Five rescued from Yakima River

 ELLENSBURG, Wash. —The swift-water rescue team of the Kittitas County Sheriff's Office pulled five people from the Yakima River at about 4 p.m. Sunday after the rafts they were floating in were swept into a log jam and capsized, said Undersheriff Clay Myers.

The people, ages 17 to 30 years old from Puyallup and Gig Harbor, were rescued just north of the Ringer Loop Boat Launch, Myers said.

Six people were floating the Yakima River in small inflatable rafts not intended for swift water. One person was able to get out and call for help for the other five people.

The swift water rescue team used a jet boat to rescue the remaining five people, Myers said. One person suffered a minor head injury. The rest were uninjured.

The group had life jackets, but Myers was unsure if they were being worn at the time of the incident.

Another incident

Earlier Sunday on the Yakima River a woman and two children in a larger raft got hung up in a log jam south of the Ringer Loop Boat Launch, Myers said. The trio managed to climb out and make it to shore just as the swift water rescue was getting ready to save them.

The Sheriff's Office reminds all river recreation enthusiasts to wear life jackets.

"The Yakima River is a very diverse body of water with significant hazards in certain areas," Myers said.

The fewest hazards, and safest spot in the river for rafters, can be found in a 14-mile stretch in the Yakima Canyon along state Route 821. The Sheriff's Office recommends starting the float in the Bighorn area near milepost 22 and exiting the river at Roza near milepost 8.

"That entire stretch to Roza has the fewest obstacles, is the widest and the safest," Myers said.

The next safest spot is between Cle Elum and Thorp from the game department boat launch at the state Route 10 and U.S. Highway 97 junction to the boat launch at the Thorp bridge.

More maneuverable vessels are recommended in this section of the river but it is still passable for most people, Myers said.

Recreational floating is not recommended from the diversion dam seven miles west of Ellensburg on state Route 10, in an area known as Clark Flats, to the Ringer Loop boat launch. That entire stretch of river, which passes by Ellensburg and Irene Rinehart Riverfront Park, should only be used by very maneuverable crafts and experienced rafters, Myers said.

In Upper Kittitas County, the Yakima River can be very hazardous, especially where the Cle Elum and Yakima rivers converge. There are logs, strainers and changing currents, Myers said.

-- By BARB OWENS