Wearing only shorts and sweatshirts, they had water and food in their backpacks to sustain them as they waited.

It would be 19 hours before two Volcano Rescue Team members found them: Tired, but with no physical injuries — a relief for the 50-some searchers scouring rugged terrain in northeastern Clark County.

“It’s very satisfying to go out all night and find somebody,” said Mike McClain, one of the rescuers who found the girls.

The discovery of the girls resulted from search efforts that began Sunday evening, continued throughout the night and then into mid-morning. The girls, Liepa Braciulyte, 10, and Ieva Braciulyte, 7, were rescued Monday morning near the spot their father, Gintaras Jonas Braciulis, and 15-year-old brother, Saulius Braciulyte, were found the night before.

The family had embarked on a day hike on the Tarbell Trail from the Tarbell picnic area, beyond Hidden Falls and near Sturgeon Rock, on Sunday. The four were three miles down the trail, which is heavily forested, winding and steep. Assuming the girls were right behind him, the men walked ahead.

“All of a sudden, they realized, ‘Oh, they’re not right behind us,’ ” said Clark County Sheriff’s Sgt. Steve Shea.

That’s when the father and son started searching and they realized, they too, were lost. After several hours of searching, the father got reception on his cell phone and placed a 911 call.

Clark County Sheriff’s search and rescue members mounted the search shortly after 7:30 p.m. With the help of heat-sensing infrared technology and a global positioning system device, the father and son were located by airplane. Rescue hikers reached them three miles south of the Tarbell Picnic area. With the father’s direction, searchers kept looking for the girls.

The rescue swelled to include 14 agencies from Clark and Cowlitz counties and northern Oregon. With the help of the father and son, searchers combed an eight-mile radius southeast of the Tarbell picnic area, occasionally reaching higher peaks still covered with snow.

As many as 50 searchers scoured on foot, on horseback, on motorized vehicles and in helicopters.

At about 10:30 a.m., Volcano Rescue Team volunteers Tyler Komm and McClain reached the ravine south of Coyote Creek, about a mile off the trail. They periodically called the girls’ names as they pushed through the nearly waist-deep brush. That’s when they heard calls for help.

The rescuers followed the noises until they reached Liepa and Ieva, who they said were frightened at first. Komm and McClain assured them they were there to help.

After they walked the girls up the ravine, a paramedic checked them for injuries and drove them back to the Tarbell picnic area to reunite them with their father — a quiet occasion hidden from onlookers.

The family declined requests for an interview on Monday evening. The father said only that it was a sad incident with a happy ending, and that they were all planning on getting some much-needed sleep.

The girls were experienced hikers, Shea said, but hadn’t climbed the Tarbell Trail before. Yet, for the most part, they did what Shea advises all hikers to do after becoming lost:

“Once you realize you’re lost,” he said, “Stay put.”

Laura McVicker can be reached at 360-735-4516 or laura.mcvicker@columbian.com.