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Emma Place moved from Colorado to Northeast Portland in 2008, when her dad, Kent Place, became lead pastor at First Covenant Church.

That year Emma Place met Emily Lang. The two would become best friends at Laurelhurst Elementary School then go on to St. Mary's Academy, graduating in 2016.

And while they would travel their separate ways after high school -- Place to Gonzaga University and Lang to Western Washington University – their friendship endured freshman year at college. They were to have gone on an overnight backpacking trip at Mount Hood on Saturday and return Sunday – 6 miles out, 6 miles back.

Instead, at 5:46 p.m. Saturday, another hiker called 911 to report seeing two bodies at the bottom of a rocky slope below a waterfall near the Timberline Trail/Pacific Crest Trail. The pair are believed to have set up a tent off trail, near Paradise meadow. The 911 caller descended to the victims, one of whom was dead, authorities said. Soon after, the other died.

On Tuesday night, the St. Mary's community came together for a memorial for Place and Lang, both 19.