On June 1st James Owens, 40, was tubing California’s Class III Cache Creek with his 13-year-old son. According to the Lake County, CA Record-Bee, the man fell off his tube in the vicinity of “The Washing Machine” and disappeared. His son hiked out 3 miles to Highway 20 where he was able to flag down a motorist.
“He was wearing a life jacket” the sheriff’s department said, “but we don’t know about the father.” Rescuers in a helicopter and on foot searched the area, but were hampered by the rugged terrain. Three days later search dogs alerted at a cave-like depression in a riverside cliff, but rescuers couldn’t reach the spot.
http://tinyurl.com/ca4wr
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It's my understanding that this happened on the main Cache Creek below the dam and shortly above the North Fork Confluence, where rapids are clearly marked on USGS maps. This rapid, which is also known as "The Jams", is considered class VI by all whom I've talked to about it.
