An Idaho man, Thomas Gray, 73, survived a harrowing five-day ordeal in the wilderness after his raft flipped over on the Salmon River. Gray was found safe after launching his cataraft from Marsh Creek, according to a news release from the Custer County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO).
Gray set out on a solo three-day rafting trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River. His journey quickly turned dangerous when a series of log jams caused his raft to break apart, injuring his leg. Forced to disassemble and rebuild his raft onshore, Gray continued his trip and camped along the bank of Marsh Creek that night.
The following morning, Gray attempted to navigate Dagger Falls to avoid delaying his meeting with his wife at the river’s confluence. As he ran the falls, his raft flipped, ejecting him at the base and injuring his leg further. Gray swam to shore, only to see his raft—and all his equipment—float away. Remembering his brother Robert Gray’s tragic death in nearly the same spot two years prior, Gray climbed a nearby mountain and hiked toward the Boundary Creek Launch site.
Due to his leg injury, Gray stayed at the launch site for the next two nights, seeking shelter in the boat ramp’s outhouse. During the day, he watched the river in hopes that someone would float by and offer help. Meanwhile, Custer and Valley Counties had dispatched search and rescue crews after receiving reports of Gray missing and a punctured cataraft.
John Haugh, left, Poses with Tom Grey. Photo courtesy of Haugh
Eventually, Gray left the outhouse and walked toward Fir Creek Pass, despite his injury. He found shelter in a Bruce Meadows Snowmobile Club trailer, which had a wood stove but no matches to light it. Sheriff Levi Maydole had activated the Custer County Search and Rescue, and the Civil Air Patrol searched the river from Boundary Creek to Indian Creek multiple times but failed to locate Gray.
The next morning, Gray continued down Bear Valley Road but became too exhausted to proceed about three miles below the pass. He lay down in the snow, completely drained.
Tom was totally exhausted; he decided this was it. He just laid down in the snow and said a prayer,” said John Haugh, Custer County sheriff’s marine deputy.
Shortly after, Steve and Annie Lentz, owners of Far and Away River Adventures, spotted Gray lying in the snow alongside the road. Their vehicle, carrying several first responders, immediately stopped to help. “If they hadn’t come along, he probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer. He was in pretty bad shape when they got him,” Haugh told NBC affiliate KSL-TV.
Gray was taken to the Mountain Village Restaurant, where he met with Custer County deputies. They transported him to the sheriff’s office, where he was joyfully reunited with his wife. Throughout his ordeal, Gray walked an estimated 23 miles, surviving with no food and only drinking creek water and eating snow. “He was resigned that this was not going to end well,” Haugh explained.
Haugh says he is still “smiling ear to ear” since finding Gray. “Tom called me and said I was his ‘lifesaver,’ but I said, ‘No, I’m just your Uber deputy,'” Haugh said. It turns out, the pair had something else in common – Haugh had helped in the search for Gray’s brother.
This served as a good time to remind people of an important rule for adventuring alone. “If something goes wrong, they’re waterproof—you just get on that and punch a message into the sheriff’s office or the forest service saying, ‘I wrecked, I’m at Boundary Creek, I’m injured, but I’m OK.’ It helps a lot,” Haugh advised. Watch below for this amazing rescue story.
