This article originally appeared on buckrail.com.
JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Several national news outlets have taken notice of an Idaho Falls woman who heroically carried a large and injured dog six miles back to her car from an 11,000-ft peak in Wyoming.
Tia Vargas, 40, and her dad go hiking every summer. This year the two decided on Table Mountain in the Tetons for the Fourth of July.
Vargas early on when she thought she would run across another hiker who could help her with a lost and injured dog she found near the summit of Table Mountain. (Ted Kasper)
Near the summit, Vargas encountered an injured and lost English Springer Spaniel. She knew the dog would die up there without someone helping it back down so she slung the 55-lb animal around her shoulders and started down.
It was her hope she would find someone else on the trail to help her but early-season conditions not only kept other hikers away, but plagued Vargas’ journey down. Rain fell a few times as Vargas and her father struggled on occasion to even find the trail with all the snow and downed trees.
There were times when Vargas rested and didn’t think she could make it the six miles down. (Ted Kasper)
It took six hours, and there were times Vargas wanted to quit, but she got the dog, whose tag read “Boomer,” all the way back to the trailhead. It was there she noticed the lost dog sign. A family had watched in horror as Boomer slipped and fell some 100 feet on their hike the day before. They searched and searched for him but figured he had gone off to die from his injuries.
Vargas called the family and said she found their dog. The first thing they asked is, “Is he dead?”
Boomer gets a trip to the vet where he receives a doggy splint and lots of love. (Ted Kasper)
The family was thrilled to learn the dog was alive but then explained how they could not keep her. A pending move to Arizona where they couldn’t have a dog meant they had lined up another owner for Boomer.
After hearing of Vargas’ heroic effort, they instead suggested she keep him. Vargas immediately accepted. A single mother of three, Vargas’ kids had pestered her for a dog for years. Now they have a four-year-old new member of the family and Vargas had a story to tell People Magazine, Good Morning America, and several other national outlets.
Boomer is part of the Vargas family now. He even has his own Facebook page. (Ted Kasper)
Vargas is a substitute teacher and Zumba instructor living in Idaho Falls.