OTTO -- Nine young hikers are safe following a dramatic helicopter rescue from the ledge in a western New York gorge where they spent the night after getting stranded.

State police say an Erie County sheriff's helicopter plucked the hikers, ages 17 to 21, from a ledge about 20 feet above the rain-swollen Cattauraugus Creek in the Zoar Valley on Monday morning.

Troopers say the group from suburban Buffalo was hiking Sunday when rising waters from heavy rainfall cut off their access to a trail leading out of the gorge, a popular hiking area located along the Erie-Cattaraugus county line 30 miles south of Buffalo.

Attempts to reach the group Sunday night were hampered by fog and darkness, and the rescue effort was put off until daylight.

All nine were being checked out at a local hospital.