# THREE RIVER WIDE FENCES ON LOWER PEIDRA



## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

That doesn't sound awesome. You say you lost a boat, it got popped or is still tangled in the fence?


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## jamesthomas (Sep 12, 2010)

Flipped on the fence was punctured by a t-post RF. How the two guys who spilled didn’t get hung up in the fence is beyond me. Probably punctured other chambers on the barbed wire. Boatman tried to get to shore with it and got cold and had to self rescue. Boat was loosing air as it went out of sight. I was grabbing bushes to keep my boat from dying an ugly death on the fence. Both swimmers were out. Got our stuff back together and finished the run and never saw a trace of the damaged raft. Could be in the upper reaches of Navajo Res or more likely hung up somewhere close to the incident. Glad a bruised toe and a mild case of hypothermia for both swimmers were the only physical consequences. Could have easily been a fatality if a swimmer got hung up in the barbed wire.


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## jamesthomas (Sep 12, 2010)

Was definitely not awesome.


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## zbaird (Oct 11, 2003)

Holy shit!! Thats gnarly. Any idea if the fences are legal? Wonder if the rancher typically takes them down before the water comes up and it came so quick?


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## jamesthomas (Sep 12, 2010)

We stopped by Jan and Dennis (stitches and stuff) on the way out and they said it’s typical to have to deal with fences if your the first descent. One year there were seven supposedly. Legal??? Dangerous, most definitely.


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## raymo (Aug 10, 2008)

*that is a big hazard!!*

At least post sign's warning of the fences and mark with orange marker poles by the rivers edge about 15 feet high or better yet don't string wires across river's at all, out of consideration, legal or not. I understand that they use the fences to keep life stock in by the rivers edge, especially at low water times, so to ensure the fencing works at very low river levels they just string it across the whole river, very dangerous situation for boaters that are cought off guard. My uncle had a farm and would set up an electrical wire up to keep his cattle in, during the winter months the snowmobile riders would use this part of his land to ride on despite the no trespassing signs, so he would mark the wire with orange flagging tape and tall orange poles so the riders would be aware of the whereabouts of the fence, commen courtesy. On a side note, in my repair box I would carry a small set of bolt cutters, they would work great as ring cutters to save a finger and one time a gentleman lost his key to his family's cable lock for his bikes on the back of his mobile home and the bolt cutters worked very well to cut the cable, they have many uses. They could save injuries to you or any boater behind you. They have smaller 8 inch one' that are very compact.


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## jamesthomas (Sep 12, 2010)

We had a set of cutters with us and would not have made it down the river without them. Wires and t-posts barely out of the water at 1300. Probably sub surface at today’s flows. Found the boat today and will be retrieving it tomorrow. Thanks space case for tying it off and the gps locate. Beer coming your way.


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## MT4Runner (Apr 6, 2012)

Damn.

glad the boat was found and glad nobody was seriously injured.


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## jamesthomas (Sep 12, 2010)

Yep, things could have turned out a hell of a lot worse. The Buzzards come through again. Never ceases to amaze me how the lost gets found on here. Good people.


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