BLOOMINGTON— At approximately 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, the Monroe Fire Protection District units responded to Charles Deam Wilderness in the Hoosier National Forest for a group of lost hikers.
While en route to the location, firefighters received GPS locations from dispatch and made phone contact with the lost party to help narrow down their location.
Firefighters arrived in the Cutright Boat Ramp area and established a command post and base of operations. Once crews reviewed maps and GPS coordinates, they split into two search parties. One group of firefighters deployed Marine 21 and took the boat as far as possible towards the east end of Lake Monroe before getting out on foot and hiking in. A second group of searchers traveled to the horseman’s camp where the lost hikers started and began their search from there.
After an hour and a half of hiking, firefighters reached the family of lost hikers. No injuries were reported, and hikers stated they were just very tired and confused about where they were. Firefighters helped the lost hikers back to the shoreline, where the boat was waiting to take them to the boat ramp.
Search crews were on the scene for several hours, hiking hilly terrain in and out of the woods to get the family to safety.
