Missing Maine Hikers Found

They may not have picked the best weekend to go hiking -- but it all ended well.

Two groups of hikers who were reported lost or stranded after the season's first big snowstorm have been found safe and in good health in western Maine.

A spokesman for the Maine Warden Service says ten high school students were ferried out by snowmobile today from an unplowed highway near Maine's western border with New Hampshire. School officials say none of them had to be hospitalized.

Earlier today, three college students who became stranded while camping on a mountain in the same region also turned up safe. Wardens found them in their car.

Over the weekend, parts of Maine were buried under three feet of snow. And overnight temperatures were below 20 degrees on Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.

The 10 students from Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School set out Friday with two adults for a weekend camping trip. The group was due back Sunday but didn't return when scheduled.

The students were outfitted for winter camping with food and tents, but they did not have snowshoes, spokesman Mark Latti of the Maine Warden Service said.

The three Unity College students found earlier Monday had set out Saturday for a weekend camping trek on Tumbledown Mountain. They were found in their car, Latti said. They were in good condition, he said.

The men had been well equipped for overnight winter camping, with plenty of gear, food and a dome tent, Warden Thomas Jacobs said.

"Why they ever decided to do this when the storm's been on advisory for the last three or four days, I do not know," said warden Lt. Nathan Berry.