What started out as a routine ATV-ride for a Clinton County father and son turned out to be a little bit more adventurous than they had probably hoped for last Tuesday, October 15.

Alan Cash and his eight-year-old son Luke, went four-wheeling on Bald Rock Mountain on that day and due to the many trails in the area near the sand mines on the mountain, became lost, according to Emergency Services Director Lonnie Scott.

Apparently Cash, who fortunately had a well-charged cell phone, called a friend asking they contact Robert Roeper, Albany Fire and Rescue chief, to come help find them when they couldn’t find their way back.

The initial call to dispatch reporting the two was disconnected and came in just after 5 p.m.

Rescue personnel took four-wheelers and initially did a quick search in the area where they thought the two might be.

Scott said when it began getting dark, the Wayne County Rescue Squad was called in to assist in the search and was on the scene about 8:30 p.m. that night and went through the sand mines on Bald Rock.

Throughout the entire ordeal, local dispatch had phone contact with Cash for “short periods,” as Scott noted they didn’t want to take the chance of running his cell phone battery down.

Search efforts using all-terrain vehicles were made by Albany Fire and Rescue, Wayne County Rescue Squad and some citizen volunteers who lived near the area and knew the terrain.

The father and son were found on the Wayne County side of Bald Rock by Wayne County rescuers at 9:55 p.m. that night. Neither of the two were hurt.

Scott said that when Cash discovered they were lost, he stayed generally in the one area and also described to dispatch personnel his surroundings in order to help rescue personnel better pinpoint their location. “But knowing where (they were at) and actually getting there in that area was difficult,” he said.

The total search lasted about five hours and included several individuals, including Clinton County Deputy Josh Asberry, who was on the scene during the rescue effort.

Scott noted that Cash was fortunate to have been in the location he was because it was one of only a few places on the mountain where there was cell phone service, adding that even some of the searchers couldn’t get out with their phones.

Scott thanked everyone involved in the search and rescue effort and was glad that it had a positive ending with no injuries.