Post Falls man dies in Grand Canyon rafting accident

POST FALLS (The Spokesman-Review) — Aaron Benjamin always loved the water.

His mother, Patricia Benjamin, remembers him asking to go to the river just to throw rocks when he was young. By his early teens, he could row a cataraft the family called “The Pig” through rapids on the Clark Fork River. He ran rivers all over the West – the Salmon, the Selway, the Owyhee, the John Day and more.

This month, he headed south from Post Falls to the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River, there to row the river for the second time in as many years.

This trip, however, ended in tragedy.

Aaron died last week after being thrown from his raft, falling into the river and getting stuck under his boat. He was 30 years old.

The accident happened Thursday morning at Hance Rapid, a feature known for its length and for being full of boulders and holes that can be dangerous for river runners.

Members of his party attempted CPR and park rangers flew in by helicopter, but all resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, according to a news release from Grand Canyon National Park.

The National Park Service and the Coconino County Medical Examiner’s Office are investigating the incident, which is the first Colorado River death in the park since August 2024, according to a Grand Canyon National Park spokesperson.

Patricia and her husband, Wayne, flew to Arizona on Friday to retrieve their son’s remains and drive his truck back to Post Falls. She said his 18-foot raft and all of his gear was still in the canyon. A group was planning to row it the rest of the way down the river over the next five days.

“I’m just kind of numb, to tell you the truth,” Patricia said.

Aaron was part of a group that included multiple rafts and kayaks. When they reached Hance Rapid, he was in the “sweep” position – meaning he was the last person to row through the rapid.

They’d scouted the rapid the night before and in the morning before they ran it, she said. But conditions can change quickly.

Three others in the group were thrown out of their boats in the same spot, but they were able to swim to safety. Aaron’s boat apparently got stuck, and he was sucked into a hole in the river underneath it, Patricia said.

Aaron worked in the water reclamation division for the city of Post Falls. But his true love was the outdoors, as a skier, biker and rafter.

Patricia said his death is a loss for the local rafting community, many of whom will remember her son as a strong boater, a campfire entertainer and capable Dutch oven cook.

“He was just loved by everybody,” Patricia said.

Aaron was born in Colorado. Patricia said she thinks his first river trip came at age 3 or 4, when she and Wayne took him down the Gunnison River.

They moved to North Idaho in 2001, in part to ensure Aaron and his brother, Grant, could grow up playing outdoors.

She said Aaron loved mountain biking and skiing, and was good at both. He also loved floating down a river – something the family did a lot of.

“That was our vacation. We went on river trips,” Patricia said. “We didn’t go to Disneyland or the Bahamas. We took them to experience nature and see things.”

They joined the Northwest River Association when they arrived in North Idaho, which introduced them to a pack of whitewater boaters who would become lifelong family friends.

Paul Delaney, one of the founders of that club, remembers meeting Aaron when he was still just a kid tagging along on river trips with his parents. Later on, they were together on multi-day excursions.

“He absolutely lived for his whitewater,” Delaney said.

Bart Rayniak, an avid boater and former Spokesman-Review photographer, first met Aaron when he was 7 or 8 on a trip to the Tieton River. In the years that followed, Rayniak was with the Benjamins for more river trips than he could count.

“I watched him grow up,” Rayniak said.

Rayniak remembered one night at the end of a trip on the Lower Salmon River. Everyone was gathered on the beach, where Grant and Aaron had decided to put on a show. Grant did magic, and Aaron juggled torches.

Rayniak and Aaron became closer as Aaron got older. They’d often float the Spokane River together. As age slowed Rayniak down, he could count on Aaron to help him get on the water.

“He really touched a lot of people,” Rayniak said. “He was thoughtful and compassionate and loving and helpful … He was one of my favorite people.”

They had dinner together the night before Aaron left for the Grand Canyon.

“We had a burger and a shot of whiskey, and I wished him luck,” Rayniak said.

Patricia said he was excited to get back on the Colorado, and that she understood why.

“There’s something about the Grand Canyon that’s self-actualizing,” she said, “because you’re so unplugged with everything else.”

Aaron’s trip began on Feb. 9. He died 10 days later. Patricia found out when a Post Falls Police officer showed up at her door, just hours after it had happened. A call from the National Park Service followed shortly after. The next day, she and Wayne were on a plane to Phoenix, where they rented a car and drove to Flagstaff.

She doesn’t know exactly what happened to her son, other than that he fell out of his boat and that he didn’t have any evidence of trauma, meaning he didn’t crack his head on a rock. She said she was told that river conditions can be unpredictable in the canyon, and that an oar placed in the wrong spot could easily catapult someone out of their boat.

He’s been cremated. Patricia said they’ll spread his ashes in special places instead of burying him. She thinks he would have liked that.

Most of all, she wants people to know he was a great person to be around.

“He was really funny and great to hang out with,” Patricia said. “It was just his time. That’s all.”