Polk and Henderson rescue crews and helicopters from Mission Hospital and the N.C. Highway Patrol spent Wednesday evening searching for two Georgia kayakers who spent the afternoon on the Green River and did not check in with loved ones.
The kayakers emerged from the woods at Fishtop Mountain where their truck was parked with no injuries, according to Polk County dispatch.
Ryan Roth and Matt Holbrook parked their truck at Fishtop, and Roth’s father dropped them off at a trailhead on Big Hungry Road in Henderson County for a day of kayaking. When the men did not call that night to say they were okay, Roth’s father called police and drove back to North Carolina from Georgia.
Rescue crews suspended the search until daybreak and found the kayakers walking out of the woods at 4 a.m. Thursday, according to dispatch officials.