California sisters, 8 and 5, survived 44-hour ordeal by drinking fresh water from Huckleberry leaves

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Young sisters found alive after 2 days in the woods

The 8-year-old and 5-year-old sisters are reunited with their family after wandering away from their North California home.

Two young sisters who survived for 44 hours in the wilderness of Northern California before they were found alive on Sunday did so by using basic survival skills they learned at their local 4-H club.

Carolina Carrico, 5 and Leia Carrico, 8, were discovered around 10:30 a.m. by two firefighters who were able to follow their tracks and locate them, Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal told reporters.

"This is an absolute miracle," he said. "This is rugged territory, this is an extreme environment. How they were out there for 44 hours is pretty amazing."

Leia and Caroline are seen in this undated photo. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the two girls walked off into the wooded area nearby their home before being rescued on Sunday. (Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office)

The girls were found uninjured and "in good spirits" roughly 1.4 miles south of their home in Benbow, located about 70 miles south of Eureka in the northwest part of the state.

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Officials were able to locate the girls after Delbert Chumley and Abram Hill from the Piercy Volunteer Fire Department initially found their boot prints at 8:30 a.m. After following the tracks, the responders reached an area near Richardson Grove State Park and called out to the girls, who responded.

"The girls were located huddled together under a bush," the sheriff's office said. "The sisters were evaluated by medical personnel for dehydration and given water and warm, dry clothing."

The sisters told officials they were following a deer trail when they became lost.

"The two decided to stay put, drinking fresh water from Huckleberry leaves," officials said.

Leia and Caroline are seen in this undated photo.. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the two girls were reported missing on Friday. (Humboldt County Sheriff's Office)

The sisters were reunited with family shortly after being located, and could be seen being embraced in photos released by the sheriff's office.

Caroline and Leia Carrico are reunited with family members in this photo released by the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office. (Humboldt County Sheriff's Office)

Another photo of one of the girls posted by the sheriff's office and already being widely shared on social media shows Caroline Carrico wearing pink rubber boots, dirty jeans, a long pink shirt and a woolen cap.

Caroline Carrico is assessed by search crews after being lost in the Northern California wilderness for 44 hours. (Humboldt County Sheriff's Office)

She is standing while a firefighter kneels down and talks to her.

After being assessed by first responders, the girls were taken to the hospital for observation. Their mother shared a photo of the two having pizza in a hospital bed.

Leia and Caroline Carrico can be seen eating pizza in the hospital after being rescued after spending 44 hours lost in the Northern California wilderness. (Misty Carrico)

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More than 250 personnel from across the state responded to take part in the search for the girls, who were reported missing at 6 p.m. on Friday. The girl's mother, Misty Carrico, had noticed the two were gone roughly 30 minutes after they asked to go for a walk and were told no.

Delbert Chumley (right center) and Abram Hill (left center) from Piercy Volunteer Fire found Leia and Caroline 1.4 miles southeast of their Benbow home. They are seen in this photo released Sunday with Sgt. Kerry Ireland (left) and Sheriff William Honsal (right). (Humboldt County Sheriff's Office)

Lt. Mike Fridley said during a news conference Saturday that rescuers were hopeful about finding the girls after granola bar wrappers were found in the woods that matched the brand in the Carrico's residence that their mother said were recently purchased.

"So the wrappers showed us a direction from where they started to where the wrappers ended," Fridley said.

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Fridley said Sunday he was the one who got to call the girls' mother and tell them her daughters were alive.

"She melted on the phone," he said.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah and the Associated Press contributed to this report.