The search for a missing rafting guide north of Buena Vista turned into a recovery effort Wednesday, as crews continue to search for 23-year-old Kimberly Appelson of Breckenridge.
Appelson was off duty Sunday evening when she was rafting with five friends. She went in the water when the raft hit a large rock at the Frog Rock rapids at about 6 p.m., and others with her said they thought she went under the boulder.
Despite a search of the river, nothing has been found.
“We’re a little baffled right now, but we’re still working on it,” Stew Pappenfort, senior ranger at Arkansas Headwaters Recreation area, told the Summit Daily News.
Witnesses said she was wearing a life vest but not a helmet. The river was flowing more slowly than its normal pace for the date Sunday.
Appelson’s Facebook page said she graduated from the University of Iowa last year and is originally from Lisle, Ill.
