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Lost Hikers Rescued Near Los Gatos

LOS GATOS (BCN) -- Three lost hikers were rescued by park rangers in the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve near Los Gatos on Sunday night, according to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, which manages the preserve.

The hikers, all men in their 20s, began their hike around noon and called 911 from a cell phone at about 6:30 p.m. after wandering off trail and becoming lost, according to the park district.

Park rangers began a search using the limited information provided by the hikers before they lost contact.

With the assistance of a California Highway Patrol helicopter, rangers located the men at 10:50 p.m. near the Priest Rock Trail and transported them outside preserve grounds.

The men were evaluated by emergency responders and were released, according to the district.

Members of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol, Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation and the Santa Clara County Fire Department assisted in the rescue, and the Open Space District praised their cooperation.

"The way all of the agencies came together was fantastic," the
district's acting Supervising Ranger Mike Perez said in a statement.

With more than 17,000 acres with 26 miles of trail, the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve is the largest of the 26 preserves owned and managed by the district.

"We were able to locate the hikers despite the fact that they were off trail in our largest preserve and we did not have a good location for them," said Perez, who was the incident commander during the search.

According to the district, this is the third search-and-rescue
operation involving district rangers in the past two weeks.

On Feb. 9, five lost hikers were rescued in the El Corte de Madera Creek Open Space Preserve. Two days later, four lost mountain bikers were rescued near Saratoga.

(© 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report)

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