Plane wreckage hauled away from remote Lost Creek Wilderness -- 50 years after it crashed

In a remote area where motor vehicles are prohibited, U.S. Forest Service crews used pack mules to remove wreckage from a plane that crashed -- about a half-century ago.

It took crews three days, 12-mile roundtrips each day and a total of 20 mule loads to haul the wreckage out of the Lost Creek Wilderness in the South Park Ranger District, near Grant and Bailey.

Historical records for plane crashes can be hard to find or unreliable, but CBS News Colorado reached out to the U.S. Forestry Service for more information.

The effort involved rangers from Pike-San Isabel National Forests & Cimarron and Comanche National Forest, who asked for assistance from Shoshone National Forest rangers, who specialize in pack mule projects.

That crew used their mules to haul 1,000 pounds of bridge support material to repair a crumbling bridge in White River National Forest in July. And in March, they hauled 4,500 pounds of tools and supplies for a trail re-route project in the Navajo Lake Basin.