Emily Patrick

epatrick@citizen-times.com

Update from Haywood County Incident Management Team at 7:28 p.m.: The hikers missing in Haywood County have been airlifted and are being transported to an area hospital. Helicopters belonging to The North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Mountain Area Medical Airlift and NCHART (North Carolina Helicopter and Aquatic Rescue Team), aided in locating and extracting the hikers. No additional information on their condition is expected this evening.

Two hikers who departed for a day trip Thursday are lost in the Shining Rock Wilderness in Haywood County.

The men left their car near the Big East Fork trail where U.S. 276 crosses the Pigeon River. They called 911 Friday morning and contacted officials again Saturday morning, according to Dana Stewart, public information officer for the Haywood County Incident Management Team.

"We've had very, very, very brief episodic cell phone communication, most recently this morning," she said.

Temperatures dropped into the low 20s Friday night, and they're expected to fall into the single digits Saturday night. Between 8-12 inches of snow are on the ground in the Shining Rock Wilderness, Stewart estimated. The National Weather Service is warning of frostbite and hypothermia as high winds are expected to create wind chills below zero.

Stewart said officials are not discussing when to give up the search.

"It's really too early to speculate on this evening," she said. "Right now we're focused on our current activities."

Between 12-18 people are searching for the hikers at any given time, she said, entering the wilderness area in teams of 4-6 people. The teams are trained for search and rescue operations.

The hikers said they had been able to start a fire when they called emergency personnel this morning, Stewart said, rescuers are looking for smoke, among other signs.

No additional information about the hikers is available, she said.

"What they are trying to do is leverage all the local, state, federal and national resources we can get to focus on this rescue operation," she said.

The Shining Rock Wilderness is near popular Blue Ridge Parkway attractions like Sam Knob, Black Balsam and Graveyard Fields. Trails receive heavy use year-round, according to the National Park Service. However, because Shining Rock is a wilderness area, trails are unmarked, and terrain is steep and difficult in places.

"Please be extremely cautious about what outdoor activities you choose to engage in today," the U.S. Forest Service posted on Facebook with a reference to the lost hikers. "Don't overestimate your own abilities."