Lost Stone Mountain hikers are found safe

A search that began about 8 p.m. Friday for a man and woman reported missing at Stone Mountain State Park ended about 9:15 a.m. Monday when they were found on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Craig Edward Patterson, 47, and Julia Martinez, 35, both of Miami, Fla., flagged down a passing Parkway maintenance worker after hearing traffic and reaching the south side of the Parkway at Air Bellows Gap in Alleghany County, said state parks spokesman Charlie Peek.

They were dirty but in remarkably good spirits and not very scratched up, said Peek, adding that they apparently benefited from a strong mutual bond.

The two were found about six miles northwest of where they parked a 2000 Mercedes Benz to go hiking on the Widows Creek Falls Trail in the Wilkes County portion of the park Friday.

Peek said the two apparently spent most of the weekend following small streams and ravines and going east and west instead of following a trail as they gradually made their way north.

Although without fire, he said, they bedded down each night and spent one night beneath a rock overhang.

"They said they felt a little cool one night and that they thought they heard voices, possibly our searchers, last night."

The pair started out with a small can of candy, chewing gum and a bottle of water and ended up drinking from small headwater streams. Peek said the pair left with Patterson's father, J.R. Patterson, this morning.

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