Garfield County Sheriff Than Cooper and other rescuers heard the story from the group on Monday and had a feeling they had found the two missing hikers they had been looking for since Sunday.
"When they cooled down and went back and pulled up the rope, there was nothing on the end," Cooper said Wednesday. "But we had a pretty good idea of where to look."
On Tuesday, the searchers found the bodies of Brigham Young University students John Anderson, 25, and Brad Underwood, 24, who went hiking in the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area on April 13, with plans to be out two days later. When they did not return by last Saturday afternoon - the pair did not register with the Bureau of Land Management field office in Escalante - family members notified the Sheriff's Office.
On Sunday, about 20 searchers hit the ground and began looking in Neon and Choprock canyons. A helicopter from the state Department of Public Safety was called in to help because of the remoteness of the area, said Cooper.
The helicopter spotted the seven hikers and communicated to them from the rim of Choprock Canyon on Sunday afternoon.
"The seven were struggling for their own safety," Cooper said, even though they had wet suits and other necessary equipment.
The group camped over Sunday night, and reached the mouth of Choprock Canyon on Monday, where they met with Cooper and told him what they had seen.
"We didn't dare tell the family until we were sure it was them," said Cooper.
On Tuesday morning four rangers with the National Park Service rappelled about 260 feet into the canyon and found the bodies of the two men about 2:30 p.m. in the pool of water. The men were wearing wet suits and had gear for rappelling.
Cooper said the temperature of the water was 36 degrees.
The bodies were hoisted to the canyon rim and then flown out by helicopter. After being identified by relatives, the bodies were sent to the state Medical Examiner's Office in Salt Lake City to determine the cause of death.
The group of seven hikers ended their adventure on Tuesday, when they arrived at the Egypt Trailhead, 35 miles southeast of Escalante.
Perry Fishbaugh, the leader of the group from Bozeman, Mont., said conditions in the canyon forced the group to return to the trailhead two days later than expected.
Fishbaugh said Tuesday that places in the canyon get so narrow, he had to turn sideways to pass through.
Having hiked the area several times before, Fishbaugh said the water was higher and colder than he remembered from past trips.
That does not surprise Bill Heaton, a member of the American Canyoneering Association in Cedar City.
He said the growing sport of canyoneering, which involves rappelling down a canyon's drainage, has its dangers.
"It can be anything from just hiking to a few small rappels to some up to 300 feet," said Heaton on Wednesday.
He said Choprock Canyon is one where a person could easily die if they did not know what they were doing.
"What happens is even in a thick wet suit the water is so numbing cold your body temperature is going to drop and hypothermia starts setting in and that can be tragic," said Heaton, who has trained Iron County Search and Rescue members in rope techniques.
He said once committed to a canyon, there is usually no going back. "It's like rappelling into a toilet bowl," he said.
BLM Ranger Larry Vensel said that as the sport of canyoneering increases in popularity, so do the number of guide books and Web sites detailing routes in Utah's canyon country. Many, he warned, are inaccurate or lacking in detail.
His advice to people dropping into slot canyons: "Always get a permit."
mhavnes@sltrib.com
