GOLD BAR — A kayaker who apparently fell out of his craft while attempting to test himself against the flood-swollen Skykomish River today later emerged unharmed.
The kayaker who was reported missing on the Skykomish River outside of Gold Bar was taken to the Sultan fire station for a medical evaluation, firefighters said.
The search began at about 1:30 p.m. when a man called 911 to report that he’d watched the kayaker get swept away by the current while trying to run the river near milepost 34 of U.S. 2 east of Gold Bar.
Flood waters have turned that stretch of the Skykomish into a raging torrent, with huge waves.
By 1:45 p.m., search and rescue crews had spotted what they believed was the man’s red kayak, twisting rapidly in an eddy on the opposite side of the river from the Big Eddy Campground.
That location is several miles downstream from where the kayaker entered the river.
Search and rescue crews were making preparations just before 2 p.m. There was no immediate sign of the missing kayaker.
The man who reported the mishap told rescue crews that he knows the missing boater through the kayaking community. He said he had come to take photographs the other kayaker attempting to navigate the river. He showed officials photographs that he said documented the kayaker entering the river and paddling into the flood water.
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