Rangers Rescue Lost Snowmobilers

On the evening of Tuesday, December 30th, staff on the park’s west side were asked to assist the Grand County Sheriff’s Office with a search tor two snowmobilers lost in the Arapaho National Forest. The pair – John Rocky 49, of Cold Spring, Minnesota, and his 20-year-old son, Tim – had gotten stuck in deep snow on the south side of the Bowen Gulch drainage. The two men had sent text messages to their family saying that they were stuck and lost and that they had started a fire to keep warm. On Wednesday, using a map made after the text signal pinpointed the pair's location, district ranger Mark McCutcheon and two other rangers from the park skied three miles to the general area and located the lost snowmobilers, who were hiking through three feet of snow. The two men were in an area of the Never Summer Wilderness Area in the Arapaho National Forest that is officially closed to snowmobilers. They said that they had become disoriented. Rangers gave the pair snowshoes, food and water, and assisted them in walking out. Snowmobiling is allowed on the North Supply access trail in Rocky Mountain National Park, a two-mile-long trail which provides access between Grand Lake and 100 miles of snowmobile trails on the adjacent national forest. Rangers often are called to assist with snowmobile-related incidents outside of the park. On Saturday, December 27th, two snowmobilers from Colorado were killed in an avalanche in Grand County. Rangers assisted with the recovery efforts.