[at-l] Missing Georgia Hikers

[David Addleton]

Two Hikers From Georgia Missing

POSTED: 10:36 am EST January 5, 2007
UPDATED: 10:42 am EST January 5, 2007

*http://www.wsbtv.com/news/10678907/detail.html?rss=atl&psp=news*
**
*CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. -- *Two Georgia men failed to return overnight from
hiking in a popular mountain recreational area, prompting a search hampered
by fog and rain, a Hamilton County Sheriff's Department spokesman said.

Ron Rice said Friday that a county search and rescue team was continuing to
look in an area known as the "pocket wilderness" on Mowbray Mountain for
Jordan Linger, 21, and John Lockley, 19, both of Fort Oglethorpe, Ga.

Rice said the two men left early Thursday for a daytime hike in the area
about 10 miles north of Chattanooga. He said one of them contacted a family
member by cellular telephone about noon Thursday, saying they were on top of
the mountain and planning to stop at some waterfalls as they returned.

Rice said the men are considered to be "`experienced outdoors people."

"We know they were OK at noon," he said. "They should have been home at 9 or
10 o'clock last night at the latest."

Rice said the men were reported missing just before midnight and the search
started less than an hour later.

He said although the 60-degree temperatures were unseasonably warm "with the
rain and everything it is going to be chilly."