I grew up in the coastal mountains of the Pacific Northwest and this information was just drilled into us but so many young people now, just go off on a trail in winter like it's a summer stroll without gear, food or water if they have a mishap. I do hope she is found safely and soon.
I would receive at least 1 assistance call/day requesting first aid, and about 1 assistance call/2 weeks to locate a lost or missing person; I knew my 800-acre patrol area (all the woods, prairie, rivers, creeks, wetlands, hills, valleys, trees, plants, wildlife living in certain areas, etc) like the back of my hand (I'm convinced I was an American Indian in a past life) and even with only a few clues I usually had a good idea of where the missing person was and could often locate them within an hour or so. BUT, it seems like only experienced hikers seemed to know that if they've requested help, just to stay in one place - not to leave the location! So many times I played what I called the 'Chase Me Game' - I had one case of a mom and her 10 year-old daughter; they had been hiking for well over 10 hours straight and were exhausted! Dispatch contacted me at 22:00hrs; their cell phone battery died while they were speaking to the 911 Comms Center operators (a team there are trained on how to elicit helpful, detailed responses by asking the lost person the right questions - and re-assuring them that they will be picked up soon by a Ranger). Their flashlights were dead (and it was a Moonless night), they had no map or compass, they we're eaten alive by mosquitoes during the day, now at night the temperature dropped considerably leaving them cold, they had run out of water hours earlier, they ran out of snacks, etc. I knew pretty much where they were, but I'd get to that spot - and they weren't there. I checked for a ways in each direction, but I still couldn't find them. I keep looking and looking - but I knew by then that these people had walked away from where they said they would be. I radioed in to dispatch and let them know that they must have moved,and if by some chance they gain just enough battery power back to make one more call that they need to stay exactly where they are. Well they did manage to call back around 1/2 hour later, and they had decided to walk to this one picnic shelter... So I get to that shelter, but they're either! (I could not believe it; here I am trying to help these folks, and they're making it really difficult for me to be able to do my job). My instincts told me that they would head a certain way to try and get back to the trail head; this is in fact what they did. I found them and picked them up I wrapped them in blankets, treated their terrible mosquito bites, gave them plenty of water, and then gave mom and her girl sandwiches/soup/chips/Gatorade, and then used the time on our drive back to educate them on how rescues work so the next time they get help faster! I just hope this young women who's lost has some idea on what to do in that scenario... These 'lost while hiking' incidents always make me think back to Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, the young Dutch students who died after getting lost in the Panamanian jungle (it is thought that they went off-trail for just a little ways, and got hopelessly turned around). Or, take the case of Geraldine “Gerry” Largay, a 66-year-old hiker who disappeared from the Appalachian Trail in July 2013: Gerry’s body had been found about 2,300 feet straight-on from a well-worn path known as Railroad Road, which intersects the Appalachian Trail and eventually becomes a public road. Gerry had been hiking alone, and had left the main trail for just a moment to attend to her personal business in the wooded area; from that point she could no longer find her way back to the trail... She died from inanition — exhaustion from lack of food and water due to prolonged environmental exposure. Sadly, she didn’t even know she was less than 300' away from help!
