Missing Hikers in Maine Possibly Spotted

AP ^ | Mon, Dec 08, 2003

[presidio9]

BACHELDER'S GRANT, Maine - A group of high school students who had set out for a weekend camping trip and disappeared during a snowstorm may have been spotted Monday by a game warden pilot.

"By the air, we found this group walking single-file and we're sending someone in to confirm it's this group of missing students," said spokesman Mark Latti of the Maine Warden Service.

Three college students missing on a weekend hike in another part of western Maine were found safe Monday.

The 10 students from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School set out Friday with two adults for a weekend camping trip and were last seen Saturday morning by a parent of one of the hikers who met up with the group along the trail, Latti said. The group was due back Sunday.

Volunteer searchers had spent five hours looking for the students Sunday night, but found no trace of them. Latti said the group spotted from the air was walking along Route 113 in the White Mountain National Forest area near Maine's western border with New Hampshire.

Portions of western Maine were covered by more than 30 inches of snow during the weekend storm. Temperatures dipped to 10 degrees Saturday night and 19 late Sunday, the National Weather Service (news - web sites) said.

The students were outfitted for winter camping with food and tents, but they did not have snow shoes, Latti said.

Also Monday, three Unity College students who set out Saturday for a weekend camping trek on Tumbledown Mountain were found Monday in their car, Latti said. They were in good condition, he said.

The men had been well equipped for overnight winter camping, with plenty of gear, food and a dome tent, Warden Thomas Jacobs said.

"Why they ever decided to do this when the storm's been on advisory for the last three or four days, I do not know," said warden Lt. Nathan Berry.

[EggsAckley]

These fools should be made to pay for the expense of the search for them.

[eastforker]

Sounds like our version of a hurricane party.

[1Old Pro]

"Why they ever decided to do this when the storm's been on advisory for the last three or four days, I do not know," said warden Lt. Nathan Berry.

<Me neither. The search for Moose sometimes makes people do strange things. At least they brought plenty of cheese.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Sounds like they don't really need rescuing.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Spotted Hikers are rare in the south. Mostly we have Striped Hikers and Solid Hikers.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I drove up 113 just to see where it went once. It goes from from nowhere and ends up near BF, Egypt. One lonely stretch of road that isn't plowed in the winter.

[azhenfud]

Why is it idiots like this never seem to have cell phones when the rest of the world is proliferated with them? One call could have saved tens of thousands of dollars.

[Blood of Tyrants]

More common lately as damnyankees are moving farther south.

[ASA Vet]

10 kids, 2 adults, and not even one cell phone?

[W1AE]

Might be that the area in which they were hiking has poor or no cell coverage. We are talking about Maine, after all.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Wouldn't do any good. No cell towers withing 30 miles.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Wouldn't do any good. Been there. No cell towers withing 30 miles.

[azhenfud]

"Spotted Hikers are rare in the south."

Unfortunately, we've trapped a few that migrated from the north.

[in the Arena]

Spotted Hikers are rare in the south. Mostly we have Striped Hikers and Solid Hikers.

Close to Fossil Springs in Arizona you find plenty of Stripped Hikers...

[Conspiracy Guy]

Yeah. They are reproducing too.

[Conspiracy Guy]

We need to capture them and re-release them into their natural habitat.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Not to be confused with Clothed Hikers.

[azhenfud]

"Volunteer searchers had spent five hours looking for the students Sunday night, but found no trace of them."

The Park's website says: "Always plan your trip well enough in advance to be prepared for whatever you might encounter and learn to be a 'no-trace' hiker."

They were apparently doing the latter part right.

[in the Arena]

Exactly...