"The good news is they were equipped with a cell phone, but unfortunately they were not equipped with much of anything else," said Emmit Kane, a fire department spokesmen.

Kane said the hikers were advised find a safe place to stay put before darkness fell. Meanwhile, a four-man rescue team of firefighters was assembled and flown to the trail by the fire department helicopter last night, Kane said.

"The wind and weather conditions were declining rapidly and our guys wound up having to hunker down overnight on the trail," Kane said.

The fire department helicopter was to resume the search at first light this morning but those plans were delayed a bit by wind and weather conditions.

After the weather cleared, the helicopter was launched and made three trips to bring out each of the hikers, their two dogs and the four Rescue 2 team members.

The hikers were cold, wet and muddy but were in relatively good physical condition and were released from the Waiau Fire Station after having their vital signs checked, Kane said.