California snow cuts off communities and strands hikers
As residents of California mountain communities have been snowed in for more than a week, two teenage hikers lost for five days emerged unharmed , officials said.
As residents of California mountain communities have been snowed in for more than a week, two teenage hikers lost for five days emerged unharmed amid 5-foot snowdrifts, officials said.
The pair, Riley Ramirez and Cole White, both 17, planned to hike the Pacific Coast Trial near Southern California's highest peak, San Gorgonio Mountain, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in a statement.
They headed out Feb. 26, experienced severe weather and lost contact with their parents, it said. Two days later family members asked rescuers for help, according to the statement.
On Friday, a sheriff's helicopter crew spotted the pair in a remote area of the trail, landed in heavy snow and rescued the teens, who were taken to a sheriff's station to be checked out by medical staffers, the department said.
The teenagers told deputies and their parents they felt assured of their demise before the helicopter arrived.
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