Lost Hikers Rescued In San Jacinto Mountains

HEMET – Two hikers were found safe after getting stranded in the icy San Jacinto mountains, launching an all-night search-and-rescue mission.

The rescue mission began at 10:20 p.m. Friday when the Riverside CountySheriff’s Department responded to an area of Doe Canyon in the San Jacinto mountains east of Hemet, Dennis Gutierrez, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s department, said.

The department received information that the two people failed to return from their hike as planned, he said.

Deputies found the hikers’ vehicle along Highway 74 and called out the Riverside County Mountain Rescue Unit, which began a search that lasted all night and into the early morning.

The search ended at 8:10 a.m. Saturday morning when the unit found the hikers, who were both Riverside County residents, uninjured, Gutierrez said.