It’s hard to talk about safety without sounding like we are resorting to clichés.
Take driving, for example: Buckle up. Don’t drink and drive. Speed kills.
We’ve heard these short, sharp admonishments so often that, despite their truth, we tend to ignore them. They are lodged in our memory, and still at times we manage to forget their wisdom when we turn a key in the ignition.
We do the same thing when it comes to water safety, as recent events testify.
Better safe than sorry. This one should be repeated like a religious mantra by every person ready to enter the water in any kind of craft, especially an inner tube. Take a closer look: Every customer on a guided raft is wearing a personal flotation device. The rafts are loaded with extra oars and rescue gear. They are crewed by guides trained on the river, who know its hazards well. Watch the kayakers as they enter or leave the river. They are wearing wetsuits and helmets in addition to their PFDs.
Contrast that to many of the casual floaters found on the river. A trip to Santa Rita on Wednesday revealed a pair of private rafts with plenty of beer but no PFDs. On Thursday, three men armed with short paddles sailed into Corner Pocket on what looked like an inflatable mattress. It flipped. They swam, but they were wearing PFDs. No harm done. On Friday at dusk three girls could be seen from Rotary Park in a pair of red duckies lashed together with an extra paddle and garbage bags. They were wearing only shorts and bikini tops and looked like they were having the time of their lives. Most everyone on the river does until something unplanned for happens. Perhaps it would help to hang a banner with “Better Safe than Sorry” in bold letters from the upstream side of the 32nd Street Bridge?
Cold as ice. How many times have we heard that one? And yet these three words remain the best way to describe the Animas River and almost all the water found north of town. Literally, the expression isn’t far from the truth, as that water is ice and snow for most of the year. The Animas River, old river hands used to say, is the fastest-moving glacier in the world.
But to far too many floaters, cold as ice means that you won’t need a cooler for beer and soda; just tie the six-pack with a bit of rope or twine and let it dangle in the water. That is a dangerous oversight, because cold as ice translates into hypothermia and its attendant perils, especially for floaters clad only in shorts and a T-shirt’s worth of cotton. Sure, the daily highs are in the 90s, but throw in a few clouds and shivering may be the least of one’s problems.
Look before you leap. Little more needs to be said, especially in regards to Cascade Creek below U.S. Highway 550. But this admonition goes unheeded as the popularity of this spot is fueled by video clips on the internet that reveal its beauty and its dangers. It’s the third part of a trio of “must-do” Durango adventures billed as the “ABC” on adventure blogs and websites: Run the Animas River, jump off Baker’s Bridge and delve into the Cascade Creek canyon by leaping downstream from pool to pool. At low water, it is a risky venture. This year, with water still high, it has proven deadly. Three rescues have been required in the last two weeks, and in one, the effort turned into a recovery when Bayfield resident Haley Clarke drowned.
Posting warning signs near this popular spot might encourage more adventurers to look before they leap, but the call of adrenaline adventure, fueled by bragging rights and social media, can be a powerful one.
We been blessed this summer with plenty of water. But we seem plagued by a drought of common sense.
By turning good words of caution into clichés, we begin to make it easy to ignore them, and that is a big step toward regret.
