One of the markers at Garden of the Gods
KARBER'S RIDGE, Ill. – Two Indiana teens became lost in the Garden of the Gods Tuesday evening.
Saline County Central Dispatch received a 911 call before 8:30 p.m. from one of the teens who stated that they were lost in the woods.
One of the teens was from Evansville and the other from Indianapolis. The pair had been hiking on a trail from the northwest side of the Garden of the Gods and entered a creek; however, the hikers became disoriented and were unable to return to the trail.
The Saline County Sheriff’s Office and the Equality Fire Department responded to the area, and began a search of the area. At 10 p.m. the two teens were located and escorted back to their vehicle. Assisting in the search was the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office and Saline County EMS.
Saline County 911 telecommunicators were able to plot the caller's location and were able to guide the hikers and the rescuers to each other.
Garden of the Gods is a wilderness area with several hiking trails and outcropping of rock formations, in Southeast Saline County, about 12 miles southeast of Harrisburg. Saline County Sheriff Keith Brown reminds visitors to the Garden of the Gods area, that they should wear appropriate shoes and clothing, bring water, and a fully charged cell phone. In addition, let someone know where you are going and what time you should be returning.
“This is a wilderness area and there is wildlife in the area, that includes snakes, it takes awhile for first responders to arrive to the park and then even longer to locate someone in the park,” said Sheriff Brown.
This appears to be the first "lost" call from GotG this year; last year, the calls were fairly frequent.