This story has a "happy ending," but what on earth did this group think, leaving all of those valuables in a vehicle parked at a trailhead for 10 days? I used to work in that park, pass that trailhead frequently. It's easy pickings for the kind of folks who prey on hikers. Quick off the road, hit the cars, back on before anyone else comes along. NEVERNEVERNEVER leave valuables in a vehicle like that.

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GRANITE FALLS — An early September trip to the wilderness turned into a real-life crime drama for a group of university students visiting Washington from Montana. Just like on TV, this story ends happily. The cast includes a bad guy from Granite Falls, about a dozen University of Montana college students and a determined small-town police department.

It all started a few weeks ago when students stumbled out of the wilderness after a 10-day hiking trip to discover their van broken into and their property gone. "We were just kind of devastated," said sophomore Clara Schahczenski, 19, of Whitehall, Mont. The students thought for sure their backpacks, wallets, iPods and other belongings — including irreplaceable jewelry and school work — were gone for good.

But two days after reporting the thefts, Laurie Ashley, 32, a university instructor in the Wilderness and Civilization program, got a phone call from Granite Falls Police Chief Tony Domish. "It was like, oh, my God, something's happening," Ashley said Wednesday from Missoula. "It was the beginning of what turned into a cop TV-like drama for us."

For the students, it all ended Wednesday in Missoula after Domish and officer Win Matter drove more than 500 miles to return students' stolen property. "Normally a police department wouldn't have brought it back. But he was really sweet about it and took the time to get it and bring it back," Schahczenski said.

The group had come to hike in Washington because of wildfires in Montana. They arrived in Washington on Aug. 31 and chose to hike in the Mount Baker Wilderness in Skagit County. On Sept. 7, the students emerged from the woods in a bliss-like state, they said, only to discover that civilization had paid them a visit.

"It's a little bit too classic to have a really amazing wilderness experience and your first contact with civilization to be very negative," Ashley said. The students scrambled to cancel credit cards, lining up at a roadside pay phone. Until they could get credit and debit cards replaced, they borrowed money and begged friends to use their cell phones.

During the long ride back to Missoula, with glass on the floor of the van and a window busted out, the exhausted students were miserable. When Andrea Manes, 21, got back to campus, she had to walk back to her apartment dressed in dirty, pink long johns because her clean clothes were stolen. "I probably looked like a meth addict instead looking like being robbed," she said. The college junior had to crawl through a screen in her apartment until she could get the locks changed. Her car sat unusable in a campus parking lot, the keys stolen.

Meanwhile, in Granite Falls, police had stopped a man in his mid-40s on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. In the car, police found several other driver's licenses. Domish started making phone calls and learned they all belonged to the University of Montana students. Through interrogation, investigation and a lot of legwork, Domish began to unravel what happened.

The Granite Falls man police believe was responsible was driving his girlfriend to a court date in Omak. Along Highway 20, he apparently stopped at the Ross Lake trailhead where police believe he siphoned gas from the students' van, broke the window and stole their stuff. "Each one had a cell phone, iPod, thumb drives with dissertations ... irreplaceable stuff," Domish said. "They had to make it home with nothing, no credit cards, no phones."

In just a few days, police believe the suspect used the stolen credit cards to buy gas and used the cell phones to place calls, Domish said. The suspect filled gas cans paying with the stolen credit cards and then likely sold the gas for cash. For many students, the hiking trip was their first visit to Washington, and Domish didn't want their perceptions colored by the theft, he said.

He set out to find all the stolen property. "I was determined," he said. Domish recovered items in Granite Falls. Tips lead him to a trailer in Omak where he found more of the stolen property.

Domish called Ashley every few hours to give her updates. "I knew he was working very hard and that this was pretty intense. He was meeting with the bad guys, learning where everything was," she said. "I could tell it was important to him. It was clear that he had worked really hard on this case."

On Wednesday, Domish surprised the students by walking into class in Missoula with his arms full of their property. "He's amazing," Manes said. "I grew up in a law enforcement family. I've never seen this kind of effort for a car being broken into. The amount of progress they made in a couple of days is astonishing. It's good to know there are officers out there like that. It's pretty rare."

Domish shrugs off the praise. "It was great," he said on his way back to Granite Falls on Wednesday afternoon. "How often do you get to meet the victims and return their stuff?" The suspect is in Snohomish County Jail for investigation of four counts of identity theft. Snohomish County prosecutors may charge the man with additional crimes, Domish said.

Ashley said the university students were grateful. "We're super thankful to the Granite Falls Police Department," she said. "Whereas two weeks ago I didn't even know the town existed, now I feel very indebted."