Louis Green clung to the side of his capsized canoe. Battered and partially submerged under the frigid water of the Colorado River, he asked himself if he would ever see his family again. A growing numbness in his legs became more and more concerning as he realized hypothermia was likely setting in.
Minutes prior, the 79-year-old was simply enjoying an annual camping trip with his son, Nathan, his grandkids and several family friends. For years, Green enjoyed modest family outings to Lees Ferry as a break from his home base in Phoenix. Always aware of the raw power of the famous rapids of the Colorado River, the canoe that often came in tow was never taken very far down river.
Hoping to grab a few photos, Green and Nathan decided to navigate their canoe near the Paria Riffle — a minor rapid area just opposite of the Lees Ferry shoreline.
Green is unaware of how exactly it happened, but as he sat near the bow of the canoe with his eyes behind a viewfinder, the canoe hit an eddy or patch of particularly rough water. Both he and his son were flung into the Colorado River.
“Needless to say it was quite a shock,” Green said. “I put my camera back in my pocket to try to hold on, but before I could even catch my bearings, I was in the water.”
Nathan was able to swim back to shore, but his dad, still clinging to the side of the canoe and wrapped up in its tether rope, was carried farther downstream.
Luckily for both, an off duty park ranger saw the whole event go down from the Lees Ferry shoreline. The ranger was able to reach Nathan and offer him a blanket and aid as well as send out a call for help through park service’s dispatch.
As Green drifted further downstream, he scanned shorelines to find an area he could try to push the canoe toward. He was finally able to free himself from the rope wrapped around his legs, and attempted to flip the canoe and get back inside, but to no avail. Although the river is typically placid for miles south of Lees Ferry, Green felt his strength waning as the near 40-degree water of the Colorado took hold with its icy grip. His legs grew number with each passing minute and instinct eventually kicked in.
“I thought that this might be the end,” he said. “I screamed as loud as I could ‘Help! Someone, help!’”
But as soon as he called out, mortal fear was replaced with a near instant moment of serenity.
“A peaceful feeling came over me. I believe God heard me. ‘All will be ok,’ [God said to me],” he recalled.
All of this occurred within a few life-changing moments on March 11, 2016.

Unknown to Green at the time, two separate rescue attempts were simultaneously organizing to get him out of the water. First, Park Ranger Peggy Kolar and two boat mechanics scrambled from Lees Ferry to intercept the rogue canoe. Second, Classic Air Medical responded to a 911 call and was in route to the Colorado River with a helicopter.
Barely conscious, Green recalled spotting the helicopter hovering above and waving frantically to get the crew’s attention. At this point, he had floated nearly a mile downstream and became trapped in another eddy current near Cathedral Wash.
Green remembered losing consciousness around this time. He would later find out that Kolar was in contact with the Classic flight crew, who were guiding her to his location.
Somehow, Green had managed to climb into the canoe by the time the Park Service boat reached him. Much like he was clinging on to life, Green was gripping the sides of the canoe with white knuckles, despite being barely conscious.
Kolar and the rescuers called for him to let go so they could get him back to shore, but Green could not hear them.
He briefly regained consciousness after they pried his fingers free.
“I saw a hand reach down and grab me,” he said. “I felt them pulling me in and I had a moment of relief. But it didn’t last long. I was unconscious again almost immediately.”
Kolar and crew were able to get Green on board and transported him to a nearby sandbar where the Classic helicopter was able to land. Aaron Friel, a flight nurse on board, filmed the whole rescue and later met with Green after the ordeal.
Friel told Green his body temperature was already down to 84 degrees and his skin was “white as a sheet” when they began to airlift him out. Still unconscious, Green’s heart rate spiked and became irregular.
Fearing he could go into cardiac arrest at any moment, Friel requested they fly him to the much closer Page Hospital, rather than the Flagstaff Medical Center — a decision that likely proved to be lifesaving.
“[Friel] told me that another minute or two in that water would have probably been the end of me,” Green recalled. “It was a miracle they got to me when they did.”
At the hospital, Green was stabilized under the care of Dr. Barbara Zimmerman and nurse Gail Roundtree.
He was kept in the ICU overnight as well as the following day, and released the next morning.
Green’s son Nathan, who had fallen out of the canoe but made it back to shore, waited anxiously for hours before he finally got word that his father had not only survived, but was stable and recovering in the hospital.
Green’s wife, Joy, was also left in limbo after getting a call telling her that her husband had been in an accident on the river.
She had to pause when asked to describe the amount of relief she felt when she learned her husband would be alright.
“Family members and the rescuers have told me that I shouldn’t let him out of my sight anymore. Let’s just say I never do now,” she commented with a grin. “We were this close to losing him and knowing what he went through, it’s nothing short of a miracle he’s here with us now.”
Green described the park ranger who saw the accident unfold and called for help “the first God-sent angel” of many. He has personally met and thanked Friel, Kolar and all the others who aided in his rescue in the 17 months since the accident.
“In spite of my misjudgment to canoe the Paria Riffle, God miraculously provided my rescuers,” he said.
The same day he was discharged from the hospital, Green returned to his campsite at Lees Ferry. He learned that Kolar and other rangers retrieved the canoe during a practice drill and had it back at Lees Ferry to return to him. A little dinged up, and with its oars and equipment long lost to the maw of the Colorado River, the vessel was still water-worthy.
Green visited the Page area last week and again met with Kolar and others who assisted in his rescue to once again thank them and keep in touch.
His close call with death has done little to stifle the outdoorsman’s enthusiasm. A fan of travel and camping, Green looks forward to many adventures ahead. Much to the relief of his wife, he said he now makes sure to take a few extra precautious measures — especially around rivers.