Colorado State Patrol Trooper Brandon Wilkins tells a driver Monday Sept. 30, 2013, that the road is closed to all non-emergency traffic while emergency response and law enforcement agencies deal with a rock slide at Agnes Vaille Falls. Authorities say five hikers have been trapped by a rock slide on the trail in south-central Colorado, and another has been pulled out and flown to a hospital. (AP Photo/The Mountain Mail, James Redmond)
SALIDA, Colo. (AP) — Five hikers were trapped by a rock slide on a trail in south-central Colorado on Monday, and another was pulled out with injuries and flown to a hospital, authorities said.
A seventh person was unaccounted for, the Chaffee (CHAY’-fee) County Sheriff’s Department said.
The slide occurred at about 11 a.m. on the trail to Agnes Vaille (VAYL) falls in the Pike and San Isabel National Forest, an easy day hike about a 2 1/2 hour drive southwest of Denver.
A teenage girl was extracted from the slide and flown to a hospital, sheriff’s spokesman Dave Cotten said. He didn’t know the nature and extent of her injuries.
The names, ages and hometowns of the victims haven’t been released.
Rescuers were still at the scene Monday afternoon.
The trail is below Mount Princeton, a 14,197-foot peak. The National Forest Service describes the trail as short and relatively easy.
Agnes Vaille, the waterfall’s namesake, was a Denver mountaineer who died in 1925 while attempting a difficult winter climb of Longs Peak, elevation 14,259 feet.
