On June 15, 2024, Wesley Dopkins, a 43-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota, and a friend set off in two kayaks from Colter Bay Marina on Jackson Lake, in Grand Teton National Park. They planned to paddle three miles across the lake to view Waterfalls Canyon on the west shore. The morning started out calm, but as they were paddling, winds picked up, reaching speeds of 25 miles per hour. This caused five to six-foot waves to churn the lake.
According to Chief Ranger Erika Jostad, the two men became separated. Only one personal floatation device (PFD) was with them, which Dopkins offered to his friend, believing he was the stronger kayaker. Dopkins’ friend made the difficult decision to turn back to save his own life. He fought the wind and waves for miles and eventually reached Leeks Marina, where he reported Dopkins missing. That evening, six hours after the pair separated, some of Dopkins’ belongings—his folding kayak, paddle, and dry bag—were found washed ashore.
A Mother’s Call and a Search Begins
In September 2024, we were contacted by Wesley’s mother, Kathryn Dopkins, asking to help search for her son. To obtain a witness account, we reached out to Wesley’s friend, who was living in Poland at the time. The friend, a college mate of Wesley’s, was helpful and drew diagrams on a Google map, recalling his last sighting of Wesley about 300 yards offshore near Waterfalls Canyon.
Our initial attempt to locate Wesley began in October 2024. We focused on the shoreline in front of Waterfalls Canyon, using side-scan sonar. The search proved to be some of the most challenging underwater terrain we’ve faced yet. The lake is a jagged continuation of the surrounding mountains so the contours are acutely uneven, with a landscape of hidden ridges and valleys.
For the best imaging, our sonar needs to be towed about 15’ from the bottom. The contour maps we relied on were inaccurate, sometimes off by as much as 300 feet in depth. This made for stressful days as we worked to ensure the sonar didn’t crash into the underwater ridges. After four challenging days, we experienced technical issues, which forced us to leave.
Successful Return
Nearly a year later, on September 3, 2025, we drove 20 hours to return to Teton National Forest. We picked up the search right where we left off – in 200’ of water with the side scan sonar and carefully scanning the lake in one mile long runs.
Then, late on Sunday, September 7, 2025, on the fourth day of the trip, we came across a sonar image that gave us confidence it was Wesley. After confirming the location with a couple of extra passes, we deployed the Outland ROV to verify our sonar target. Wesley was found in 420’ of water, about 1.5 miles from where he was last seen.
As a storm was moving in, we were forced to leave the site for the night to stay safe. We contacted the rangers and agreed to meet them the next morning at 7:30 a.m. On Monday, we met with three park rangers and, working together, were able to successfully retrieve Wesley.
Acknowledgements
- Stuart Fryk for donating your time.
- The Grand Teton National Park Rangers for being a great group to work with.
- The gracious team at Grand Teton Lodge Company & Flagg Ranch Company for supporting our stay at the lake.
