A river ran through it.

That’s how Zach Hillman described flooding at the St. Anthony Sand Dunes last month. The combination of snow runoff and a Thursday rain storm created the waterway through about a mile of the popular recreation spot, he said.

“Somebody said ‘A river went through the dunes.’ We started looking for it and found it,” he said.

Hillman headed to the sand dunes with his camera and drone taking pictures and video of the newly formed sand dunes river. Hillman later placed those images on Facebook and since that time, his video has been viewed 20 thousand times as of Monday.

Hillman said that a combination of more than an inch of rain, frozen ground and snow runoff produced a flood that washed away a portion of the dunes.

“So off the Juniper Mountain — that’s what we call it — it looks like the water pooled up and kind of hit this dam area,” Hillman said. “It just got too full. Once it went over the top of that, it made it quite aways across to a farmers’ field. That was kind of interesting.”

Hillman grew up near the sand dunes and said that he had never seen such flooding happen before.

“What it kind of reminded me of was the Teton Dam Flood. It kind of threw the earth around and made its own path and blew through. Some of the sand dunes it took out were pretty good-sized,” he said. “A few spots are very impressive. It was crazy how big it was and how much it washed away.”

Hillman said his dad told him that once there had been hidden lakes on the dunes.

“He said they would pop up in the spring and come out of nowhere,” Hillman said. I haven’t seen them in my lifetime. Now all the sudden this happened. It’s kind of crazy.”

Hillman said that flood waters eventually formed a temporary lake.

“If we got another rainstorm, I think it would start to flow,” he said. “It just pooled up. The water is still just sitting there. It will probably be out there for awhile. Once those sand dunes dry out, this wind moves the sand very quickly. It will cover everything up.”

Bureau of Land Management official Jason Byrd said that he had seen Hillman’s footage of the flooding.

“It looked like the water scoured the sand down to lava rock and created some pretty deep canyon features,” he said.

Such features inside a sand dune region aren’t normal, Byrd said.

“Sand dunes normally have drop offs and cliffs that shift and change all the time. To have something that dramatic — that’s not normal to have water moving through the dunes,” he said. “It does create an additional hazard that I don’t think people are used to. It’s kind of an abnormal event to have that much material moved that quickly.”

Byrd said that BLM sent two workers to the sand dunes on Monday to inspect the situation, and the organization would know more about the flood later this week.

In the meantime, no one has been injured and no Fremont County roadways have been damaged, said Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries. He said the sand dunes flood was a first for him.

“I have never seen that amount of runoff at the sand dunes,” he said.

Just like Hillman and Humphries, Fremont County Emergency Management official Keith Richey said he’d never seen flooding at the sand dunes.

“It’s impressive,” Richey said. “You look at that, and there’s a lot of power involved there.”

While it’s powerful, residents needn’t worry that the flooding will stretch down into the valley, Richey said.

“It doesn’t pose any threat to the public,” he said.

Humphries doesn’t expect the flooding to have an impact on the sand dunes during the upcoming summer months.

“I don’t see that this is going to make a big change to the sand hills. Some areas obviously have a wash in them, and the first time we get a windstorm, it will blow in new sand,” he said.

People should always be careful while on the sand dunes, Humphries said.

“People need to be cautious,” he said.

Hillman urged residents to be careful if they decide to visit the sand dunes lake.

“If you’re going to go out there, just be safe and watch out for others. I worry a bunch of inexperienced people will run out and take a look at it. It’s easy to get stuck,” he said.

In the meantime, Hillman says that he and his family enjoy living so close to the sand dunes.

“The sand dunes are in my backyard — it’s a really big back yard, 10,000 acres of sand dunes. We love it out there. It’s a fun place to live,” he said.

For more information on the sand dunes, visit www.blm.gov/visit/st-anthony-sand-dunes.

A river ran through it.

That’s how Zach Hillman described flooding at the Sand Dunes over the weekend. The combination of snow runoff and a Thursday rain storm created the waterway through about a mile of the popular recreation spot, he said.

“Somebody said ‘A river went through the Dunes.’ We started looking for it and found it,” he said.

Hillman headed to the Sand Dunes with his camera and drone taking pictures and video of the newly formed Sand Dunes River. Hillman later placed those images on Facebook and since that time, his video has been viewed 20 thousand times as of Monday.

Hillman said that a combination of more than an inch of rain, frozen ground and snow runoff produced a flood that washed away a portion of the Dunes.

“So off the Juniper Mountain – that’s what we call it — it looks like the water pooled up and kind of hit this dam area. It just got too full. Once it went over the top of that, it made it quite aways across to a farmers’ field. That was kind of interesting,” Hillman said.

Hillman grew up near the Sand Dunes and said that he had never seen such flooding happen before.

“What it kind of reminded me of was The Teton Dam Flood. It kind of threw the earth around and made its own path and blew through. Some of the Sand Dunes it took out were pretty good sized,” he said. “A few spots are very impressive. It was crazy how big it was, and how much it washed away.”

Hillman said his dad told him that once there had been hidden lakes on the Dunes.

“He said they would pop up in the spring and come out of nowhere. I haven’t seen them in my lifetime. Now all the sudden this happened. It’s kind of crazy,” he said.

Hillman said that flood waters eventually formed a temporary lake.

“If we got another rainstorm, I think it would start to flow. It just pooled up. The water is still just sitting there. It will probably be out there for awhile. Once those Sand Dunes dry out, this wind moves the sand very quickly. It will cover everything up,” he said.

Bureau of Land Management official Jason Byrd said that he had seen Hillman’s footage of the flooding.

“It looked like the water scoured the sand down to lava rock and created some pretty deep canyon features,” he said.

Such features inside a sand dune region aren’t normal, Byrd said.

“Sand Dunes normally have drop offs and cliffs that shift and change all the time. To have something that dramatic – that’s not normal to have water moving through the Dunes,” he said. “It does create an additional hazard that I don’t think people are used to. It’s kind of an abnormal event to have that much material moved that quickly.”

Byrd said that BLM sent two workers to the Sand Dunes on Monday to inspect the situation, and the organization would know more about the flood later this week.

In the meantime, no one has been injured and no Fremont County roadways have been damaged, said Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries. He said the Sand Dunes flood was a first for him.

“I have never seen that amount of runoff at the Sand Dunes,” he said.

Just like Hillman and Humphries, Fremont County Emergency Management official Keith Richey said he’d never seen flooding at the Sand Dunes.

“It’s impressive. You look at that, and there’s a lot of power involved there,” Richey said.

While it’s powerful, residents needn’t worry that the flooding will stretch down into the valley, Richey said.

“It doesn’t pose any threat to the public,” he said.

Humphries doesn’t expect the flooding to have an impact on the Sand Dunes during the upcoming summer months.

“I don’t see that this is going to make a big change to the sand hills. Some areas obviously have a wash in them, and the first time we get a windstorm, it will blow in new sand,” he said.

People should always be careful while on the Sand Dunes, Humphries said.

“People need to be cautious,” he said.

Hillman urged residents to be careful if they decide to visit the Sand Dunes Lake.

“If you’re going to go out there, just be safe and watch out for others. I worry a bunch of inexperienced people will run out and take a look at it. It’s easy to get stuck,” he said.

In the meantime, Hillman says that he and his family enjoy living so close to the Sand Dunes.

“The Sand Dunes are in my backyard — it’s a really big back yard, 10,000 acres of Sand Dunes. We love it out there. It’s a fun place to live,” he said.

For more information on the Sand Dunes visit www.blm.gov/visit/st-anthony-sand-dunes.

ISLAND PARK – Island Park Hospitality hopes to build a 115-room Marriott SpringHill Suites Hotel at the current Mack’s Inn site. The company reported on its webpage the facility would open spring of 2019.

Island Park Hospitality official Kirk Barker says plans call to tear down various buildings and add commercial buildings and a boat house. A restaurant is also planned for the new hotel, he said.

While under the name Marriott, an independent owner would run the facility.

“We affiliate with premium brands and go into a premium location. We customize the building. It will not be a prototypical building, but one that fits into the scenic beauty that surrounds Island Park,” he said.

Before anything is built, 1.9 of the five acres the hospitality organization owns needs to be annexed into Island Park from neighboring Fremont County. The city council plans to consider doing so during its upcoming meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 22, at city hall located at 3753 Highway 20 and is adjacent to Pond’s Lodge.

During the meeting, the city council will also review the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation that the property in question remains commercially zoned — should it be annexed into Island Park.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Board met on Thursday where they agreed to suggest that the city council continue with the property’s current zoning designation.

Much of the property in and around Mack’s Inn is partially in the county, said Island Park’s Planning and Zoning official Jeff Patlovich.

“In order to proceed with any kind of development — whatever that may be – it’s got to be in one jurisdiction,” he said.

Patlovich also emphasized that the P&Z Board has nothing to do with the city’s possible annexation decision. The board only suggested what the property should be zoned as should the city opt to annex it.

“If it’s annexed, what should it be zoned?” he asked.

In the meantime, Patlovich has yet to receive any building permit requests from Island Park Hospitality.

“They have not applied for a permit. They have applied for an annexation,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to think there’s an application for a permit to be building anything.”

While Patlovich hasn’t received any building permit requests, he has been shown preliminary plans for the proposed SpringHill Suits Hotel.

“I’ve seen some really preliminary ones as far back as August of last year. They were sketches,” he said.

Island Park Hospitality is an entity of the Utah-based Ensign Hospitality organization. According to its webpage, the company currently owns hotels in Logan, Springdale and Salt Lake City, Utah.

For more information on the upcoming city council meeting, call city hall at 208-558-7687.

ISLAND PARK – Island Park Hospitality hopes to build a 115-room Marriott SpringHill Suites Hotel at the current Mack’s Inn site. The company reported on its webpage the facility would open spring of 2019.

Island Park Hospitality official Kirk Barker says plans call to tear down various buildings and add commercial buildings and a boat house. A restaurant is also planned for the new hotel, he said.

While under the name Marriott, an independent owner would run the facility.

“We affiliate with premium brands and go into a premium location. We customize the building. It will not be a prototypical building, but one that fits into the scenic beauty that surrounds Island Park,” he said.

Before anything is built, 1.9 of the five acres the hospitality organization owns needs to be annexed into Island Park from neighboring Fremont County. The city council plans to consider doing so during its upcoming meeting scheduled for Thursday, March 22, at city hall located at 3753 Highway 20 and is adjacent to Pond’s Lodge.

During the meeting, the city council will also review the Planning and Zoning Board’s recommendation that the property in question remains commercially zoned — should it be annexed into Island Park.

The city’s Planning and Zoning Board met on Thursday where they agreed to suggest that the city council continue with the property’s current zoning designation.

Much of the property in and around Mack’s Inn is partially in the county, said Island Park’s Planning and Zoning official Jeff Patlovich.

“In order to proceed with any kind of development — whatever that may be – it’s got to be in one jurisdiction,” he said.

Patlovich also emphasized that the P&Z Board has nothing to do with the city’s possible annexation decision. The board only suggested what the property should be zoned as should the city opt to annex it.

“If it’s annexed, what should it be zoned?” he asked.

In the meantime, Patlovich has yet to receive any building permit requests from Island Park Hospitality.

“They have not applied for a permit. They have applied for an annexation,” he said. “I don’t want anyone to think there’s an application for a permit to be building anything.”

While Patlovich hasn’t received any building permit requests, he has been shown preliminary plans for the proposed SpringHill Suits Hotel.

“I’ve seen some really preliminary ones as far back as August of last year. They were sketches,” he said.

Island Park Hospitality is an entity of the Utah-based Ensign Hospitality organization. According to its webpage, the company currently owns hotels in Logan, Springdale and Salt Lake City, Utah.

For more information on the upcoming city council meeting, call city hall at 208-558-7687.

ISLAND PARK — Another snowmobile accident took place in Fremont County on Monday afternoon. The incident was just 48 hours after a similar mishap near the Island Park Reservoir on Saturday.

The two accidents brought the total amount of accidents in the last four weeks in the area involving snowmobilers to five.

Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries attributes the rash of mishaps this winter to more people visiting than normal. He says that Island Park has a lot more snow than other traditional snowmobiling areas.

“We have snow that a lot of places don’t have, and we see a lot more people coming,” he said.

Around 3:30 p.m. Monday, Fremont County Search and Rescue official Eric Thomas reported that emergency responders were headed to a location about a half a mile from Highway 20 to aid the injured snowmobiler.

“They have some sort of an injury. I’m not quite sure what the extent of it is,” he said.

It wasn’t known the name or age of Monday’s accident victim.

On Saturday morning, a snowmobiler was injured while riding near the Island Park Reservoir. Inclement weather prevented Life Flight from rescuing the man on three separate occasions. Eventually, Life Flight crews landed at a makeshift landing site along Highway 20 South of Ashton. From there Search and Rescue crews picked up Life Flight medical workers and took them to the injured snowmobiler.

Earlier on Saturday, the man had been snowmobiling with friends when he was hurt.

“He was in the timber south of the reservoir. He was with a group, and one of them rode out to lead the ambulance and brought search and rescue back with him,” Thomas said.

The snowmobiler suffered extensive injuries and continually drifted in and out of consciousness.

“The crash victim complained of upper leg pain, back pain and of being really cold,” Thomas said.

Two Fremont County Sheriff’s deputies, as well as Island Park EMS, snowmobiled to the reservoir. From there, a paramedic asked county dispatch to call in an ambulance helicopter, but none in the region could help because of cloudy weather over the reservoir. Shortly afterward a Fremont County Deputy asked Fremont County Search and Rescue to bring a toboggan to help move the injured man from the crash site to a medical sled.

At this point, officials asked Life Flight to land at the temporary site along Highway 20, where medical workers were taken to the accident scene.

“They reached the patient around 2 p.m. After his injuries were assessed, he was secured to the toboggan and transported from the crash site,” Thomas said.

After the weather improved slightly, search and rescue again requested Life Flight to fly over Ashton Hill and Big Bend Ridge. Once more, Life Flight pilots reported that weather conditions made it impossible to do so, and the patient was instead taken via “Med Sled” to Harriman State Park, where an ambulance and Life Flight workers were waiting.

“By the time everyone made it to the ambulance, the weather had lifted, allowing Life Flight to land at Harriman State Park,” Thomas said.

At that point Life Flight workers loaded the injured snowmobiler onto the helicopter, taking him to a local hospital.

It wasn’t known the man’s age or where he was from. As of Monday night, his condition was still unknown.

The accidents followed last week’s incident, when a stranded snowmobiler was rescued near the Continental Divide. At the first of the year, two snowmobilers died in two separate accidents within a week of each other.

Thomas agreed that Fremont County has had an unusual amount of snowmobile accidents this year.

“It’s just how things go,” Thomas said. “Last year we didn’t have a lot of searches. This year we’re making up for it at the first part of the year. It’s either famine or feast. They come in waves.”

ISLAND PARK — Rescuers retrieved a stranded Rexburg snowmobiler and fellow snowmobilers who rushed to his aid around 11:30 p.m. Monday night.

Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries reported that rescuers found Jayce Davison around 6 p.m., thanks to a satellite beacon he carried with him.

“He was able transmit his location to his mother, and she passed that on to us,” he said.

Officials called in a helicopter to retrieve Davison, but moments before the helicopter rescue, snowmobilers in the area scooped Davison up and headed off in the wrong direction. Shortly afterward they got stuck in the snow.

“The plans that had been put in place by the on-scene command were disrupted. What should have been done by 6 p.m. took until well past midnight because of that disruption,” Humphries said.

Rescuers soon found themselves having to aid not only Davison, but those who tried to rescue him. Search and Rescue trekked across rocky terrain with snowshoes to find the men after initially snowmobiling their direction. Because of the terrain, they could only drive in so far.

“The terrain became very difficult because of the darkness. You just can’t ride off (on snowmobiles). There were boulders everywhere. Our search and rescue hiked in there on snowshoes and got to them. They were able to provide snowshoes for those who couldn’t ride and guided the ones out with their machines,” Humphries said.

While Humphries appreciated the snowmobilers’ efforts to help Davison, he said that volunteers need to follow directions of on-scene commanders to keep everyone safe.

“Don’t place other people in jeopardy. Sometimes people get frustrated because things are going too slow. There’s a reason we do the things we do,” he said.

Both Fremont and Clark County sheriff’s offices as well as their respective search and rescue teams started searching for Davison early Monday morning. Davison had been stranded since Sunday night.

Davison had gone snowmobiling with eight other snowmobilers on Sunday. He and Jeremy Richman, also of Rexburg, and Tyler Muir, of Rigby, decided to take a different trail back to Island Park but instead wound up in Montana near the Continental Divide.

After one of their snowmobiles broke down, Richman and Muir went searching for help. Because of the rocky terrain, only one person could ride on the machines at a time. The men built a fire for Davison and went looking for help.

Humphries said that the fire was still going when Search and Rescue got to Davison.

“He was warm. It wasn’t real cold up there yesterday,” Humphries said.

Humphries said that a combined Fremont and Clark County rescue team of 30 people helped find Davison.

“Besides having people up on the trail looking, we had people manning the incident command, people running logistics and food and water — things like that. We had people who monitor the radio, help facilitate communication with people in the field and sheriff’s office. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes people don’t realize,” he said.

Humphries said that no charges will be filed against anyone and says he’s just glad that no one was injured.

“Everybody got out safely last night,” he said.

ST. ANTHONY — While it may be easier to go faster over wet sand, anybody who crashes on the stuff may suffer injury.

That’s what happened to several ATV riders on Sunday.

Fremont County Sheriff Len Humphries said that Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon, ambulance crews transported ATV riders off the sand dunes in St. Anthony and to Madison Memorial Hospital. There were also reports of riders who suffered similar injuries but took themselves to the hospital.

“The Sandhills were wet yesterday. When the sand is wet, it’s hard like concrete. You can go so much faster on wet sand, but what people don’t realize is that wet sand is not very forgiving. When you crash, you crash hard,” he said.

The injuries were not life-threatening, Humphries said.

REXBURG — Police arrested two Rexburg men in connection with the theft of two dirt bike motorcycles.

Police charged Zachary Berrett Packer, 25, and Nathan Garrett Empey, 21, with felony possession or receiving stolen property and grand theft. The bikes were allegedly taken from the 600 block of First West on Tuesday.

Dirt bikes aren’t cheap. The webpage Cycle Trader reports such motorcycles to cost anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000.

Both Packer and Empey are currently being held at the Madison County Jail.

REXBURG — Police arrested two Rexburg men in connection with the theft of two dirt bike motorcycles.

Police charged Zachary Berrett Packer, 25, and Nathan Garrett Empey, 21, with felony possession or receiving stolen property and grand theft. The bikes were allegedly taken from the 600 block of First West on Tuesday.

Dirt bikes aren’t cheap. The webpage Cycle Trader reports such motorcycles to cost anywhere from $4,000 to $10,000.

Both Packer and Empey are currently being held at the Madison County Jail.