A 73-year-old boater whose raft capsized survived in the snowy Idaho backcountry for five days without food — before he was found just after he had given up and rescued, according to authorities.
Thomas Gray’s incredible tale of survival — which included eating snow, drinking creek water and hiking 23 miles with an injured leg — began during a three-day trip earlier this month on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.
He was rafting down Dagger Falls on May 18 to meet his wife the next day when his boat flipped over, the Custer County Sheriff’s Office said.
Thomas Gray, 73, survived in the Idaho backcountry for 5 days after his raft fell apart on the Salmon River. KSL.com
Gray was thrown to the base of the falls and forced to swim to shore with the raft out of reach.
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The septuagenarian, who had suffered a leg injury, hiked toward a launch site where he found shelter in an outhouse for two nights, the sheriff’s office said.
During the day, he unsuccessfully looked for other floaters on the Middle Fork.
After coming up empty, he then walked toward another location, the Fir Creek Pass, and found shelter at a snowmobile club trailer. While there was a wood stove in the trailer, Gray couldn’t find any matches, the sheriff said.
Meanwhile, authorities were furiously searching for the missing man after his punctured cataraft was discovered in the water.
After a night in the trailer, Gray continued on his journey toward the pass, but “became too exhausted” and laid down in the snow.
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He hadn’t eaten food in days and was only relying on taking bites of snow and drinking water from the creeks to hang on, the sheriff’s office said.
Gray relied on taking bites of snow and drinking water from the creeks to survive. christiannafzger
“Tom was totally exhausted; he decided this was it. He just laid down in the snow and said a prayer,” said Custer County sheriff’s marine deputy John Haugh, according to KSL.
“He was resigned that this was not going to end well.”
But as he lay there in the snow, the owners of an excursion business spotted him.
Steve and Annie Lentz, of Far and Away River Adventures, quickly reached him with their vehicle and first responders who were on board rendered aid.
“If they hadn’t come along, he probably wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” Haugh said, according to the station. “He was in pretty bad shape when they got him.”
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Gray’s younger brother, Robert Gray, actually died in 2022 when his raft flipped over in around the same area, Haugh reportedly said.
“Tom called me and said I was his ‘lifesaver,’ but I said, ‘No, I’m just your Uber deputy,’” Haugh said.
Former Idaho receiver Mark Hamper will take an official with the USC Trojans starting Thursday, Dec. 19. His former teammate, receiver Jordan Dwyer is taking a visit of his own with the Trojans starting Wednesday, Dec. 18.
Hamper entered the transfer portal on Sunday, Dec. 15 following the Vandals loss to Montana State in the FCS quarterfinals and immediately garnered a ton of interests from Power 4 programs. The Oregon native is being pursued by Washington State, Utah, Arizona State, Wisconsin and Stanford. He will have three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Hamper was a three-star prospect coming out of West Linn (OR) in the 2024 recruiting cycle. In his first season with the Vandals, he reeled in 49 receptions for 961 yards and six touchdowns, which earned him FCS Freshman All-American honors. Hamper was also a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, which is presented annually to the most outstanding freshman player at the FCS level.
The two former Idaho teammates are high on the Trojans priority list during this transfer portal window because of the departures of former five-star recruits Zachariah Branch and Duce Robinson, and Kyron Hudson since the portal opened. All three were key contributors of offense this past season.
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The Trojans have already missed out on one transfer receiver when former Tulsa pass-catcher Joseph Williams committed to Utah Wednesday morning. Williams took an official visit with USC last weekend and was set to take four more this week, starting with Mississippi State, Utah and Washington during the week and finishing up with Colorado over the weekend. However, Williams decided to end his recruiting process in Salt Lake City with the Utes.
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USC coach Lincoln Riley is also targeting former Purdue receiver Jaron Tibbs, who has a busy schedule himself. Tibbs was at Wake Forest last weekend and is taking visits to Kansas State and Arkansas this week before making his way out west for his official visit with the Trojans this weekend.
USC signed three receivers in the 2025 recruiting cycle, four-stars Tanook Hines, Romero Ison and Corey Simms. Freshman Xavier Jordan was a four-star prospect coming out of local Sierra Canyon (CA) in the 2024 recruiting cycle. Jordan was the No. 20 receiver and No. 98 overall prospect, per the On3 Industry Rankings. Depending on what receivers the Trojans are able to land in this transfer portal window and when it opens again in the spring, they may be forced to play a number of young players to compliment Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane in 2025.
MORE: USC Trojans Offensive Lineman Elijah Paige ‘Never Had Interest’ in Transfer Portal
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MORE: USC Trojans Football Schedule: Grueling Road Opponents, Intriguing Home Slate In 2025
GOLF’s Course Raters and Ran Morrissett, Architecture Editor
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Coeur D’Alene remains one of golf’s funkiest — and most sought-after — vacation spots.
Joel Riner
As part of GOLF’s rigorous ratings process for our newly released Top 100 Courses in the U.S. and Top 100 Courses You Can Play rankings, our fleet of 100-plus expert panelists identified the best golf courses in every state.
You can check out the links below to browse all of our course rankings, or scroll down to see the best courses in Idaho. And if you’re looking to create your own trip in the future, you’d be wise to let GOLF’s new Course Finder tool assist you. Here, you can toggle all of our lists — Top 100 public, best munis, best short courses, best par-3s and more — or filter by price to create the perfect itinerary for your next trip.
GOLF’s other course rankings: Top 100 Courses in the World | Top 100 Courses in the U.S. | Top 100 Courses You Can Play | Top 100 Value Courses in the U.S. | America’s Best Municipal Courses | The 100 Best Short Courses in the World
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Explore our all-new Course Finder
Golf courses near you? Search here!
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The best golf courses in Idaho (2024/2025)
SYMBOL GUIDE # = Top 100 Course in the U.S. Y = Top 100 You Can Play in the U.S. V = Top 100 Value Course in the U.S. P = Public/Resort
Ed. note: Some courses were omitted from our rankings because they did not receive enough votes.
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1. Gozzer Ranch Golf & Lake Club (Harrison) [#]
Tom Fazio at his artistic best. Overlooking Lake Coeur d’Alene, Gozzer Ranch plays through majestic pines and black rock outcroppings to some of golf’s most scenic green complexes. The layout features two drivable par-4s and a postcard-perfect collection of par-3s. Every hole is memorable, and the brilliant back nine is one of the best nines west of the Mississippi, capitalizing on the Pacific northwest’s unsurpassed beauty. For sheer wonder, it’s hard to top the 15th, a 431-yard par-4 that plays toward a green framed by the distant lake and mountains.
2. The Tributary (Driggs)
3. The Club at Black Rock (Coeur d’Alene)
4. Circling Raven Golf Club (Worley) [P, V]
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5. Blue Lakes CC (Jerome)
How we rank our courses
For our newly released Top 100 U.S. and Top 100 You Can Play lists — a process that helped us create 50 best-in-state rankings — each panelist was provided a ballot that consisted of 609 courses. Beside the list of courses were 11 “buckets,” or groupings. If our panelists considered a course to be among the top three in the U.S., they ticked that first column. If they believed the course to be among Nos. 4-10, they checked that column, followed by 11-25, 26-50, and so on out to 250+ and even a column for “remove.” Panelists were also free to write in courses that they felt should have been included on the ballot.
Points were assigned to each bucket; to arrive at an average score for each course, we divide its aggregate score by the number of votes. From those point tallies, the courses are then ranked accordingly. It is an intentionally simple and straightforward process. Why? Because it historically has produced results that are widely lauded. Like the game itself, there’s no need to unnecessarily complicate things or try to fix something that already works so well.
The key to the process is the experience and expertise of our panel. Hailing from 15 nations and all the worldwide golf meccas, each of our 127 handpicked panelists has a keen eye for architecture, both regionally and globally. Many of our panelists have played more than 1,000 courses in 20-plus countries, some over 2,000. Their handicaps range from +5 to 15.
Because the nature of course rating is so intensely subjective, no one opinion carries the day. The only way, then, to build meaningful consensus is to incorporate this diversity of panelists and experiences into one ranking.
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Need help unriddling the greens at your home course? Pick up a custom Green Book from 8AM Golf affiliate GolfLogix.
Utah Valley Wolverines (5-6) at Idaho State Bengals (5-5)
Pocatello, Idaho; Wednesday, 9 p.m. EST
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BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Bengals -1.5; over/under is 135.5
BOTTOM LINE: Utah Valley visits Idaho State after Dominick Nelson scored 20 points in Utah Valley’s 70-66 loss to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
The Bengals have gone 4-0 in home games. Idaho State leads the Big Sky in rebounding, averaging 38.4 boards. Jake O’Neil paces the Bengals with 9.9 rebounds.
The Wolverines are 1-5 in road games. Utah Valley is the WAC leader with 25.5 defensive rebounds per game led by Carter Welling averaging 4.8.
Idaho State scores 75.8 points per game, 3.8 more points than the 72.0 Utah Valley allows. Utah Valley averages 9.8 more points per game (74.1) than Idaho State allows (64.3).
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TOP PERFORMERS: Dylan Darling is scoring 13.3 points per game with 2.9 rebounds and 5.7 assists for the Bengals.
Nelson is averaging 14.1 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Wolverines.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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