Two Missing Hikers Found Safe in the Smokies

Park rangers have found a mother and son who became lost and spent the night in the park Sunday.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park rangers found two missing hikers, a woman and her son from Fond Du Lac, Wis., who had been reported being lost in the park on Sunday, June 7, 2015.

Christy Barns, 40, and her son, Casey, 16, sent a text message to family members on Sunday evening at 8:38 p.m. stating they were lost and needed help. Rangers were notified and were able to locate the individuals’ vehicle at Clingmans Dome. The ground search was initiated on Monday morning and the pair was soon found in good condition along the Forney Creek trail a little before 2:00 p.m.

The park had mobilized an incident management team and deployed search teams to the trails surrounding Clingmans Dome. The search for the hikers involved 30 National Park Service employees with 15 of those actively searching in the field. The initial search focused on trails that carried the highest probability of where the pair may have been located.

Photo by Miriam Kraatz (After Sunset) Sunset from Forney Creek Trail. Modified to add headline. [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) or CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons