Missing Family of Noelle Pikus-Pace Found

Deseret News reported that the brother of Mormon Olympian, Noelle Pikus-Pace, was missing in the Idaho wilderness overnight Saturday to Sunday. Pikus-Pace’s brother, Jared Pikus, and his three children were camping in the Gospel Lakes area when they decided to hike to another spot, a few miles away.

Pikus’ wife was expecting her family to return Saturday evening and became concerned when she did not hear from her husband. Deseret News reports that the area was a rocky and remote area which made searching difficult for rescuers, as they also had to navigate around cliffs. Helicopters and searchers on foot scoured the area in search of the Pikus family and were able to locate the family’s car, which was about 2 miles away from where the family was last seen.

Search and Rescue teams eventually found Pikus and his three children on Sunday afternoon as they were walking down a road. On her Facebook page,Pikus-Pace explained that Pikus had taken three of his kids fishing at a nearby lake and asked another camper how to get back to the road. Pikus was mis-directed but continued hiking hoping that it would be just a little further. Pikus-Pace posted:

[pull_quote_center]They drank water from a snow stream and he said he bribed the kids to keep moving forward with a bag of jolly ranchers that he had in his backpack. The terrain was very rocky and steep. He said the kids were amazing. I’m so proud of my brother Jared for staying calm, moving forward and keeping the kids (ages 5, 7 &9) safe![/pull_quote_center]

The missing family members were reunited with their loved ones Sunday evening. Pikus-Pace expressed the family’s gratitude on Facebook saying that, “We are SO extremely grateful for all of your prayers and also for the search and rescue teams and volunteers that spent the night and day searching for my brother and his kids!”