By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A pair of Boy Scouts who separated from their group Friday during a day hike south of Mount Rainier National Park spent the night outside but were found safe late this morning following a search by Lewis and Thurston county volunteers.
“They were not hurt, not injured,” Cmdr. Steve Aust of the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office said at mid-day.
The 13-year-old boys are part of a troop out of Olympia, Aust said.
The six Scouts and two adults were hiking in an area out of Ashford called the High Rock Lookout off of Forest Road 84, according to Aust.
At about 4 p.m. yesterday the two took an alternate route back to the trailhead, with the permission of the adults, he said, The rest of the group arrived about two hours later and the boys were not there, Aust said.
“My understanding is they spent the next several hours looking,” Aust said.
They notified authorities at 11 o’clock last night. The Lewis County Sheriff’s Office launched their initial search and rescue about 2 a.m. and an estimated 35 searchers were scouring the area this morning.
The effort included volunteers from both counties, Jeeps, the Civil Air Patrol, eight K-9 teams from the two counties and retired sheriff’s detective Dave Neiser, a pilot who spotted the boys from the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office airplane, Aust said. The pair was found around 11:15 a.m., he said.
Aust didn’t have further details.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter