Two teenage boys who were missing in Stone Mountain State Park have been found.
A spokesperson for N.C. State Parks said the pair made it back to their car around 9:30 Sunday morning.
The spokesperson says the teens do not have injuries. They had water filters and made a fire overnight to stay warm. Park officials said the pair wandered off the trail to find water and weren’t able to find their way back until Sunday morning.
Officials say Nick “Cole” Crawford and Alec McCoy, 16, went backpack camping Friday night, and put their backpacks in a car before heading out on a hike Saturday.
The teens called 911 Saturday afternoon around 2:30 p.m to say they were lost.
Twenty people, mostly from Wilkes County were out searching for the pair this morning. Officials say they were able to get a GPS location of the boys before their cell phone died.
Rescue crews worked through the night and had to travel rough terrain during their search, which was more difficult in the dark. They used a drone with a thermal camera to help.
Rescue crews say the best thing people can do when they’re missing in the wildnerness is to stay in one location until crews find them. They also say whenever you explore the outdoors, you should have maps of trails, water, good shoes, flashlights and a fully charged phone.