Women Rescued From Muskegon River After Harrowing Overnight Stay [Video]

We've all had brushes with being lost in Michigan's big outdoors, but the reason these women were stranded on the Muskegon River is both funny and sad. 

The three women, who were all in their 20s, wanted to get out of their neighborhood and Muskegon and experience the great outdoors. They had heard that tubing down the Muskegon River was a great way to beat the heat, so they they grabbed some tubes Tuesday afternoon around 4pm, and headed off to the Maple Island Bridge, where many tubers and boaters put in to the river.

Stories conflict over who told them the river ran in a big circle, and would return them to their car. The MLive.com story says it was someone at the launch site, the WZZM video says it was a friend. Either way, as you know, that's some bad intel. The river runs from Houghton Lake in the north central part of the state to Muskegon Lake, and it doesn't bend enough to make a round trip without a shuttle. (Even though some claim you CAN do this on parts of the river, I highly doubt it).

At any rate, the women floated downstream before darkness set in, and they realized they weren't returning to the Maple Island Bridge anytime soon. They wound up spending the night in a remore part of the river near Holton. A fisherman heard their screams and called authorities. They were rescued Wednesday just before noon.

All three are okay, recovering from bug bites and a lack of sleep. A lot worse can happen on the river, so we're glad they're all alive.

The sad part is the ladies say they will never go tubing again after their fiasco, which is really sad, because a well planned float down the river can be fun.