Separated 17-year-old hikers end up 4 miles from each other in Colorado mountains
But a K-9 officer was able to track their location in the mountains with additional help from a drone team, officials said.
One of the hikers made an S.O.S. call to 911 around 6 p.m. Monday, July 7, saying he had become separated from his friend while hiking, leaving both of them lost and not dressed properly for the elements, Park County Sheriff's Office said in a post on Facebook.
Temperatures dropped into the 40s with strong wind gusts in the area that night, KDVR reported.
Several search and rescue parties, including a human tracker and a drone team, set out to search the area, officials said. Rescuers found the missing teens' car just outside the town of Lake George along a forest service road, and one of Park County's K–9 officers, Rip, a black German Shepherd, picked up a scent from the car's door handle and tracked it on the ground.
Rip and the drone team found one of the missing hikers just after 9 p.m., officials said.
The other hiker was found about four miles away on another trail, officials said. A search and rescue team that had started from the opposite side of the K-9 team found him suffering from dehydration and exhaustion and extracted him out of the mountains.
'Both minors were safely reunited with their families and are expected to make a full recovery,' officials said.
Several people suggested Rip's hard work should be rewarded with a juicy steak in the comments.
'Handsome Rip saves lives,' someone said, referring to a photo of the dog shared in the post. 'It takes a team, coordination, energy to stay on the path. Grateful for everyone's dedication to find these two guys and a positive outcome.'
Many others said they hoped the boys would learn from the ordeal.
'I know this family and they are incredibly grateful,' someone said. 'Those boys learned a valuable lesson and will help educate others to avoid what they went through. It could have been so much worse without the dogs to find them so quickly.'
Another person agreed.
'Kudos for recognizing the need and calling for help before things got worse,' they said.
Park County is about a 60-mile drive northwest from Colorado Springs.
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