PLACER COUNTY, Calif. — Thirteen young hikers who went missing near the Royal Fire in the Tahoe National Forest and now safe at home with their families.
The Placer County Sheriff’s Office said their cars were found by deputies and fire officials doing checks near where the fire broke out Sunday.
"When they went up to where the fire started, there were four vehicles that were located. We started looking into it as a trail called Palisades Creek Trail, and we started running the plates, finding out who the registered owners were. We were able to find out contact numbers, talked to a mother,” said Lt. Ty Conners, with the Placer County Sheriff’s Office.
The mother told them the group of friends was between 16-20 years old and were going to be camping.
Conners said the group of friends had been on the trail before and were familiar with the area. He said the group did everything right by preparing and letting their families know where they were going.
"My understanding (is) they did have Garmin or inReach device. And the families, my understanding, were trying to reach out to them because there are ways you can do texting. We had Cal OES reach out to Garmin. They were doing reverse connecting, trying to figure out where they're at,” he said.
But their location made it hard to connect with the group. The sheriff’s office sent its Falcon 30 crew up in the air to find them. They did and sent down members of their search and rescue team.
A mother who didn’t want to be identified called the situation awful. All the friends were reunited with their families and are in the process of returning home.
The sheriff’s office said hikers should always let someone know where they are going and where they plan to end up. They should also share their location and carry tracking devices if possible.
WATCH MORE ON ABC10 | California Heatwave Forecast: Are we done yet?
