the time.
Mesa County Search and Rescue officials said the blaze reached the river corridor that night, and three firefighters lost their lives during a burnover event the same weekend.
"We, of course, are really sad to hear about the firefighters who lost their lives, but at the time, we didn't know anyone was in danger... it just was sort of like, oh, it's crazy this is happening," Francl said.
Just under a week later, the fire has burned more than 30,000 acres and is 65% contained.
"If there wasn't that search and rescue operation, that would have been a lot more harrowing," Griffin said. "So we never felt like we were in immediate danger, because we were taking preventative steps to get out of the path of the fire."
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Griffin, Burleson and Francl credited everyone involved in the rescue operation for working to make the evacuation run smoothly.
"I was really impressed how organized it was," Burleson said. "Mesa County Search and Rescue and Union Pacific did such a good job getting everyone out there safely."
For Burleson, the experience left her with an even deeper gratitude for her friends ahead of her wedding day.
“Even though it was a pretty hard day of rafting, followed by a chaotic night, everyone handled it amazingly, and I love my friends for it,” she said.
