In the hours after they rescued a hiker found "dehydrated and disoriented," searchers said on Thursday they were optimistic they would find the wounded hiker's companion after the two got lost during an Easter hike in an Orange County forest.
Authorities said that the location where Nicholas Cendoya was found Wednesday night gave them a strong starting point to search for Kyndall Jack, 18.
"We're optimistic since we found Nicholas," said Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jason Park. "The urgency is just as high as it was yesterday. If anything, we have a location to be specific and be looking" in.
Cendoya was found "severely dehydrated and disoriented" at 9 p.m. Wednesday by a hiker in a dense ravine of the Holy Jim Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest about a half-mile from where he and Jack parked their car, Park said. Cendoya was in serious condition at a hospital on Thursday.
Searchers had to cut through thick brush to rescue Cendoya, Park said.
Visibility was less than 10 feet.
Once the morning cloud cover cleared, searchers planned on Thursday to use as many as three helicopters to search by air and dogs to search by ground.
About 40 rescue workers and volunteers searched for Cendoya and Jack on Wednesday, Park said. During the search, two hikers became lost and had to be tracked down and rescued, an incident officials hope not to have repeated.
"We're encouraging the public to stay out of area," Park said.
Cendoya and Jack, both Costa Mesa residents, called authorities at 8:25 p.m. Sunday to say they had gotten lost, said Gail Krause, an Orange County sheriff's spokeswoman.
The cellphone battery wore down and authorities could not get an accurate GPS "ping" from the phone to pinpoint their location, prompting a massive search, said Sheriff's Lt. Erin Giudice.
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