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ST. GEORGE — A family of five was rescued after a father and son walked more than 20 miles to find help, triggering a multi-agency response that searched for the group who had been stranded in mud and snow along the Arizona Strip last week.
The incident was reported at 7 p.m. on Jan. 6 when the Mohave County Sheriff’s emergency dispatch received a call from a man who reported that he and his family were stranded after their vehicle became stuck in a remote location just south of St. George, according to a statement released by Rachel Carnahan with the Bureau of Land Management’s Arizona Strip District.
The man was unable to provide specific GPS coordinates to dispatch due to the spotty cellular service in the area.
He told dispatch the family wanted to see the Grand Canyon on their way home from a vacation in California. The family used a smartphone mapping application that mistakenly directed their vehicle onto unpaved backcountry roads along the Arizona Strip at 7,500 feet elevation.
The vehicle continued along the dirt roads for more than 30 miles before it became stuck in deep mud, clay and snow.
When numerous attempts to free the SUV from the deeply rutted mud failed, the man and his teenage son set out to find help, leaving his wife and two younger children behind to take shelter inside of the vehicle.
Read the full article at St. George News.
