GRAND COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) — A man, 64, along with his five hunting dogs, were rescued from Mary Jane Canyon in Grand County early Wednesday morning, according to Grand County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue.
The man told authorities he began following his dogs near Warner Lake in the LaSal Mountains Monday morning. Later that day, he found the dogs trapped on a ledge on the north side of Adobe Mesa.
Unable to rescue the dogs that night, he returned to the location the following morning to retrieve them.
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“His plan was to travel with the dogs down to Professor Creek and meet his partner at the Mary Jane Canyon trailhead,” a press release from the sheriff’s office states. After returning the following morning, “He and the dogs worked their way down numerous ledges to the creek in Mary Jane Canyon by Tuesday afternoon, but became stranded on two separate ledges upstream from the popular waterfall that is the destination for most hikers in the canyon.”
He found himself positioned in a section of the canyon known as the Professor Creek Canyoneering Route — with walls “towering about 100 feet above the creek,” the release states.
He then activated his satellite messaging device for assistance, officials said.
Search and rescue teams responded to the trailhead, and Classic Air Medical was dispatched to locate the man. The threat of thunderstorms and flash flooding was present Tuesday afternoon, and rescue crews decided to use the helicopter to transport a team from the Mary Jane Canyon trailhead out to the canyon rim — above the man and his dogs.
“The subject was raised 80 feet out of the canyon just as a strong thunderstorm hit the area and rescue efforts had to be paused until the weather cleared,” the release states. “After the storm passed, the SAR team made visual contact with the dogs and relocated downstream. The five dogs were rescued in three separate 150 foot raising operations.”
Each dog was placed in a crate an accompanied by an attendant during the rescue operation. The man, along with all five dogs, were successfully flown back to the trailhead.
The operation lasted about 10 hours, officials said, ending at around 1 a.m. Wednesday morning, Aug. 14.
No further information is available at this time.
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