Officials said Matthew Edwards, 33, and his girlfriend, Robin Gibson, 27, both of Wendell, Mass., were flown off the mountains in a helicopter and taken to Concrete at about 2:30 p.m.

Crews initially made contact with Edwards and Gibson at about 8:20 a.m., after they spent a final night alone in the mountains.

Stranded hikers Matthew Edwards and Robin Gibson of Wendell, Mass. (Photo courtesy of ABC News.)

The hikers had been stranded at about 8,000 feet elevation near Spire Point, northeast of Darrington, since Wednesday.

Edwards and Gibson had traveled to Washington to hike a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail through the Cascades, and officials said the two hikers took a wrong turn and were in over their heads while trying to descend the steep terrain.

They were climbing down on Wednesday when they lost their gear and found themselves trapped on an 18-inch ledge.

A helicopter from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Base tried to reach the hikers several times, but weather conditions prevented a rescue operation until Friday afternoon.

"We got to within two miles, but they're up on the face of a mountain so that's what's preventing the search," the pilot said.

The couple spent the night and most of Thursday on the ledge, cold and wet but not hypothermic, as initially reported. They were in contact via cell phone with rescue coordinators, who convinced the pair to move to a more stable area Thursday afternoon while they waited for rescuers to arrive.

Search crews began hiking in from a trailhead early Thursday, but the searchers who reached the pair first were dropped higher on the mountain by a helicopter when the weather partially cleared later in the day.