Scouts found in Sugar River search
AVON TOWNSHIP — The Rock County Sheriff's Office has advice for people who go on adventures into unfamiliar wilderness: Take a cell phone.
The advice comes in the wake of a six-hour search along the Sugar River near the state line in southeast Rock County on Saturday and Sunday.
The four Boy Scouts who were lost were found safe and sound after an Illinois Department of Transportation helicopter spotted their campfire at 1:08 a.m. Sunday.
The adult leader had taken the boys' cell phones earlier in the trip, "as he didn't want any of them to lose their phones in the river, so they were unable to call for assistance," according a sheriff's office news release.
"In this instance, if the boys had at least one cell phone with them, not only could they have called for help immediately after losing their way, but also a trace could have been done to pinpoint their exact location as soon as the emergency call was received," the news release states.
The four boys, ages 12-13, were part of a Scout troop from Mendota, Ill. Eighteen boys and their leaders launched canoes at the DNR grounds at 17305 W. Beloit-Newark Road in Avon Township around 11 a.m. Saturday.
The four boys in their two canoes were seen around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. They were noticed to be missing when the group arrived at Sugar River Park, 11317 N. Nelson Road.
The group waited 30 minutes, and the boys did not shown up. A leader and another canoe then left the rest of the group and searched upstream, according to the news release.
The search was fruitless, and the leader then speculated that the boys had gotten ahead of the main group. The members of the group continued downstream to their destination, the Winnebago County Forest Preserve in Illinois, where they planned to camp overnight. The boys were not at the campsite.
The leaders called the Winnebago County, Ill., sheriff's office at 7 p.m., triggering a search.
Winnebago authorities called Rock County sheriff's deputies for help at about 10:13 p.m.
Fire and rescue personnel from Albany, Brodhead, Orfordville and town of Beloit also helped in the search, using johnboats and ATVs to search the dense foliage.
The missing boys probably took a wrong turn after the group portaged "and easily became lost trying to navigate their way around unfamiliar waters," the news release states. "Once darkness set in, they were unable to navigate further, so they got out of the water, started a campfire and waited for help to arrive."
The helicopter found them in the woods along the river, about two miles north of the state line.
"The chopper landed in a nearby field, and the pilot walked out to escort the boys to safety.
The boys were not injured and were flown to the Shirland (Ill.) Fire Department, where they were turned over to family," according to the release.
Oct 11, 2011 at 10:56 a.m.
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What if, What if! It sounds like the kids used their training which tunred out to allow them to be found. I'm sure the scout leaders learned a valuable lesson and have already made changes to how they handle their next adventure. They obviously taught the kids something if they knew to get out of the water and build a fire. They knew not to panic and their survival skills kicked in. Its always easy to chime in at the 11th hour after everything pans out with what should have been done but we don't know all the details from start to finish and it really isn't our business anyways. Just glad to hear the kids are ok and they know how to survive in the wild if they get stranded. That's a life long lesson that may save their lives again some day!
Oct 11, 2011 at 10:16 a.m.
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I paddle the Sugar River regularly and there are spots where cell phones get no reception so they may not have helped. An old fashioned signal whistle comes along with me whenever off the beaten path. I do take my phone with me in a drybox while paddling nonetheless. The scout leaders might consider one in every canoe not to be opened unless an emergency comes up.
Oct 11, 2011 at 8:55 a.m.
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Did the authorities even consider calling Civil Air Patrol to help search? They don't cost a cent and provide fantastic capabilities using both youth and adults. They have aircraft and ground teams available to assist at no expense to taxpayers. Glad everything worked out okay anyway.
Oct 10, 2011 at 9:37 p.m.
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I think the boys did exactly the right thing. I thought that was the whole point of being there was to learn/use these skills.
Oct 10, 2011 at 7:33 p.m.
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Rescuing them by helicopter seems a bit extreme. They were safe on shore, built a campfire, and were having an adventure.
That's scouting.
Some snacks and sleeping bags (if they didn't already have them) are all they really needed to spend the night. There are no bears or wolves lurking along the Sugar River to eat them. What exactly was the danger?
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