The Latest: Hikers lead Colorado family out of wilderness

DURANGO, Colo. – The Latest on a family that got lost in the Colorado wilderness (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

Authorities say a couple vacationing in Colorado helped guide a local family lost in the wilderness to safety.

The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office says Mike and Laura Hampshire, of Flagstaff, Arizona, came across 33-year-old Dustin Beaver and his three children in the Weminuche (wehm-ih-NOO’-chee) Wilderness on Monday and hiked out with them to a trailhead.

The Durango Herald reports (http://bit.ly/29Q2ufw ) that Beaver and his 8-year-old twins and 6-year-old son set out for a day hike to Dollar Lake Saturday but got off track and got some bad directions. They spent two nights in the wilderness. Luckily, they had a tent, food and extra water and Beaver was able to start a fire each night. Their only complaint when they emerged was the many bug bites they suffered.

Sheriff’s spokesman Dan Bender says other hikers have been lost in the area before and searchers looking for the family had trouble keeping their bearings in the dense vegetation and steep terrain there. The wilderness area, the largest in the state, is three-quarters the size of Rhode Island.

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9 a.m.

A Colorado family has been taken to safety after they went missing in the woods over the weekend.

The Durango Herald reports (http://bit.ly/29Q2ufw ) that 33-year-old Dustin Beaver of Bayfield and his three children had last been seen on Saturday. They were found by hikers as a thunderstorm moved in on Monday night.

Authorities were notified by Beaver’s wife on Sunday evening that her husband and kids hadn’t returned from their Saturday day hike in the Weminuche Wilderness.

La Plata County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dan Bender says paramedics gave checkups to Beaver and his three children, 8-year-old twins and a 6-year-old boy.

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Information from: Durango Herald, http://www.durangoherald.com

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