Trio saved by putting message in Nalgene bottle in river

I'd also be a bit concerned about relying on the integrity of a line that had been exposed to the elements for an unknown length of time...

ropewiki.com/File:Arroyo_Seco_(Los_Padres)-20160713204700_pic.jpg

Wonder how he new about the rope on the first trip, looks like a very tricky rappel , but maybe dropping down the last part with a life jacket on would not be so bad.

Then there is the raft and gear.

Maybe I read her meaning wrong. But I read her comment as that they were relying on the rope still being there, not necessarily its condition...

It's not that tricky. It's not really rappelling and it's not really a float trip. People hike & swim up and down the river and use toy floats for their packs. They use the rope hand over hand to get through the waterfall. But people often get stuck in places where they can be hurt badly and helicopters pluck people out regularly. It's not very remote and there are lots of people around.

I'm surprised I haven't heard about this since I'm on the volunteer wilderness ranger e-mail list. Sounds like they were coming down the river and couldn't get back the way they came, and were unable or unwilling to bushwhack up to the old road above the creek. One guy had a rope but it wasn't adequate.

Yeah, mostly, though I was also thinking about not trusting a rope that had been hanging around for too long. Though now I’ve seen the picture, I wouldn’t worry as much about that—you aren’t hanging from it over a cliff.