Wrecked truck retrieval causes traffic delays

On the night of Thursday, Jan. 14 John Cannon, 43, of Clearfield, Utah, had the scare of his life.

Cannon was driving a semi-truck on U.S. 20/Wyoming 789. The semi began to slid on the slick roadway and Cannon found himself inside his semi, with the trailer and pup still attached, clinging to the bank of the river in Wind River Canyon. Cannon was hauling bulk sugar, as he rounded a corner known as Big Windy inside the canyon. Cannon's trailing pup lost traction and slid into the guard rail. Momentum ended up pulling the rest of his rig over the side taking out several hundred feet of guard rail.

Wyoming State trooper Brandon Kidgell responded to the wreck. Kidgell was in the Big Horn Mountains in the Deer Haven area when he received the call. It took him over an hour to get to the scene. Trooper Kidgell said Cannon was uninjured and refused any medical treatment.

On Friday crews from Specialty Towing arrived on scene to recover the wrecked rig. Owner Dennis Leonhardt hoped to have the canyon shut down during the recovery due to the lengthy time it would take. State officials recommended that they close one lane of traffic if possible or only keep the traffic closed off an hour at a time.

Once the recovery process began there was no turning back. Due to the large size of the recovery vehicles and the intense operation to recovery, traffic was stopped for several long delays. The recovery crew used ropes to repel down the cliff side and hook up to the rigs then attached chains to tow the semi and its trailers up the bank. The recovery of just the semi truck took almost four hours to bring it up over the edge. Recovery crews continued working on Saturday to remove the wreck from the canyon.

Cannon received a citation for driving too fast for conditions. Trooper Kidgell warned of dangerous roads this time of year, reminding drivers to slow down and be cautious.