Friends of missing hikers, from left, Paige Wallace, Sarah Souza and Halie Teague, who says she's known the two missing hikers since high school, plan their search route Wednesday morning April 3, 2013, in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Cendoya and 18-year-old Kyndall Jack were last heard from Sunday night when they called for help on a cellphone. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mindy Schauer) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT
Friends of missing hikers, from left, Paige Wallace, Sarah Souza and Halie Teague, who says she's known the two missing hikers since high school, plan their search route Wednesday morning April 3, 2013, in Trabuco Canyon, Calif. Nineteen-year-old Nicholas Cendoya and 18-year-old Kyndall Jack were last heard from Sunday night when they called for help on a cellphone. (AP Photo/The Orange County Register, Mindy Schauer) MAGS OUT; LOS ANGELES TIMES OUT
This image provided by the Orange County Sheriff?s Department shows hiker, Nicholas Cendoya, who has been missing along with companion, Kyndall Jack, since the weekend. Cendoya, was discovered by another hiker Wednesday, March 3, 2013, and airlifted to a hospital. He was talking to paramedics but struggling to answer questions about what had happened and where Jack might be. Searchers aided by a sheriff's helicopter with infrared sensors were on the scene early Thursday hoping to locate 18-year-old Kyndall Jack. (AP Photo/Orange County Sheriff?s Department)
This image provided by the Orange County Sheriff?s Department shows hiker, Kyndall Jack who has been missing along with companion, Nicholas Cendoya, since the weekend. Southern California authorities are resuming the search for Jack, 18, and Cendoya, 19, who vanished during a weekend hike in Cleveland National Forest.(AP Photo/Orange County Sheriff?s Department)
Friends of Nicholas Cendoya and Kyndall Jack, wait Wednesday April 3, 2013, for any word about Jack after Cendoya was found alive Wednesday night in Trabuco Canyon in th4 Southern California wilderness. The couple became lost on a hike on Easter Sunday. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times,Don Kelson ) NO FORNS; NO SALES; MAGS OUT; ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER OUT; LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS OUT; VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT: Don Kelson, Los Angeles Times, TV OUT
Family members and friends prepare to tow the vehicle of missing hikers Nicholas Cendoya, 19, and Kyndall Jack, 18, early Wednesday April 3, 2013 in Cleveland National Forest in Trabuco Hills in Southern California. The hikers were reported missing Sunday.(AP Photo/Kevin Warn)
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, Calif. (AP) ? A young woman missing in a Southern California forest since setting out on a Sunday hike was rescued from a rocky ledge on steep slope Thursday, authorities.
Kyndall Jack, 18, was hoisted out of Cleveland National Forest by a rescue helicopter and rushed to a hospital.
"We have confirmation that we have Kyndall and she is alive," Orange County sheriff's Lt. Jason Park said.
Park said she was responsive but dehydrated and weak. There was no information on whether she had other injuries.
A reserve deputy suffered a head injury and was also flown to a hospital.
Crews had ramped up efforts to find Jack after her companion was discovered dehydrated and disoriented the night before.
Nicolas Cendoya, 19, was discovered parched and without shoes by another hiker shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday less than a mile from where the pair's car was parked. He was airlifted to a hospital.
Cendoya was talking to paramedics but struggling to answer questions about what had happened and where Jack might be.
"He was extremely confused and disoriented," Park said.
Kyndall's father, Russ Jack, told the Los Angeles Times that Cendoya was able to share some information despite his dazed state.
"Nicolas obviously was disoriented because of dehydration. ... He thought that Kyndall had already been rescued," the father said. "But apparently Kyndall has twisted her ankle or something and could not keep up with Nicholas trying to get out of the brush they're in."
Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Jon Muir said he had not heard about the possible injury to Jack, and noted that Cendoya had been giving all kinds of inconsistent answers.
Sheriff's investigators planned to talk to him at length once he was recovering at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo.
The pair made a 911 call from a dying cellphone Sunday night and set off the search.
Muir gave new details about Cendoya's phone call.
"He was panting and said, 'We're out of water.' You could hear Kyndall in the background. 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," Muir said.
The hiker who came across Cendoya on Wednesday night went for help and found a firefighting training crew not involved in the search that just happened to be nearby, Park said.
They found Cendoya eight-tenths of a mile south of where much of the search had focused, about 500 feet from a dirt road that sees regular vehicle traffic. He was surrounded by so much vegetation that the helicopter rescue crew had trouble keeping track of him once they found him.
"When the rescuer was lowered he lost sight of him," said Division Chief Kris Concepcion of the Orange County Fire Authority. "That's how thick the brush was."
When he was found he was wearing board shorts, a shirt but no shoes.
Cendoya was in serious but stable condition, Mission Hospital's Dr. Matthew Kaplan told TV reporters.
"He's strong, he's young, he's a healthy young man, and he's pulling through," Kaplan said.
Several dozen searchers with help from helicopters had been combing the rugged hills of Trabuco Canyon in the national forest.
Two volunteers got lost themselves and had to be airlifted out Wednesday afternoon. They were searching the area because the Sunday 911 call was traced to a nearby cell tower, Muir said.
Muir said earlier that Cendoya and Jack's "probability for survival is good" with mild weather both day and night.
The two were believed to have gone off trail near Holy Jim Trail, a tree-lined dirt path along a creek that leads to a waterfall and is popular with day hikers.
The area is in a section of the national forest in the Santa Ana Mountains, which 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.
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Associated Press writers Christopher Weber and Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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