A trio of Abilene Christian University students who had been reported missing in southwestern Colorado’s San Juan Mountains was found safe and sound Monday evening, family and friends of the young men said.

“They apparently got socked in by snow or weather,” said Dan Allen, a family friend traveling to Colorado to help find Derrick Bibb, 21, Derek Ware, 21, and Adam Patterson, 21.

“We don’t know many of the particular details, but the boys were apparently healthy and they’re bringing them out by horseback,” Allen said by cell phone Monday evening.

According to the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department, the students were found east of Archuleta Lake in Mineral County, Colo.

The men were originally supposed to have been back in Abilene Friday night or Saturday morning, said Gail Lawson, Adam Patterson’s mother.

“It’ll feel better when I can wrap my arms around him,” she said, upon learning her son and his companions were safe. “... They told me that they’d had 8-10 inches of snow recently, so that’s probably part of the reason they couldn’t get out.”

Lynne Bruton, ACU’s director of public relations, said all three men were ACU students last year and are listed as seniors this year.

The students had been on a hiking trip in the Wolf Creek Pass area, said Charles Downing, a public information officer with the Mineral County Sheriff’s Department in Creede, Colo.

The search, conducted on the ground and on horseback, began when two search-and-rescue teams were mobilized after Archuleta County, Colo., deputies found the men’s vehicle around 10:30 a.m. Monday, Downing told the Denver-based Rocky Mountain News.

Bibb and Patterson are graduates of Abilene High School, where they were both were power lifters and played football, Lawson said. Ware is from Sugar Land.

“This is either their third or fourth year to do this,” Lawson said. “I guess it’s kind of a spiritual renewal time for them to have some fellowship pre-school.”

Lawson said she didn’t know Ware as well, but said earlier in the day that Patterson and Bibb were “strong boys.”

“They’re good Christian boys,” she said. “They’re good students. They’re good sons. And they’re good friends.”

Downing told the Mountain News that the three men normally have a base camp at Big Meadows Lake, backpacking eight miles to Archuleta Lake.

According to the Rocky Mountain News’ Web site, the men apparently decided to hike from the West Fork Trailhead, which has a 10-mile trail to Archuleta Lake.

Downing said that it was not uncommon for hikers to get delayed in the area. The trail crosses the Continental Divide.

Lawson speculated earlier Monday, before the young men were found, that unforeseen weather or landscape changes could have delayed their return to their vehicle.

“They’re smart, so they’re not going to try to wade a stream or cross something they don’t know the depth of,” she said. “They said they had hailstorms up there and of course there’s snow. I think they’ve had about as much rain as we have.”

The group typically would leave their cell phones in their vehicles because there is no coverage where they normally go, Lawson said.

Abilene Christian University’s police department assisted with the investigation, providing vehicle details and contact information, said the college’s Police Chief Jimmy Ellison.

Locating the vehicle was a “good sign and a good start,” Ellison said.

Alan Gathright with the Rocky Mountain News contributed to this report.