More Lost Teens (Zealand)

[Waumbek]

Like the Davis Trail incident from Thursday-Friday, another group got separated in this one, and the missing teen hikers found their own way out with the help of some good samaritans. Searchers were mobilized.

Jul 16, 10:27 PM EDT

Two 15-year-olds lost in White Mountains find their way out
LINCOLN, N.H. (AP) -- Two teenage hikers from Massachusetts got lost in the White Mountains Saturday, but found their way out just at nightfall.
New Hampshire Fish and Game Sgt. Todd Bogardus said the two 15-year-olds were hiking with a group on the Zealand Falls Trail in Bethlehem when they decided to separate from their companions and follow a brook to the trailhead.
Christopher Collins, of Bolton, Mass., and Alexander Nordeen, of Lunenburg, Mass., followed the wrong brook and hiked 10 miles into the Pemigewasset Wilderness area of the White Mountain National Forest, Bogardus said.
Fortunately, they found another trail and ran into some other hikers who gave them a map and headlamps. Eventually, they made their way to Lincoln.
Bogardus said the two left their group at 1:30 p.m. and turned up at the Lincoln Police station at 8:30 p.m. Meanwhile, searchers were looking for them.
Bogardus said the two teenagers lacked proper gear and supplies for the hike and never should have left their group or the trail.
"They were unprepared. They had nothing but the clothes on their backs," he said. He urged would-be hikers in the White Mountains to consult the HikeSafe Web site at http://www.hikesafe.com before going.

 

[dr_wu002]

they decided to separate from their companions and follow a brook to the trailhead.
...
followed the wrong brook and hiked 10 miles into the Pemigewasset Wilderness area of the White Mountain National Forest, Bogardus said.
Fortunately, they found another trail and ran into some other hikers who gave them a map and headlamps. Eventually, they made their way to Lincoln.

So, any more details? I wonder where they went -- my guess is they somehow picked up Whitewall Brook and made their way to The Wilderness Trail. Any ideas?

-Dr. Wu

 

[McRat]

On my walk back from Zealand Hut I ran into a man heading heading up the Zealand trail who asked if we'd seen two kids together. We told him we hadn't seen anyone since the hut, and he asked me to have the next person on the trail turn her two-way radio on.

I didn't mention this in the TR as I had really hoped that this would be OK and I wouldn't be seeing this in the paper. We checked along the river where we thought we had heard voices, but saw no one.

Glad this worked out.