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

[Herat]

When Christopher Gutierrez went to check in on his remote camping resort after a long, snowy winter in the High Sierra, he was met with a shocking discovery — a starving hiker holed up inside one of his cabins.The woman, 27-year-old Tiffany Slaton from Jeffersonville, Ga., had been missing in the Fresno County wilderness for almost three weeks.

Missing camper ‘miraculously’ found alive after surviving weeks in snowy California’s High Sierra

CLARA HARTER Los Angeles Times LOS ANGELES — When Christopher Gutierrez went to check in on his remote camping resort after a long, snowy winter in the High Sierra, he was met with a shocking discovery — a starving hiker holed up inside one of his cabins. The woman, 27-year-old Tiffany Slaton...

www.poncacitynews.com

Again, it makes me wonder what she thought she would find in the closed hot springs resort. May might be a warm month in the south but in the higher levels of the Sierra it is always a false spring, always prone to sudden and devastating storms that can and do bring snow showers.

 

[haggis]

I would love to hear her story.

However, it is too soon and too much. She's been through a great big trauma. She needs a lot of personal and private time to work this out and to work things out with her family and friends.

I'll bet there will be people out there wanting to make money off of her story and she may be receiving offers to tell her story. However, we have all seen what happens when a private person reveals details about a major event in their lives. They get picked apart by social media and the contingent of anonymous people who will want to criticize and degrade her will be awful. The author loses complete control over their words and the nasty things people can say seem to live longer than the kind, positive things.

I'll be here with support and awe at her accomplishments when she wants to talk, but not in a public arena and not in a place where the media tears creates havoc.

So thankful she is found alive and well, and wiser for the experience.

@Herat Didn't mean right away! And only suggested because of everything we've read about her character and spirit. As for media, it's a big story here for us, but not sure if there would be much ongoing media interest now that she's been found.

 

[Herat]

@Herat Didn't mean right away! And only suggested because of everything we've read about her character and spirit. As for media, it's a big story here for us, but not sure if there would be much ongoing media interest now that she's been found.

Yes, you're right @haggis.

Maybe in 6 months or so.

I'll be here with my list of questions.

 

[haggis]

Yes, you're right @haggis.

Maybe in 6 months or so.

I'll be here with my list of questions.

Me too! Thanks

 

[imstilla.grandma]

"I may never do a vacation longer than three days ever again." ​

Woman found alive after being missing 3 weeks in California mountains speaks out

Tiffany Slaton speaks out after being surviving in the California mountains for nearly three weeks.

abcnews.go.com

 

[CrimeDawg123]

I wish they wouldn't say "miraculously found alive". I don't think there is anything miraculous about it. She seems to be a very tenacious, strong woman and he is a cautious, experienced PCT/JMT property owner. Calling it miraculous takes away from their skills and fortitude. This was a blessed meeting of smart, wonderful people.

 

[Herat]

"I may never do a vacation longer than three days ever again." ​

Woman found alive after being missing 3 weeks in California mountains speaks out

Tiffany Slaton speaks out after being surviving in the California mountains for nearly three weeks.

abcnews.go.com

There is an awful lot to process here and I'm not clear on exactly what happened, or when, but this is what I hear:

1. Fell off a cliff ( was that on the steep sections of Kaiser Pass Road) Did she end up at the bottom of the cliff and then proceed from there?
2. Unconscious for 2 hours after the fall
3. Hurt both legs and was unable to walk
4. Had to create a splint for one leg
5. Unable to get a 911 signal, but phone could tell her where the nearest Starbucks was
6. Ran out of food after 5 days
7. Had encounter with wild animals, unspecified.
8. Avalanche took out some of the road and she had to proceed a different route that involved 11,000 ft peaks
9. Lost her sleeping bags
10. Boiled wild leeks and pine needles for food.y

I am so confused. Why did she not return the way she came? Did she lose the bike and trailer? Did she intend to head to Mono Springs or Vermillion Valley.

I'm glad she's fine but this is a lot of trauma and confusion in understanding her intent.

 

[CrimeDawg123]

There is an awful lot to process here and I'm not clear on exactly what happened, or when, but this is what I hear:

1. Fell off a cliff ( was that on the steep sections of Kaiser Pass Road) Did she end up at the bottom of the cliff and then proceed from there?
2. Unconscious for 2 hours after the fall
3. Hurt both legs and was unable to walk
4. Had to create a splint for one leg
5. Unable to get a 911 signal, but phone could tell her where the nearest Starbucks was
6. Ran out of food after 5 days
7. Had encounter with wild animals, unspecified.
8. Avalanche took out some of the road and she had to proceed a different route that involved 11,000 ft peaks
9. Lost her sleeping bags
10. Boiled wild leeks and pine needles for food.y

I am so confused. Why did she not return the way she came? Did she lose the bike and trailer? Did she intend to head to Mono Springs or Vermillion Valley.

I'm glad she's fine but this is a lot of trauma and confusion in understanding her intent.

I'm not clear on it either. Did she get knocked off the cliff in an avalanche? She splinted her leg but was it broken?

Also not sure it was mentioned but the sunglasses are probably because she suffered a little snow blindness. Just guessing.

 

[Hexe]

I'm not clear on it either. Did she get knocked off the cliff in an avalanche? She splinted her leg but was it broken?

And how comes she can stand during this press conference or whatever it is, after she had to put one knee in splinter and pop the other knee back in place?

 

[Motoman_90]

How's she know she was unconscious for 2 hours?

 

[Herat]

How's she know she was unconscious for 2 hours?

A watch or phone, I'd guess

 

[Herat]

Nice to know Gutierrez had left a sleeping bag in the cabin.

Maybe next time leave some cans of beef stew, spaghtti-os and such along with a can opener,

 

[imstilla.grandma]

https://www.facebook.com/vvr.edisonlake/posts/pfbid0jVyTpqou9QiArrhXN8WB1zjW818iAUsqfSD4qgGoFU8xvFDPzvdFThEkorhh9cpl

 

[Motoman_90]

A watch or phone, I'd guess

Yeah just re read the post above were it says she couldn't phone 911 but it told her where Starbucks was

 

[imstilla.grandma]

“The worst thing that you can do in an emergency situation is panic,” she said. “I’m a traveling dialysis technician and an archery coach by trade. I didn’t want to panic. In the first five days, I was still ready for my vacation.

“I had some of Fresno’s best citrus, which is funny because I’m kind of allergic to it, but I did have food to begin with. I’m a trained permaculturalist. That means I’m very good at foraging and helping people not to go to the grocery store in very rural areas, and the Sierra’s has a large selection of leeks that is hard to find in other places.”

According to the Food Network, leeks are a bulbous, elongated vegetable within the Allium family, closely related to onions, garlic, and scallions.

“I managed to survive off of these leeks and boiling the snow melt for a very long period of time.

Tiffany Slaton, middle, with her dad, Bobby, and mom, Fredrina​

https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article306590421.html

 

[appleatcha]

5. Unable to get a 911 signal, but phone could tell her where the nearest Starbucks was

Where did you see that her phone could tell her where the nearest Starbucks was? I'm having a hard time finding that.

 

[Knox]

Slaton said she’s thankful for the Vermillion Resort for giving her an opportunity to live. She was only there eight hours before being found.

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article306590421.html#storylink=cpy

Wait, so Tiffany was without shelter for how long? Was she riding her bike when she fell off the cliff? If not I guess the bike and trailer is still on the side of the road somewhere? Maybe they found it but I haven’t seen that stated.

 

[Knox]

Where did you see that her phone could tell her where the nearest Starbucks was? I'm having a hard time finding that.

Slaton said she couldn’t get back on the road because the main road was blocked due to an avalanche. She said she attempted to call 911 five times. One of the closest businesses from where she went missing was a Starbucks about 18 miles away.

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article306590421.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Herat]

A closed head injury with a period of unconsciousness of 2 hours is a significant neurotrauma

I wonder if she has associated memory loss and that is why some of this is not being relayed in a linear temporal sense.

I truly do hope she has no longt-term adverse health issues from this very traumatic accident and event. She is a remarkably resourceful and vital person and it is endearing to hear her story, however fragmented at this time.

 

[Herat]

Slaton said she’s thankful for the Vermillion Resort for giving her an opportunity to live. She was only there eight hours before being found.

Read more at: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article306590421.html#storylink=cpy

Wait, so Tiffany was without shelter for how long? Was she riding her bike when she fell off the cliff? If not I guess the bike and trailer is still on the side of the road somewhere? Maybe they found it but I haven’t seen that stated.

I am really unclear as to how long she was without shelter, too. She seems to have had a cooking pot and a heat source, likely a small backpacking stove and liquid fuel, so she was able to come away from the accident with some of her gear. I have a feeling she was able to retrieve the tent, too.

I put this together as she, the bike and the trailer all went over the cliff, so likely her bike and her trailer is at the bottom of a steep ravine.

I'm assuming the bike was too damaged to be able to ride it and she really had to endure this all on foot. I hope she had a waterproof boot with her, not just trail runners or something like that.