Rangers Rescue Stranded Hikers

(AP)  Park rangers rescued four hikers Wednesday who had become stranded in snow in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One had to be airlifted to a hospital.

The sick hiker, Matthew Shultz, was in good condition after he was taken by helicopter to University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville as a precaution, Great Smoky Mountains National Park spokesman Bob Miller said. He had been showing signs of hypothermia, including vomiting and slurred speech.

The others, identified as Ivan Saldarriaga, Brian Hendrick and Ryan McCall, were well enough to walk out of the mountains with rangers after spending the night huddled in a three-sided shelter. The hikers, ages 18-20, are from North Carolina but their hometowns were not released.

The men started out during good weather Sunday with plans to hike the 71 miles of the Appalachian Trail in the park.

However, they were ill equipped when rain started falling Monday and then turned to snow, authorities said. A group of backpackers came across them at a shelter Tuesday. Two of the backpackers went for help while the others stayed with the stranded hikers.

About 8 inches of snow was on the ground by the time six backpackers came across the four hikers about noon Tuesday. Four backpackers stayed with them and the other two went for help.

Gray said park officials were assembling litter teams in case anyone needed to be carried out and had put a rescue helicopter on standby.

The park straddles the line between North Carolina and Tennessee and is the most visited of the national parks.