By The Christmas weekend snow in the north part of the county snowed in a couple from Henderson hunting in the Cave Valley area.
Lincoln County Sheriff Kerry Lee reported the couple was rescued Dec. 27. “They were not lost,” Lee said. “They just got snowed in. They had gone up hunting and the snow hit and snowed them in. They had a 2003 Winnebago motor home, a small Dodge Dakota pickup, propane heat, melted snow for water, but only had about one day’s amount of food left.”
The couple, Ken and Robin Payne from Henderson, ages not given, had gone to the area on a hunting trip and were expected back home by family members on Christmas Eve. But the snow came and dumped one-and-a-half to two feet of snow.
Lee said he received a call the evening of Dec. 26 from a relative saying the couple was missing after having gone elk hunting in Area 22, about 30 miles north of Pioche and west of the highway in the Cave Valley area.
“On the morning of Dec. 27 we called out Search and Rescue, volunteers with four wheel drives and snowmobiles.”
Lee said because of quite detailed information given by the relative of the area the couple was believed to be in, the Kixmiller area, volunteers on snowmobiles were able to locate the motor home within an hour or two of searching. “They must have visited there before, because the relative had a good location on them.”
The Payne’s were found in good condition and did not require medical attention.
The county road department later plowed the road open to where the motor home was to bring it back out to Highway 93. It was about three to four miles west of the Pony Springs BLM fire station and any of the homes nearby.
“The road department plows that road in the winter time to where the houses are, but doesn’t go any further,” Lee said. “The people would have been alright, but the sudden snow storm trapped them.” There is no cell phone service in the area.
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