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PERRY, Box Elder — Search and rescue teams responded to a group of boy scouts and their leaders Saturday after the group became stranded on steep terrain in Perry Canyon.
Box Elder County Sheriff Lynn Yeates said the five scouts and two adults had been hiking near Willard Peak since Thursday when they became trapped on a mountain face. One of the scout leaders was able to call 911 and informed authorities that the group was running low on water.
Greg Reynolds, one of the adult leaders, said the group was standed on the mountainside for about five hours before the rescue teams arrived. He said the group had started hiking at the North Ogden Divide and arrived at the Perry Reservoir Friday night. They had planned to follow the creek down through Perry Canyon but Reynolds said they lost the trail Saturday morning and tried to hike back up to the mountain ridge.
Reynolds said he first realized they were in trouble when they ran out of water. The group still had hours of hiking left, he said, and temperatures were rising.
"We couldn't get any normal calls through but 911 went through," he said. "I think we were all on the verge of dehydration."
Yeates said the location where the group was stranded consisted of steep shale and had little cover from the sun. He said helicopters were called in to assist due to the dehydrated state of the hikers.
"It was definitely 100 degrees on the side of the mountain," Yeates said.
A medical helicopter and a Utah Highway Patrol helicopter retrieved the hikers, who were examined by medical officials on site. Reynolds, who had slipped and cut his hand while hiking in the creek, was transported by car to an area hospital.
"We can look back and question our decisions but all the boys are home and alive and well," Reynolds said. "We can't determine what would have happened if we had kept moving."
Yeates said the scouts' ages ranged from 12 to 18. All of the hikers were from the Brigham City area.
Contributing: Ashley Kewish
