SOUTHLAND : 3 Girls Rescued on Mountain

Three teen-age girls from Orange who got lost Monday while hiking during a church outing in the rugged Angeles National Forest were rescued by authorities at dawn today, unharmed but shaken from their night under lightning and thunder-filled skies.

The girls--identified as Debbie Johnson, 13, Kristen Lawrence, 14, and Christina Roberts, 15--spent the night huddled together under leaves and pine trees and required no medical attention, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bobby Denham at the Antelope Valley substation.

Other officers said the girls, camping with a Mormon church group from Orange, had left their campsite about 5 p.m. Monday bound for Jackson Lake, 1 1/2 miles away. On their return trip they ventured off the trail--intentionally--and became lost. By nightfall, Denham said, a “huge downpour” struck.

The girls heard a helicopter at daybreak and hiked to a clearing where they could be seen, Denham said. Members of the department’s volunteer search and rescue team found them at 7:15 a.m. near Inspiration Point, about a half-mile from the Angeles Crest Highway.