This article notes that the group turned back from their hike at 8 am, but she went on ahead without them to the summit and then 2 hours later sent a text that she was out of water and in trouble.
I note that there is a bifurcation at one point in the trail returning to the parking lot. The northernmost branch is the Black Mountain Trail that heads into a residential street, Laurentian Drive. This is the one where she was found, "400 feet from the trail".
The more southern bifurcation heads towards the parking lot where presumably her vehicle and everyone else's were. That trail is called the Nighthawk Trail. It looks to be a bit shorter than Black Mountain Trail,
From the original description, my impression was that she and the group headed up on the Nighthawk Trail, but as she was left there without the group by the time she turned around, she probably took the Black Mountain trail back, which is really the dirt road to the group of transmission towers on the summit.
No word yet on if there was a buddy system in place to make sure that she had not been forgotten in the confusion about the group cutting the hike short.
She continued on the trail after the group she was with, which included around 100 family and friends, turned back around 8am local time. Around two hours later she called her family to say she was struggling in the heat and was desperate for water.
IMHO: There would have been more people with serious heat stroke risk had the group not turned around at 8 am when they did. 100 people is a massive number of people to try to keep track of on a hike and, due to the charitable nature of the hike, I would assume other hikers were also over 50 and especially at risk for heat stroke. Her clothing seems a bit heavy and constrictive rather than loose and billowy, inhibiting transpiration of fluid during sweating to help cool the skin.
San Diego police officer Dan Meyer said she had almost reached safety before collapsing.
“She was a quarter-mile away from a population, from reaching a street,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“She nearly made it out.”
She continued on the trail after the group she was with, which included around 100 family and friends, turned back around 8am local time. Around two hours later she called her family to say she was extremely hot and needed water.
San Diego police officer Dan Meyer said she had almost reached safety before collapsing.
“She was a quarter-mile away from a population, from reaching a street,” he told the San Diego Union-Tribune.
“She nearly made it out.”
Also noted:
One of the most common and deadly mistakes that hikers make is not carrying enough water, Mr Sanchez said. Despite its weight, "we want to see folks carrying gallons"
(A gallon of water weighs 8.34 pounds. In 95 degree heat, it would not be unreasonable to take 17 pounds worth of water per person)
Several heat-related deaths have been recorded this year, amid scorching temperatures across the country.
www.bbc.com
