Search and Rescue dispatched twice last weekend

Seven Rawlins residents, including four children ages 6, 4, 3 and 1-1/2, were rescued early Saturday morning on Bridger Pass.

David and Michelle Wolfe, Nathan Gallant and the four children left Rawlins Friday morning to hunt elk in the Bridger Pass area.

Friday evening, as the three adults and four children headed back to Rawlins, their vehicle became stuck in drifted snow. They were able to contact family and friends in Rawlins, but the family members and friends could not get to the stranded vehicle and its occupants.

At about 9:40 p.m. Friday, the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office was contacted for assistance.

Search and Rescue (S & R) units in Saratoga and Encampment were activated and responded with nine snow machines to the command post established on the Bridger Pass road. S&R located the stranded family at about 3 a.m. Saturday approximately 21 miles down the Bridger Pass road.

Encampment and Saratoga S&R members involved in this rescue were: Pat Waliser, Gary Steele, Cory Nuhn, Colton Miller, Katrina Bergeson, Brandon Grey, Cody Butterfield, Nick Cary, Joe Johnston, Lester Thompson, Bruce Romios and Landon McGuire.

Also assisting were John and Diane Espy.

At 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, S&R received another call to assist two Casper men who had become stranded in the Snowy Range.

Jeremy Hopkins, 32, and Troy Thiel, 43, could not get Hopkin’s snow machine unstuck after many attempts and with night falling they contacted the Carbon County’s Sheriff’s Department and requested help. The machine was stuck in rougher terrain in the area of Gold Hill, but the two men couldn’t give their exact location.

The two men were located around 7 p.m. in good condition, and S&R escorted them to the command post at chain’s end.

S&R members involved with this rescue were: Homer Beach, Nick Lacy, Ron and Liz Brown, Brady Piche, Tyler Christen, Jim Piche and Cary Pyle.