UPDATE: Officials say the missing hikers have been located and are safe.
The hikers are safe. One was able to get a cellular signal and made a call out.
___
ORIGINAL STORY: Emergency responders are actively searching a section of Big Soddy Creek Gulf for three hikers who have been missing in the area since yesterday.
The search for two men and a woman who came to hike the trail yesterday could cover 18 to 20 square miles today, authorities at the beginning of the trail said.