Woman reunited with wedding photos 13 years after losing camera in Colorado river

The mystery camera, that spent 13 years in a river, was a treasure trove of images. Photo / Facebook, Supplied

“Did you get married on June 12th 2010 in the Durango area?”

When fisherman Spencer Greiner cast a message into a local Facebook group, he expected to have to wait for a reply. But, one came back almost instantly.

“Omg! You found my camera!”

He stumbled upon a decades old Oylmpus digital camera in the silt of Colorado’s Animas River. To his surprise the memory card was still intact and contained a treasure trove of images.

They depicted what he assumed was a “bachelorette” hen party, a wedding and a trip rafting in Colorado. The last image on the roll was a video clip of an inflatable bobbin in the water, then sinking below the rapids.

The image files told him they had been in the river for 13 years. So, he set about trying to find the owner.

Do you recognise these wedding guests? Spencer took a chance that someone might be recognisable, 13 years on. Photo / Supplied

Spencer chucked a few images into a Garage Sale Facebook page for the Durango area. Within an hour he had a reply.

“I chose that group simply because it had the most members and would give me the largest audience,” Greiner told the Herald.

“Did you get married on June 12th 2010 in the Durango area?” he wrote to the public page.

“Did you have an ugly brown stretch station wagon at your bachelorette party? Do you recognize any of these people? If so please contact me.”

The ugly car was a mystery but the people were more easily recognised.

The groom from the wedding was quick to be identified, saying he’d ask his wife if she knew whose camera it was.

Soon the search was in full swing.

The camera was a treasure trove of images. Photo / Facebook

Holly Steele, recognised her wedding day immediately, but they were not her photos. She sent a message sharing the photos with friends and attendees. “It’s not my camera so I’m wondering if it’s one of your guys’ camera?”

Eventually one of the guests got in touch.

Living in Arizona, Coral Elise Amayi said she lost the camera while tubing in the river shortly after attending the wedding.

Spencer, who posted the device back to her, was surprised at how quickly the camera found its owner.

“It turns out that we have several friends in common,” he told the Herald. Though none of them are from Durango.

Amayi, who now works as a teacher, told Today she had an unfortunate history with the devices, having lost two in rivers before now.

“I lost the camera at Smelter rapid and the guy who found it said that it was 1.2 miles downriver,” she said, sharing a recent photo of the device.

The camera was beyond repair but an excellent memento of the adventure. Along with all the photos she hadn’t seen for years.