How did teen hikers get so lost in the wilderness while still being able to see Los Angeles skyline?

The two teen hikers who were lost for days were just a couple of miles from a shopping mall, and were able to make out the Los Angeles skyline and hear the rumbles of downtown traffic from where they wandered off trail.

Despite being so close to civilization, the teens, Nicolas Cendoya and Kyndall Jack, had to be rescued this week after they could not make their way back onto the marked part of the wilderness hike.

Badly dehydrated and nearly incoherent when rescuers located them, both were lucky to have survived. They are recovering in Southern California hospitals.

That's a scenario that should almost never happen, but it happens all the time in Southern California, said Mike Leum, who headed a team that hiked up a near vertical canyon wall on Thursday to rescue Jack from a small rock outcropping where the 18-year-old had taken refuge. Cendoya, 19, was found nearby the night before.

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Drama in the wild: Kyndall Jack, 18, is airlifted to safety by Los Angeles County Search and Rescue after being missing for five days in rugged country near Rancho Santa Margarita, California


There were a record 560 similar rescue efforts carried out in Los Angeles County alone last year, said Leum, reserve chief of search and rescue for the Sheriff's Department.

'A lot of these places you can see downtown Los Angeles from,' Leum said, noting that may give some hikers an extra feeling of security when they head out for what they believe will be just a short day hike.

But even being minutes from a city of 3.8 million, or in the case of Jack and Cendoya a short drive from a suburban shopping mall, means nothing if you can't get back down the mountain you've just climbed up.

'And you have to spend the night there in freezing temperatures and you're not prepared for it, then you're probably not going to survive,' he said.






In Jack and Cendoya's case, the weather was mild every night they were trapped in the forest's Falls Canyon, but they ran out of water by the end of their first day.

Although they managed to place a 911 call seeking help, their cellphone battery died before authorities could pinpoint their location.


And although the sprawling expanse of Southern California suburbia is clearly visible from the forest's ridgelines, in the canyon where they were trapped the brush was so thick they couldn't find a road that was just 500 feet away.

Although four national forests with more than 2,000 miles of hiking trails dot Southern California, experts remind that, while the area may be crisscrossed by freeways and filled with high-rise buildings, that's wilderness people are heading into and they need to be as prepared for it as they would be entering a backcountry area that's a hundred miles from a city.



Rescued: Miss Jack is being treated in hospital and her family have been notified that she is safe




There's no excuse, they say, for not bringing sufficient water, decent hiking shoes, proper clothes and other provisions.


'I'm not saying take a burro and have it loaded down with supplies,' said Ron Silverman, senior director of the Sierra Club's Angeles chapter.


'But what I am saying is think it through. If you're going for just an hour, you want a full bottle of water. And you don't want to take a sip and leave it in the car because you don't want to carry it with you. Bring the bottle.'

But most importantly, say Silverman and others, don't go off the marked trail, no matter how good a hiker you think you are and not matter how close to civilization you may be. It was put there by other experienced hikers who marked it for a reason, to keep people from getting lost in areas they may get trapped in.

Such advice is often posted on forest websites and at ranger stations but Silverman said people often don't follow them, sometimes because they figure it's just a short time.

Other times there are other reasons involved.


Risky adventure: Kyndall Jack's father said his daughter called him Sunday to say that she is going on a hike, which was unusual for her

'Some people, they just want to get adventurous,' said Silverman. 'It's that sense of adventure, that "Oh, I can do that," that gets people into trouble.

'If you want adventure,' he adds, 'ride a roller coaster. Be outside to enjoy the beauty of nature.'

Jack was so disorientated when rescuers reached her, she asked what year it was.

'She was filthy from head to toe, her lips were black with dirt, her eyes were barely open and she had on no shoes,' said Sheriff's Deputy Jim Moss, a paramedic who was dropped to her by helicopter and airlifted her to safety in a harness.


'She was kind of clinging to the ledge on the cliff side, kind of going in and out of consciousness,' said Moss.

Her rescuers were afraid to give her water, despite her extreme dehydration, because she had so much dirt in her mouth she could choke, Wenzel said.


'She was limp and almost lifeless. I was just holding her as the crew chief brought us up and just holding onto her, bringing her in,' Moss said of the airlift.

'She wouldn't have made it much longer. She's really lucky.

'We climbed up to her and could see she was in a lot of pain, obviously completely dehydrated and very weak,' Moss added.


Barely able to move, Jack had managed to scream on and off for 90 minutes, shouting at times, 'I'm here, I'm here,' as rescuers moved toward her.





Missing hikers: Nick Cendoya, 19, left, and Kyndall Jack, 18, right, lost their way while on a hike in the Cleveland National Forest. They have both been found




Rescue: Firefighters escort Nick Cendoya to a waiting ambulance after he was found in the bush last night





Help: 'Dehydrated and delirious', Nick is stretchered off and taken to hospital






It was her screams that brought searchers to her hours after they found her hiking companion, 19-year-old Nicolas Cendoya on Wednesday night, said Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jason Park.

'We started to close in. We heard the voice from all our ground crews and surrounded it and made contact with her,' he said. 'It was very difficult to extract her.'

A reserve deputy aiding the effort suffered a head injury when he fell 60 feet down the canyon.

He was also flown to a hospital. His name was not released and his condition was not immediately known.


Anxious: Russ Jack waits for the word about his missing daughter after learning that she twisted her ankle and could not keep up with Nicholas





Renewed hope: O.C Sheriff Sgt Brian Sims talks to the parents before sending a team of rescuers to check out a flicker of light on the foggy ridge of mountain about 700 feet from Trabuca Flyers Club

After rescuers found Jack they strapped her into a harness and lifted her into a helicopter that took her to hospital.

She and Cendoya had driven to the area on Easter Sunday for what was supposed to be a short, easy day hike through a picturesque canyon to a waterfall. The area is part of the rugged forest that sprawls across 720 miles of Southern California.

Before his cellphone's battery died, Cendoya was able to make a 911 call Sunday telling authorities the couple had gotten lost and were in distress.

'He was panting and said, ''We're out of water.'' You could hear Kyndall in the background," said Orange County fire Capt. Jon Muir.


'He said, ''I think we're about a mile or two from the car,'' and he was right about the distance but in totally the wrong direction.'

Cendoya was found on Wednesday night in shorts and a shirt but missing his shoes. He was flown to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, where doctors said he was being treated for severe dehydration, scratches and bruises. He was expected to remain for several days.




Hiker found alive after 4 days lost in Falls Canyon in Cleveland...


Park said Cendoya was 'extremely confused and disoriented', when he was found less than a mile from the pair's car, giving an added urgency to the effort to find his friend.

Jack was found in similar condition, dressed in a pair of dirty athletic shorts, a hoodie and socks, having also lost her shoes.

Her rescuers said she couldn't remember what day it was or even that she had gone hiking. She had no idea how she had gotten on to the steep, rocky canyon outcropping where they found her.

She was suffering from low blood pressure, shortness of breath and had pain in both legs and one hand.

Despite that, she suffered no major internal injuries and was listed in good condition at the University of California, Irvine, Medical Center, said hospital spokesman John Murray.

Like Cendoya, she was being treated for dehydration and was expected to be hospitalized for several days.

At Mission Hospital, Dr. Michael Ritter told reporters Cendoya said he survived by taking shelter at night in heavy brush and passing his days by praying.



'He's got a lot of faith in the Lord, which I think will help him to work his way through this,' Ritter said shortly before Miss Jack was located.

Cendoya told doctors he and Jack became separated sometime on Sunday night.

He was found on a steep hill less than a mile from where the pair had left their car, but the brush was so thick that a person wouldn't be able to see someone standing as close as five feet away, Park said. Miss Jack was found nearby.

Rough terrain: Officials believe the two teens took a detour and got off the Cleveland National Forest's popular Holy Jim Trail, a tree-lined dirt path along a creek that leads to a waterfall and is popular with day hikers










By land and by air: Deputies brought in bloodhounds, left, and air support, right, to help in the search for the two missing hikers





The area is just 500 feet from a dirt road that is fairly heavily traveled, but Park said Cendoya was so disoriented he likely wasn't aware of that.

'He was in an area near where people were calling his name and he didn't even know it,' Park said.

Brush in the area was so dense that even after he was found, a helicopter dispatched to rescue him had trouble keeping track of where he was. Two volunteer searchers got lost themselves and had to be flown out on Wednesday afternoon.

Cendoya says on his Facebook page that he's a 2011 graduate of Orange County's Costa Mesa High School and a student at Orange Coast College. A number of photos show the athletic-looking young man working out and lifting weights.

He and Miss Jack are believed to have gotten lost near near Holy Jim Trail, a tree-lined dirt path along a creek that leads to the waterfall.


The path is popular with day hikers, including families with children, and is not considered particularly difficult. Park warned, however, that it's very easy to get lost in the heavy brush and hikers who venture in should be prepared with plenty of food, water and proper clothing.

The area is in a section of forest in the Santa Ana Mountains that lie along the border of Orange and Riverside counties southeast of Los Angeles. The trail ranges in elevation from about 2,000 feet to about 4,000 feet.

Officials said Miss Jack's family was quickly notified that she had been found.


'They cried. They hugged us. They thanked us immensely,' Capt John Muir of the Orange County Fire Authority said.

Her father Russ Jack told the LA Times that Cendoya said he had communicated with Kyndall even after they were separated.

'Nicholas obviously was disoriented because of dehydration... he thought that Kyndall had already been rescued,' he said. 'He told us, "I haven't seen her for a day. I think she's already been rescued."


Authorities ramped up the search for Kyndall today after finding Cendoya gave them renewed hope that both teens will be found alive.