A Lincoln County man walked away from what the Wyoming Highway Patrol said could easily have been a fatal accident that sent his truck tumbling into the Snake River Canyon upstream from Alpine on Monday.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol responded to the incident at mile marker 124 on U.S. Highway 89. The call came in around 1:20 p.m.
“A Ford pickup was traveling southbound when the driver said he lost control of the vehicle,” WHP spokesman Aaron Brown told Cowboy State Daily. “He went into the opposite lane and sideswiped a car hauler.”
When the pickup cleared the car hauler, it went through the guardrail and tumbled down a steep embankment into the river. Brown said the vehicle rolled two to three times before coming to rest on its wheels, 20 feet into the Snake.
The driver walked away with minor injuries. He was treated and released from an Alpine hospital later that day.
However, he didn’t escape without a citation.
“We did issue a citation for failure to maintain lane,” Brown said.
Wear Your Seat Belt
Brown said the driver was likely wearing a seat belt when the accident occurred. That was “probably what saved his life.”
“When people roll their vehicles and they're not wearing their seat belts, their bodies are going to find a way out of that car,” he said. “You’re going to be ejected, partially or fully. Either way, your chances of survival at that point are slim to none.”
Brown couldn’t confirm if the driver was wearing his seat belt. He believes the minor injuries the driver sustained and his ability to escape the vehicle on his own can’t be explained any other way.
“That vehicle was pretty crushed,” he said. “After rolling over three times and landing in the river, the driver walks away simply because he was wearing his seat belt.”
Big Kahuna
The incident occurred near a notorious spot in the Snake River Canyon called the Big Kahuna, the area's largest and most famous rapid.
Clint Erickson, the captain of Star Valley Search and Rescue, said the Big Kahuna is “infamous” among local river rafting guides and search and rescue volunteers.
“As far as water features on the Snake River, it's very well-known,” he told Cowboy State Daily in June 2025. “A lot of people surf on the Lunch Counter rapid, so it’s a well-known water feature.”
Big Kahuna is so infamous that the U.S. Forest Service placed an automated external defibrillator (AED) at the Red Creek Trailhead, a mile downriver, to potentially save anyone injured in the rapid.
“When people fall into the Snake River (at Big Kahuna), the general flow of the river puts them in that area,” Erickson said. “The AED is there in case someone has a heart attack after falling in.”
Joyce Balls, 89, of Rigby, Idaho, died after falling into the Snake River Canyon in June 2025 in another incident near that part of the canyon. She was picnicking at the Big Kahuna Overlook when she fell 100 feet into the river.
Jay Hokanson, deputy coroner with the Lincoln County Coroner’s Office, confirmed that Balls died from “injuries sustained in the fall.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
