All’s well that ends well for a family of four after an unplanned extended stay in the Weminuche Wilderness.
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Ambulances and paramedics from Upper Pine Fire Protection District were en route about 8:40 p.m.to give checkups to Dustin Beaver, 33, and his three children to make sure everyone is OK, La Plata County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dan Bender said.
It was a happy ending after more than 25 people spent the day searching for the family on the ground and from the air, a search that had yielded little – a few footprints that couldn’t be positively connected to the family, the smell of a campfire.
Searchers combing the forest since Monday morning didn’t know the family had a tent, food and extra water and that Beaver was able to start a fire each night, The Durango Herald reported ( http://bit.ly/29Q2ufw ). A search for the missing family was launched Monday morning and included some 30 personnel. They were found by hikers as a thunderstorm moved in on Monday night.
A father and his three young children who had been missing since Saturday after setting out on a hike have been found safe, the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office said Tuesday. It took searchers, who were prepared to look for the family all night, an additional seven hours to hike out, Bender said.
La Plata County Sheriff’s Office is working with the Colorado Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, as well as the Colorado Search and Rescue Board to contact the U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center to request a Colorado National Guard helicopter with infrared or other night sensors to conduct low-level nighttime searches if the group is not located by dusk.
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Two hiking groups claim they spoke to Dustin on the trail Saturday and he told them they were hiking to Dollar Lake. “The experience was scary as Hell, but we learned a lot”, he said.
