Local moms missing after hike; search underway near North Bend



 

UPDATE: The women have been found safe>>> 


Original story:

NORTH BEND -- Search and rescue teams are looking for two overdue hikers who went missing Sunday near North Bend.

Jen Moran and Elizabeth Edwards Moran were slated to meet friends for a hike on the Pratt River Trail near the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River. At around 9:45 a.m. Sunday, the friends received a text from the couple saying, "I think we are lost."  A short time later,the group of friends received another text saying, "almost there."

When the friends arrived at the trailhead at 11 a.m., they saw the couple's car and assumed the couple had hiked ahead, a person close to the situation told Q13 FOX News.

The friends hiked two miles into the trail when they decided to turn back without seeing the couple, assuming they went on a different trail. When the friends made it back to the trailhead, the couple's car was still there.



The couple did not show up to their son's birthday party at 3 p.m. Sunday. Concerned friends called the King County Sheriff's Office, which confirmed the couple's car was still at the trailhead at 9 p.m. Sunday night.

Search and Rescue teams arrived at the trailhead at 6:30 a.m. Monday to begin searching.

The couple are the parents of five children, ranging in age from 9 to 17 years old. They live in Bothell.

A King County spokesperson was headed to the trail Monday.