DINO I National Park Service rangers and an investigator from the Moffat County Sheriff’s Office have recovered the body of a victim of a reported falling fatality at the Wade and Curtis River Campsite on the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.
At approximately 11:41 a.m. on July 19, monument staff received notification from a member of a private rafting trip that a member of their group had fallen sometime during the night off an approximately 120-foot cliff. The victim was identified as a 73-year-old female.
According to the reporting party, the group launched on the Green River on July 18 from Gates of Lodore. They rafted the 2.5 miles before setting up camp for the night at the river campsite. Sometime during the night or early morning, the victim is believed to have climbed a slope to the west of the campsite and then fell off the cliff. The victim was found Tuesday morning.
A member of the group rowed the 2.5 miles upriver to report the fatality. Cell phone reception is not available in this area and satellite phone reception may not be reliable.
The recovery team arrived back to Gates of Lodore at approximately 7:40 p.m. on July 19 after recovering the victim.
The name of the victim is being withheld until the family has been notified. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.
Wade and Curtis is a river campsite located on the Green River in the Canyon of Lodore in the Colorado portion (Moffat County) of Dinosaur National Monument. It is approximately 2.5 river miles from the boat launch at the Gates of Lodore, which is located on the northern boundary of Dinosaur National Monument.
Dinosaur National Monument consists of more than 210,000 acres in Colorado and Utah. While the monument is best known for the dinosaur quarry and the fossils preserved there, the monument also contains spectacular canyons along the Green and Yampa rivers.
These rivers are famous among whitewater rafters who travel here from across the globe to raft them.