CA CA - Tiffany Slaton, 27, camping alone in Huntington Lake area, Fresno County, 20 Apr 2025

[Tired Professor]

Wouldn’t it be amazing if she simply couldn’t contact her family because there is no reception? But would she worry them that way, doesn’t sound like it.

Holding out hope for a happy ending.

I keep hoping for the same. I have never been to Shaver Lake but I did go to Huntington Lake once, years ago. I was amazed by how remote it is, and remember not having any phone reception while I was there.

 

[Biggles]

I rarely visit websleuths anymore so I hope it's ok to share this article from a local (Fresno) outlet - it seemed to do a good job of humanizing Tiffany.

What's concerning to me is the amount of time that's elapsed since the last confirmed sighting. For a gregarious, athletic person, it seems like she must be some place quite inaccessible or somewhat distant from any road or trail. Hopefully she's had a source of water, and is just unable to seek help but is alive and awaiting rescue.

 

[Protectwomenandgirls]

Why are they searching at Huntington if she was last seen at Shaver Lake? Phone pings, witness siting? Where was her vehicle located? No description?

She was seen at both Shaver Lake and Huntington Lake. The current search area is in between those lakes.

Not sure why they aren't looking towards Mono Hot Springs? She said she was planning to go there.

Can't find any info about a vehicle. Sounds like she was working in the area, so maybe just had her bike?

 

[MinnyPin]

Looks like she was Indiana Tech’s Head Archery Coach.

Slaton To Lead Tech's Archery Program - Indiana Tech Athletics

FORT WAYNE, Ind. – Tiffany Slaton has been tabbed as the head coach of the Indiana Tech Archery program, Director of Athletics Jessie Biggs announced.

indianatechwarriors.com

 

[no greed]

I wonder if she had a phone?

Evidently she has a phone and was in contact with her parents via it on April 20th. She missed a conference call on April 21 and has not responded since. The area she was in is rural, high elevation, and mountainous. Cell phone connectivity can be spotty or not available. Her father reported that she was planning to explore the Mono Hot Springs area. OnApril 24th police say her tent was spotted at Tamarak Snow-Park campground. This is about halfway between Shaver and Huntington Lakes. LE also report spottings near China Peak and Huntington Lake. They did not give a date for these spottings but I assume they were after April 24. This would be consistent with travel toward Mono Hot Springs that are approximately 40 miles NE of Huntington Lake. I am concerned that this would be a difficult 40 miles on an electric bike with elevations exceeding 9,000 feet. Supplies would be difficult or unable to obtain after Huntington lake. The Mono Springs Resort web site says they are closed for the winter until Memorial Day weekend. The springs are natural and available to explore, but are probably flooded in late April and early May. This is not the time of year that many people would be in this area. I sure hope Tiffany was persuaded to change her plans by people she encountered who had local knowledge of the MonoHot Springs area.

 

[sunflowermomma]

Just speculating, there are so many different trails around and between the two lakes, I wonder how easy it is to get onto the wrong trail and head a completely different way. If she was biking she could have covered a lot of ground in little time and be way out of the searching area.

 

[mlhenn]

Who is Tiffany Slaton? Woman vanished two weeks ago on "bucket list" trip

A Georgia family is pleading for answers after their daughter disappeared in California's Sierra National Forest.

www.newsweek.com

Her family said the trip was planned as a final personal adventure before entering medical school.

Search and rescue officials reported sightings of her tent and received witness accounts of conversations with Tiffany around the Huntington Lake and China Peak areas.

 

[mlhenn]

'There’s no end to this' | Twiggs County family distraught after daughter goes missing in California

Tiffany Slaton was last seen near Huntington Lake in the Sierra National Forest northeast of Fresno, California where she was camping.

www.13wmaz.com

Twiggs County parents cling to hope for daughter lost in California wilderness

Bobby and fredrina slaton are on an active search for their daughter who's missing across the country27- year- old tiffany slaton has been missing in fresno cal

wgxa.tv

A couple more articles

 

[jillolantern]

Just speculating, there are so many different trails around and between the two lakes, I wonder how easy it is to get onto the wrong trail and head a completely different way. If she was biking she could have covered a lot of ground in little time and be way out of the searching area.

But why would have led to her disappearance? Shouldn't that circumstance just lead to her appearance in an unplanned location?

 

[Pharmer]

We have a family cabin in Shaver Lake and we've spent a lot of days at China Peak near Huntington Lake.

The easiest route between Shaver and Huntington Lake is via Highway 168. There's a lot of elevation gain between the two lakes and it would be a strenuous ride with 2,500+ ft of elevation gain, even for an ebike.

An alternate route between Shaver and Huntington Lake is via Huntington Lake Rd through Big Creek. This is a windy road that descends down to Big Creek, then back up to Huntington Lake, also with a large elevation gain for a bike.

There are a ton of fire roads between the two lakes, but a lot of them end up meeting back with other main fire roads. Southern California Edison (power company) owns a lot of the land up there. There are a lot of utility trucks and employees on the highway and main fire roads this time of year around Shaver Lake. The highway is somewhat up on a ridge between the two lakes. If you get off course on the north/west side of the highway, it's a steep descent down into the town of Big Creek. If you get off course to the south/east side of the highway, you would likely end up back at Shaver Lake.

Shaver Lake has a volunteer fire department, a sheriff's substation and a seasonal ambulance substation. There are a few grocery stores, a hardware/sporting goods store, restaurants, and a gas station that are open year-round if she needed something.

Cell reception is decent throughout the area for Verizon and it's okay for AT&T.

Mono Hot Springs is another large trek from Huntington Lake via Kaiser Pass Rd. It's an additional 2,500+ ft of elevation gain, another strenuous ride on a bike. There are a few dry campgrounds off of Kaiser Pass Rd before making it to Mono Hot Springs.

Tamarack is a small neighborhood of cabins about halfway between Shaver and Huntington with fire roads that take you to the south side of China Peak, to lakes like Strawberry Lake and Red Lake. South of this area is "Dinkey Lakes". These areas are popular for rural backpacking and rock crawling, but still pretty quiet this time of year. But this is all the opposite direction of Mono Hot Springs.

I think I would rule out sightings in Big Creek, Tamarack and Dinkey Creek first. Then focus on Kaiser Pass Rd. If they are sure she made it to Huntington Lake, then I would focus only on Kaiser Pass Rd and the surrounding areas towards Mono Hot Springs.

Mammoth Pool, Edison and Florence would also be areas you would want to rule out if she made it to Huntington Lake.

 

[Knox]

Twiggs County parents cling to hope for daughter lost in California wilderness

Bobby and fredrina slaton are on an active search for their daughter who's missing across the country27- year- old tiffany slaton has been missing in fresno cal

wgxa.tv

I'm beginning to worry that Tiffany has had an accident, possiblity of foul play is also a concern.

@Pharmer - thank you for all the details in your post. So many beautiful and familar places - I hope they are able to find Tiffany. From what I've read, she would never go 20 days without contacting her family

 

[Herat]

Twiggs County parents cling to hope for daughter lost in California wilderness

Bobby and fredrina slaton are on an active search for their daughter who's missing across the country27- year- old tiffany slaton has been missing in fresno cal

wgxa.tv

I'm beginning to worry that Tiffany has had an accident, possiblity of foul play is also a concern.

@Pharmer - thank you for all the details in your post. So many beautiful and familar places - I hope they are able to find Tiffany. From what I've read, she would never go 20 days without contacting her family

I think this is mountain lion territory, as well as bear territory.

A mountain lion would be capable of stalking a solo person and attacking by stealth. I'm worried about something like that.

 

[truthfinder2019]

Bobby (her father) says they believe she got off the beaten path or is injured.

"They are wanting to make sure that they rule out foul play, so we don't feel like something menacing has happened. We just think she's made a wrong turn, or maybe even had a bike accident, or twisted her ankle

Twiggs County parents cling to hope for daughter lost in California wilderness

Bobby and fredrina slaton are on an active search for their daughter who's missing across the country27- year- old tiffany slaton has been missing in fresno cal

wgxa.tv

 

[mlhenn]

Twiggs County parents cling to hope for daughter lost in California wilderness

Bobby and fredrina slaton are on an active search for their daughter who's missing across the country27- year- old tiffany slaton has been missing in fresno cal

wgxa.tv

From there, Tiffany decided to knock something off her bucket list to see a hot spring and go solo camping.

Are there more popular hot springs in the area than others? A specific hot spring she may have been trying to get to?

 

[Herat]

Twiggs County parents cling to hope for daughter lost in California wilderness

Bobby and fredrina slaton are on an active search for their daughter who's missing across the country27- year- old tiffany slaton has been missing in fresno cal

wgxa.tv

From there, Tiffany decided to knock something off her bucket list to see a hot spring and go solo camping.

Are there more popular hot springs in the area than others? A specific hot spring she may have been trying to get to?

Mono Hot Springs

There looks to be a main hot pool, a nearby river, a campground, and a small resort complex. As poster @no greed mentions, the resort says they are closed for the winter and it certainly could be that the outdoor pool is flooded with surging spring melt from the adjacent upper San Joaquin River.

Evidently she has a phone and was in contact with her parents via it on April 20th. She missed a conference call on April 21 and has not responded since. The area she was in is rural, high elevation, and mountainous. Cell phone connectivity can be spotty or not available. Her father reported that she was planning to explore the Mono Hot Springs area. OnApril 24th police say her tent was spotted at Tamarak Snow-Park campground. This is about halfway between Shaver and Huntington Lakes. LE also report spottings near China Peak and Huntington Lake. They did not give a date for these spottings but I assume they were after April 24. This would be consistent with travel toward Mono Hot Springs that are approximately 40 miles NE of Huntington Lake. I am concerned that this would be a difficult 40 miles on an electric bike with elevations exceeding 9,000 feet. Supplies would be difficult or unable to obtain after Huntington lake. The Mono Springs Resort web site says they are closed for the winter until Memorial Day weekend. The springs are natural and available to explore, but are probably flooded in late April and early May. This is not the time of year that many people would be in this area. I sure hope Tiffany was persuaded to change her plans by people she encountered who had local knowledge of the MonoHot Springs area.

Mono Hot Springs

California is blessed to have its fair share of hot springs, many of which are found in and around the Sierra Nevada. The riverside pools of Mono Hot Springs are perhaps the most remote of these springs still accessible by car. Located on the banks of the South Fork of the San Joaquin River on...

www.outdoorproject.com

 

[Herat]

Just thinking of the missing Tiffany Slaton and her mother Fredrina and dad Bobby on this Mother's Day.

 

[no greed]

We have a family cabin in Shaver Lake and we've spent a lot of days at China Peak near Huntington Lake.

The easiest route between Shaver and Huntington Lake is via Highway 168. There's a lot of elevation gain between the two lakes and it would be a strenuous ride with 2,500+ ft of elevation gain, even for an ebike.

An alternate route between Shaver and Huntington Lake is via Huntington Lake Rd through Big Creek. This is a windy road that descends down to Big Creek, then back up to Huntington Lake, also with a large elevation gain for a bike.

There are a ton of fire roads between the two lakes, but a lot of them end up meeting back with other main fire roads. Southern California Edison (power company) owns a lot of the land up there. There are a lot of utility trucks and employees on the highway and main fire roads this time of year around Shaver Lake. The highway is somewhat up on a ridge between the two lakes. If you get off course on the north/west side of the highway, it's a steep descent down into the town of Big Creek. If you get off course to the south/east side of the highway, you would likely end up back at Shaver Lake.

Shaver Lake has a volunteer fire department, a sheriff's substation and a seasonal ambulance substation. There are a few grocery stores, a hardware/sporting goods store, restaurants, and a gas station that are open year-round if she needed something.

Cell reception is decent throughout the area for Verizon and it's okay for AT&T.

Mono Hot Springs is another large trek from Huntington Lake via Kaiser Pass Rd. It's an additional 2,500+ ft of elevation gain, another strenuous ride on a bike. There are a few dry campgrounds off of Kaiser Pass Rd before making it to Mono Hot Springs.

Tamarack is a small neighborhood of cabins about halfway between Shaver and Huntington with fire roads that take you to the south side of China Peak, to lakes like Strawberry Lake and Red Lake. South of this area is "Dinkey Lakes". These areas are popular for rural backpacking and rock crawling, but still pretty quiet this time of year. But this is all the opposite direction of Mono Hot Springs.

I think I would rule out sightings in Big Creek, Tamarack and Dinkey Creek first. Then focus on Kaiser Pass Rd. If they are sure she made it to Huntington Lake, then I would focus only on Kaiser Pass Rd and the surrounding areas towards Mono Hot Springs.

Mammoth Pool, Edison and Florence would also be areas you would want to rule out if she made it to Huntington Lake.

Thank you for your posting and knowledge of the area Tiffany is in. You mentioned Shaver Lake area having supplies available. How about north of there. Would Huntington Lake area have stores and supplies in April and May? How about further north going out Kaiser Road? Do you have any knowledge of the cell phone coverage in these areas? Any idea how populated those areas are this time of the year? It is very concerning she has not been found. You have excellent suggestions on areas to be searched.

 

[borndem]

https://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/local-news/woman-missing-camping-huntington-lake/

Just look at that smile! Hoping for good news.

 

[sunflowermomma]

Anyone know how long she was originally planning to camp? It's been 21 days. She likely had supplies to treat drinking water and it's possible she was carrying enough food to ration for this long. Hoping for good news soon.

 

[mlhenn]

Fresno County Sheriff's Office

Camper Remains Missing, Active Search Continues Name: Tiffany Slaton Age: 27 Height: 5’10” Weight: 125 lbs. Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Tiffany Slaton of Jeffersonville, Georgia went camping alone in...

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