Deputies rescue students on buses after they get stuck in the mud for hours on field trip

SHELLEY — A group of eighth grade students had to be rescued after two of their three buses got stuck in the mud while on a field trip Tuesday.

The buses set off with dozens of students from Hobbs Middle School in Shelley to visit the Civil Defense Caves north of Rexburg. Several miles from the caves, two of the buses got stuck in the mud.

“At some point, the road turns to dirt. I don’t know if it was a muddy area or a swale but two of the buses got quagmired,” Shelley School District Superintendent Bryan Jolley told EastIdahoNews.com.

Fremont County Sheriff Sgt. Cody Gudmunson said they received a call around 11 a.m. that the full buses were stuck six miles from Red Road. Sheriff deputies arrived with the two Humvees around 2 p.m. Using tow straps, they were able to pull the buses free.

Hobbs principal Dale Clark said teachers on the trip were out of cell phone range so he was unable to find out exactly what was going on until after the buses were pulled out of the mud and headed back to Shelley.

“It wasn’t until they were actually on their way out that we were able to report it to parents — the positive information that we knew exactly what was happening,” Clark said.

The students turned around and made it back to the school after classes had ended. Arrangements were made for those who missed their regular bus so they could return home.

“They never made it to the caves,” Jolley said. “Their field trip was to ride on a bus and then sit there and then ride back.”