Found! Hiker Spots Missing Stuffed Animal Grover On Quandary Peak

DENVER (CBS4) - The hiking community is celebrating a team effort after a young boy's favorite stuffed animal was rescued from Quandary Peak in the mountains. Jenny Thorsen was visiting Colorado to hike 14ers and brought her son's favorite toy with her. Grover from Sesame Street is her son's favorite stuffed animal.

"Grover is my son's absolute favorite stuffed animal. He is 4, and he carries that thing everywhere. And, he actually calls Grover his best friend," Thorsen said.

Thorsen hoped pictures of Grover atop mountains would encourage her son to explore the outdoors as well. She took him on a hike up Quandary Peak and snapped a photo of him from the top of the mountain.

"This was just kind of a way for his favorite stuffed animal to have an adventure, to see a summit top, and to inspire him one day to climb mountains with me," Thorsen told CBS4's Dillon Thomas.

However, when Thorsen descended the mountain and arrived at her vehicle, she noticed the stuffed animal was missing from her pack.

"The zipper was wide open. So, I started freaking out," Thorsen said.

The sun was setting and Thorsen was out of water and energy. She was unable to re-climb the mountain to look for her son's favorite toy. She said she was one of the last to finish the climb that day, and had little options other than to hope some Coloradans would find it later.

"I posted on 14ers.com, hoping that anyone would find him," Thorsen said.

Scrolling through Facebook, teenager Michael Thomas saw the post. He thoroughly read the post, as he planned to be on the peak soon after. The post pleaded for hikers to keep an eye out for the blue stuffed animal as they summited the snowcapped mountain.

Thomas saw the post, but never thought he would actually find it. But, while on the peak, something stuck out of the snow.

"All a sudden, there to my left, is this blue little toy," Thomas said. "I was like, 'Oh my gosh, there is no way that I just found this.'"

The stuffed animal was covered in snow, but enough was sticking out to catch his eye. He picked up Grover, and with cell reception on the mountain posted a picture of the boy's toy.

Thomas' post received dozens of likes and a joyful response from Thorsen. She asked him to mail the toy to her home in Illinois so it could be reunited with its best friend.

Thomas said the story was a great example of the hiking community coming together to help one another.

"It just meant the world to me that somebody actually went to look for him, and found him," Thorsen said.