Six lost Texas hikers spend 25 hours trapped on Colorado mountain, rescuers say
A group of six hikers from Texas got lost in steep, rugged terrain on a Colorado mountain, where they were trapped for an entire day, rescuers said.
Five of the six hikers were minors, the Pueblo County Sheriff's Office said in a May 31 news release.
The group started a day hike on Friday, May 30, near Graneros Creek, southwest of a town called Rye, deputies said. They went off the trail and 'became disoriented in dense vegetation,' unable to find their way back to the trail on Greenhorn Mountain.
They called dispatch for help about 7:30 p.m. to report that they were lost, the sheriff's office said. Search and rescue volunteers started searching the mountain on foot, 'working through the night despite steep terrain, heavy rain, and limited visibility,' the agency said.
A rescuer got injured that night but continued searching until he couldn't anymore, the sheriff's office said.
Another rescue team joined the next morning, and a rescue helicopter found the lost hikers but couldn't rescue them or the injured rescuer in the rugged terrain, the agency said.
The agency coordinated with state and national agencies to use a helicopter capable of a high-angle rescue, deputies said. The helicopter hoisted the injured rescuer off the mountain at about 3:30 p.m. while the rest of the team located the lost hikers.
Rescuers found four of the six hikers and discovered the other two kids had left the group to try to find the trail, the agency said. Rescuers found them at about 4:45 p.m. and helped the group out of the area to an incident command post, where they were evaluated.
All six were uninjured but exhausted, deputies said.
'This was a very long, difficult, and dangerous operation, and we are thankful for the positive outcome,' Pueblo County Sheriff David J. Lucero said in the release. 'Everyone was safely rescued, and although one of our SAR members was injured, we are grateful no one suffered serious harm.'
The agency shared photos from the rescue on Facebook. Someone commented saying they were one of the parents of the lost hikers.
'We send our utmost gratitude and appreciation for your help in getting the boys safely home,' they said, adding that their great grandfather was the postman during World War II in Rye.
'The cabin he built has been in our family for decades and…our family continues to spend our summers in Rye, CO. The boys used their phone gps, as it was their first hike in that area,' the person wrote. 'It told them they were on the correct trail when in fact…they were not in the area the gps was telling them they were at.'
The parent also sent prayers to the injured rescuer.
Rye is about a 75-mile drive southwest from Colorado Springs.
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