Desperate hunt in US for two sisters who went missing after walking into the woods

Leia Carrico, 8, and Caroline Carrico, 5, are missing from Benbow, Humboldt County. Photo / Supplied

Police in the US are searching for two missing sisters who disappeared after walking off into the woods near their California home.

Eight-year-old Leia Carrico and her five-year-old sister Caroline Carrico were last seen at their home in Benbow, north west of Sacramento, on Friday at 2.30pm.

Before they disappeared, the girls had asked their mother if they could go for a walk.

Granola bars found in the woods are thought to be from the girls. Photo / Supplied

The distraught mother says she told the pair they couldn't go into the wooded area near their houise but soon noticed they had gone.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office said they were notified of their disappearance at about 6pm.

Authorities said they've seen no indication of foul play. Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal called the family "fully cooperative. But we're not ruling out anything."

Authorities were going house-to-house. "We don't know. We don't know where these girls are," Honsal said.

Teams from Mendocino County, Napa County, Del Norte County, State Parks, National Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Southern Humboldt Technical Rescue, CAL FIRE, the Sheriff's Search and Rescue Posse were involved with the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office in the search efforts.

Authorities were unable to find the girls during their search on Friday night and continued searching the rugged terrain first thing Saturday.

Shoe prints and granola bars were found in the search area on Saturday, according to Humboldt County Sheriff's Lt. Mike Fridley.

The mother of the two girls told authorities she had only just purchased that same brand of granola bars.

"We found some clues. We found some granola bar wrappers, and we confirmed with the mum" that they were wrappers of granola bars she purchased," Fridley said.

"We have a lot of clues as to the direction they went.

"It's a chess game," he said, of trying to figure out where the girls are at.

"We have over 100 personnel from across the state assisting in this search, including multiple air resources, ground teams, and canine teams."