Family members called the San Diego County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Volunteers on Oct. 26 at around 2 p.m. to report her missing. They said they last heard from her via a text message at around 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 25, when she informed them she was going to hike near the Lake Morena campground in Campo.
San Diego County Parks and Recreation informed the deputies that the woman missed her checkout time at her cabin near Lake Morena. Her belongings were still in the cabin, and they found her vehicle at a nearby trailhead.
Volunteers fanned out in the backcountry as the sheriff’s helicopter conducted an aerial search. The San Diego County Parks and Recreation used an off-road vehicle on the trails, while the U.S. Border Patrol scoured the terrain with a two-member team and a rescue dog. A total of 30 Search and Rescue personnel were dispatched.
At around 10 p.m. on Oct. 26, volunteers found what were believed to be the woman’s shoe prints on a trail and followed them. They constantly called out into the night, hoping for a response.
At 4 a.m. the next day, they heard her yell back. Within an hour, around 5 a.m., they found her in a steep, rocky area about 10 miles from her vehicle.
Lieutenant Jeff Ford, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told The Epoch Times via email that the woman had wandered 500 yards off the trail.
“It appears that while she followed the initial trail she became disoriented as she tried to turn back and could not figure out the path she originally took. A trail will often look different once you turn around and go the opposite way and if you’re not paying attention to which fork in the trail you took, it’s easy to get confused,” Ford said.
He said the reason she was found in an elevated rocky area was likely that she was trying to get her bearings and look for familiar landmarks, a common response when a person is lost.
The Search and Rescue volunteers stayed with her until 8 a.m. when the helicopter airlifted her back to the Lake Morena campground.
Ford said the woman was “fatigued and dehydrated, but she was treated at the command post and released to her family. As far as I know, there were no lasting injuries.”
