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Jessica Nelms

Two of the rescued rafters, left, wait with rescue workers for the arrival of the other stranded rafters as they make their way out of the woods after spending Sunday night stranded in the woods along the Chatooga River.

WALHALLA — For the second time in a matter of days, a group of stranded outdoor pleasure-seekers found themselves facing an overnight stay in the woods along the banks of the Chattooga River.

The search and rescue efforts near Burrels Ford came about a week after a 53-year-old man, his 15-year-old son and his son’s 16-year-old friend were forced to spend the night when they miscalculated the time needed for their trek on the water.

This time around, inadequate time and improper watercrafts contributed to the stranding. According to Oconee County Emergency Services Operations Chief Eric Lutz, a group of seven middle-aged individuals, four men and three women, entered the river at 10 a.m. Sunday morning between Burrells Ford and the Highway 28 bridge along the South Carolina-Georgia border, using inner tubes and a plastic raft.

“That stretch of river is not supposed to be gotten on by inner tubes and rafts,” Emergency Services Director Rodney Burdette said. “The tubes got punctured, torn and unable to float, so they had to use the trails.”

Once the group got on land, nightfall came upon them, and they were unable to negotiate the wooded trails along the river.

“When they lost a couple of inner tubes and just couldn’t get out of there, then they were pretty much stranded,” Lutz said.

Burdette said that despite the summer’s rising temperatures, overnight stays on the river can get very chilly.

“Even though there are high temperatures, at night it gets pretty cold along the river,” Burdette said. “They had a cold night.”

One of the women in the group began to suffer from nausea. When the time came to hike the trail to get out in the morning, five went ahead, with the ill woman and a companion staying behind until she became strong enough to make the trip through the woods.

Those first five walked out of the wooded trail themselves while the last two were found near the trail’s end about 30 minutes later, Burdette said. Everyone was out of the woods by 3:15 p.m. Monday.

The group’s trip was rife with hazards and misjudgments, Burdette and Lutz said. The group did not wear life jackets. They were in inappropriate watercrafts, and they did not accurately judge the timing of their trip.

“They didn’t read the rules and regulations and guidelines,” Burdette said. “If they are going to go onto the river, they should have read the rules of watercraft use in that area and read about what safety equipment they should have had. People who have experience also know to check how long their trips take, and they’ll allow themselves some extra time.”

Ultimately, no one in the stranded party required medical attention, and all of them drove home shortly after being checked out by emergency personnel. That was fortunate because being left alone on the river in the dark can be a dangerous proposition, Burdette said.

“When it gets dark, there are a lot of dangers,” he said. “Not being familiar with the area, hypothermia can be a concern if you’re wet and cold. If you stay on the river, there’s the chance of being injured and drowned because there’s poor visibility. There may be nutrition or medical issues that would be dangerous if untreated. There’s also the wildlife. They could encounter snakes, bears, anything else that could be in the particular area.”

The moral of the story is to plan ahead if going on the river, and to come prepared, Burdette said. “You need to make sure you’ve planned your trip to give plenty of time to make your destination. And it would be a good idea to take some supplies in case you got stranded.”