Teens Rescued From Angeles Forest Cliff

Two teen-age campers stranded overnight on a cliff in the Angeles National Forest were pulled to safety Saturday on a line lowered from a helicopter hovering overhead, authorities said.

The campers, both Eagle Scouts and experienced hikers, had begun firing a pistol hourly and lighting fires Friday night in an attempt to direct rescuers to their location on a cliff lined with waterfalls, said Deputy Kim Ruppert of the Altadena Mountain Rescue Team. Deputies didn’t spot the pair until about 6 a.m. Saturday.

“Due to the noise from the waterfalls, you couldn’t hear them. Due to the size of the cliffs around them, you couldn’t see the fire at night,” Ruppert said.

John Hamilton, 18, of Downey left Thursday with a 17-year-old male friend, whose name was not released, on an overnight outing in the Henniger Flats area four miles north of Altadena. Their parents became worried and called deputies when the pair failed to return on time Friday.