In today's Wenatchee World newspaper I read about a wheeler getting stuck in the dunes & upon going for help he drowned in the lake.

Here is the story:
Moses Lake Washington
Title: Man drowns in potholes area
A 20 year old Moses Lake man who had gone for help after getting his pick up stuck in a sand dune Thursday drowned after wandering into a pond in the potholes area southwest of Moses Lake.
Dale L. Hansen was pronounced dead at the scene just south of competition hill after Grant County search & rescue recovered his body in about nine feet of water. An autoptsy reported the cause of death as drowning.
Hansen's girlfriend, who had stayed behind in the pick up found his flashlight in the pond and called for help at 6:22 am. said Courtney Conklin Grant County chief criminal deputy.
Conklin said the couple went 4wheeling in the dunes at 11pm on Wednesday and got stuck just before 5am Thursday, after Hansen drove over a 10 foot dune.

That is the basics of the story. I was there last Sunday wheeling for my first time and some of those dunes are steep as hell. I gave my front end a good work up dropping down a similar grade dune. Just thought I would post this as a reminder to not wheel alone especially at night.

Ben

 

It doesn't appear that the wheeling killed him, it was that wandering off at night and falling in a hole filled with water that did the job

 

How does a 20 yeat old drown in the middle of the night?? Keep us posted on what they find after the autopsy.

 

I was thinking the samething.

 

Any bets on whether a significant amount of alcohol played a role in this event?

 

Actually, it looks like it was about 5am, so it's not exactly pitch black out...

And they were out in the sand at 11pm? Hmmm... Why not just camp out in the truck for the short 2-3 hours to full daylight.

The death is a tragedy, but I hope an agency doesn't try to spin this as an Off Roading related death.

 

Didnt think the info was relavent but here yuh go. Conklin said the death is not considered suspicious but investigators will wait for the toxicology report before declaring it accidental. He said Hansen was a diabetic and the blood test will show both blood sugar and blood alcohol levels when he died.

Ben

 

He did not die while wheeling but he was a wheeler that died as a result of trying to get help for recovery of his rig. I hate to hear about anyone dying but when its a wheeler it hits closer to home I guess. Not to mention the fact I was there just the other day. It sucks. Ben

 

yeah, not to be rude, but it seems kinda weird that he drowned. yeah by 5 why wouldn't you just stay the rest of the night. it just seems really weird to me. and he was in 9ft of water? even if you tripped, it doesn't seem like you'd be able to get that deep.

 

I'd be pretty surprised to find out he was not drunk. The smart move would have been to sit tight until someone came your way. At that time of night who would imagine if they walked a few miles back to where the majority camp that they would drown. I would have sat there waiting for help trying to raise so & so on the cb or cell phone. I would personally fear getting run down by drunk wheelers. Last weekend when I was wheeling I got separated from my buddies and just kept driving in the direction of the power lines knowing that was where I basically needed to be. I ran across three kids walking. They were heading in the right direction of their camp but even after I towed them the 2 miles to it I was in shock they were walking in the open dunes. they could easily have been killed. It's to bad things have to happen but plain and simple they should not have been wheeling alone at night even if it is the dunes. Its frikkin dangerous errrr deadly. If I am wheeling with others and round a corner or in this case am to many dunes ahead of the rear I will slow it up to make sure they are okay. Ben

 

Wheeling late at night alone except for the girlfriend and he gets stuck...


...and he's 20...





....tell me why he left again?!?! I'd be getting busy with my lady friend if I were him. I mean you gotta stay warm somehow, right?

 

yeah really!!! i've never seen that smiley with the eyebrows before thats awsome

 

I spent 5 grueling months doing counseling in UAB E.R., one of the best hospitals in the nation and saw all kinds of death and to me it all still seems strange the many different things people die from. While this occurrence is tragic, it certainly does not seem it was an "accident" and was easily preventable by one simple thing - NEVER GO ALONE!

You can drown and die with less than a glass full of water in your lungs.

Sad, sad, sad story. I hope you guys pray for his family as you know they are hurting.

 

Little late to the thread but I've been gone all weekend....
Anyways, I thought I heard the lake portion was still closed off? If so he was out of bounds on top of the other mistakes.
However many mistakes he made it's always unsettling and unfortunite to hear news like this.
Also unless your gf couldn't walk I think it would be worst to leave her by herself.

 

http://www.columbiabasinherald.com/a...ews/news02.txt

 

ok so I stumbled accross this while searching for the news article. Dale was my best friend. The newspaper didn't report the entire truth. In fact their story was wrong for the most part. It's been almost 5 years. And for some reason recently I have been thinking about it a lot.
It was early in the morning. And Dale was with a friend, she was not his girlfriend. It was just a friend. I hadn't talked to him that night but he had tried to call me. He wanted me to go out to the dunes with him and drink. Yes drink, most accident out there involve alcohol in some way or another. I had refused, I didn't even answer the phone.
He was with the girl and they got stuck. they had burried a tire in the sand. He couldn't dig it out so he called his brother to come help him. His brother headed out there. Dale wasn't sure were he was so his brother said he'd look for him. The girl thought she ahd heard a horn honking. So Dale headed to find his brother. He was a little drunk, so he wasn't sure which direction he went. He got confused and as he was turning aroudn he stumbled and fell over a 15 foot enbankment into a swampy part of the lake. He forgot how to swim, due to being drunk. Atleast thats what we figure. And he drowned. His brother found his truck and the girl and they started to search for him. They saw a light in the pond, he always carried his mag light. The cops came out there and the divers found him. He has been in the pond for about an hour by the time the slow as cops got there.
I hadn't talked to him in a while, because I had quit drinking and he refused to quit. I passed upa chance to hang out with him. I could have kept him from drowning. This bothers me everyday. And it is really gettign to me lately. He was pronounced dead early Friday morning May 07 2004.