Mother-son bike ride leads to police search party at Eagan park

About an hour after they had called for help from Eagan's Lebanon Hills Park on Monday night, Maria Baker and her 12-year-old son had been found by a police officer.

But being found, in this case, wasn't the same as being rescued.

The officer who found them had to leave the trail to reach them, and he got disoriented in the dark woods. As he led them through the forest, it seemed like they were going in circles, Baker said.

"We said, 'Do you know where you're going?' and he said, 'I hope so,'" Baker said.

Another officer, a park ranger and a helicopter continued to search, and it was after midnight before a ranger found Baker, her son and the officer and finally led them out safely.

"When you are in the suburbs, you don't ever imagine an experience like that," Baker said.

The pair had left their house at about 7 p.m. with a few fruit snacks, a credit card and their cell phones. They figured they'd take a 5-mile bike ride before returning to their Apple Valley home. It was about 8:45 p.m. when Baker, 42, realized that something was wrong. She and her son had been mountain biking for about an hour. It was getting dark, and they didn't know how to get out of the 2,000-acre park.

GPS technology was used to track her phone and identify her general location. Two Eagan police officers and a Dakota County Parks ranger were dispatched.

While Baker admits that she and her son were "super novices" in mountain biking, she was still surprised by the complexity of the trails.

Lebanon Hills is mostly undeveloped, said Steve Sullivan, director of parks and open space for the county. He said there are signs along the park's miles of trails, but people should still be prepared before arriving. Some of the trails are designed for beginners and others for experts.

"It was unbelievable," Baker said. "I should have done maybe a little bit more research, but I had no idea that anything liked that existed in Eagan, Minnesota."

Sullivan said a few people have gotten so lost in the park that they needed assistance, but Monday was the first time he could recall a helicopter being used to search for someone in the park.