Hikers rescued on Mount Olympus

The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office and Utah Department of Public Safety launched a double-team effort Tuesday night to search out and rescue hikers who lost their way on Mount Olympus.

The man and woman had apparently lost their way when they accidentally took a splinter trail on their way down from the steep mountain, which likely led them into an unfamiliar canyon area, said sheriff's Sgt. Jason Johnson.

"It's quite common on this trail that people take the wrong path coming down," Johnson said. "It's marked with signs, but still, you can only have so many signs up there."

A team in a helicopter located the pair after the couple used a cell phone to describe their surroundings to search teams. The chopper then dropped the team off at the nearest landing area, which was still a considerable distance away from the hikers, with orders to locate and walk the couple down.

Sheriff's officials also dispatched a second rescue crew, which started up the rugged mountain trail on foot around 8 p.m. as an added precautionary measure to find the couple.

By 9 p.m., at least one of the crews had located the couple and were escorting them down the mountain.

— Jacob Hancock