An eight-year-old girl, Leia Carrico and her five-year-old sister, Caroline, were lost after following a deer trail near their home in Northern California.

When they left their home, they had snacks and rubber boots but they went further than they intended until they were lost in the wilderness.

The young sisters disappeared Friday and the search began soon afterward. The National Guard was involved, as were firefighters, helicopters, military agencies and search and rescue dogs.

The girls were in danger from the start but as the hours continued to tick away, they were in danger of hypothermia, dehydration and starvation. The area of the wilderness where they were lost is an extreme environment.

Thankfully, the girls both were involved in a local 4-H club and they had some survival experience. Those skills were proving to be invaluable to their survival through the days and nights that they were missing.

The breakthrough came when firefighters found a trail of granola bar wrappers and boot prints in the woods about 44 hours after they disappeared. That trail showed up about 1 1/2 miles from their home.

“The wrappers showed us a direction from where they started to where the wrappers ended up at,” Lt. Mike Fridley said.

They were found together, huddling under a bush and they had a story to tell that is incredible.