Missing Hikers Found

April 5, 2013 by staff

Missing Hikers Found, Searchers on Thursday rescued an 18-year-old woman who had gotten lost with a friend on an Easter Sunday hike in an Orange County forest.
A sound of a female voice led Orange County Sheriff’s search and rescue teams to locate Kyndall Jack in the Holy Jim Canyon area of the Cleveland National Forest, said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Jason Park.

Crews used a helicopter about noon Thursday to hoist Jack out of a dense ravine and take her to a hospital.

The rescue came hours after authorities found Jack’s hiking companion Nicholas Cendoya.

He was found “dehydrated and disoriented” in a ravine near where Jack and Cendoya had parked their car.

Searchers had to cut through thick brush to rescue Cendoya. Visibility was less than 10 feet, Park said.

Authorities and volunteer searchers on foot and using dogs and helicopters had combed since Monday a network of trails in the rugged forest, trying to find the two teens.