Father of man rescued from the Middle Fork of the Flathead River thanks searchers

Ken Card wants to give a big thank you to Two Bear Air, the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office and the Triple G Resort at Stanton Creek for help in rescuing his son.

Card owned the Stanton Creek Lodge about 20 years ago and is intimately familiar with the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. He once shot an elk on the banks of the river and floated it back down to his rig in a raft.

Card and his son, Kacey Card, decided to visit recently -- they live in California, now -- and Kacey wanted to float the river in an inflatable kayak.

On Sept. 14 Kacey set out about 2 p.m., planning to float from Paola to Cascadilla. Kacey didn’t have much experience and Ken said he warned him about the river and its multiple hazards, even at low water, but at least Kacey wore a life jacket.

That turned out to be a good thing because downriver, Kacey ran into a rock and split open the middle pontoon of the kayak. Then it started raining.

Cold and wet, the younger Card (who is in his 40s) tried to float downriver by rolling up the two sides of the kayak, but all that did was keep tipping him back into the river.

Kacey finally gave up and decided to use the raft as a sort of shelter from the weather and stayed put, as he didn’t know exactly where he was other than he was in a canyon.

Meanwhile, Ken was waiting and waiting at Cascadilla and finally decided to go for help as there was no cell phone service at the river take out. He drove back to Stanton Creek, where a manager there let him use a phone to call 911. Flathead County Sheriff’s Deputy Stryder Claridge arrived shortly thereafter and called in Two Bear Air, as it was dark, about 10 p.m., Ken said.

Two Bear responded, hovered over them for a minute or two before flying upriver to look for Kacey. Ken said they found him in about three minutes by using the rescue helicopter’s infrared cameras, which can pick up human forms fairly easily in the dark.

They landed on a sandbar, picked up Kacey and flew him to the Two Bear hangar in Kalispell. He later went to Logan Health Medical Center in Kalispell where they treated him for hypothermia but no major injuries. Kacey was only wearing shorts and had lost his shoes.

“I just want to thank everyone who helped,” Ken said.