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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 6:11 p.m., Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Maui boy among Sierra hike group found safe

By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer

A 14-year-old boy from Maui was among nine teenagers and two adult guides who hiked to safety today after being reported missing in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Fresno County sheriff's deputy Chris Curtice declined to release the boy's name but told The Advertiser he was from Kahului. None of the group from the Outward Bound expedition was injured, Curtice said.

The group was being debriefed at 4:30 p.m. (Hawai'i time) at Florence Lake in the rugged Sierras, east of Fresno, and will be transported by vans to the Maxon Trailhead in a few hours, Curtice said.

The 11 people were part of Outward Bound's "Sierra Rock Climbing Expedition," a $1,795 back country trek to the Courtright Reservoir on the Sierra western slope and into steep terrain made up of radical granite faces, according to the Associated Press.

The group, reported missing yesterday after missing a rendezvous with a third guide, showed up today at 12:05 p.m. (HST) at a remote camp store in Florence Lake, near the midpoint of the John Muir portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, three hours east of Fresno, the AP reported.

The other teens, ages 13-16, in the group are from Connecticut, Montana, Massachusetts and California, the AP said.

Reach Rod Ohira at rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com.