Two missing hikers were found safe near the snowy peaks of Mt. Baldy in the San Bernardino National Forest.

(Getty Images/Richard Par)

At a Glance

The two hikers had been missing since Saturday.Rescuers followed their footprints. The hikers rationed their food and built a fire to stay warm.

Two hikers were found safe four days after they went missing in the snowy Southern California mountains.

Co-workers Gabrielle Wallace, 31, and Eric Desplinter, 33, had not been heard from since Saturday when they failed to return from a hike up Cucamonga Peak near Mt. Baldy, located in the San Gabriel Mountains about 45 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

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Rescuers found them both safe by a campfire on Wednesday, after a search team spotted footprints and alerted a rescue helicopter to check the area, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office,

Desplinter told reporters after the rescue that he and Wallace were “perfectly fine,” with no injuries. He said the two had slipped on some ice and snow on the way to Cucamonga Peak, and decided to go back down through a valley instead of traversing the same slippery trail again.

“And that valley was more treacherous than we thought,” Desplinter said.

They built a fire, rationed their food drank water and “tried to stay as warm as possible,” CBS LosAngeles reported.

Another local TV station had previously reported that had been in their party but they backed out of the hike over concerns about the trail, according to the Associated Press.

The U.S. Forest Service says the most up to Cucamonga Peak is a 12-mile round trip that gains 4,300 feet in elevation. A second trail is closed this time of year to protect wildlife.

Search-and-rescue teams from six counties volunteered to help comb some 30 square miles of the mountains, according to the sheriff's department.