FRESNO, Calif. (August 29, 2015) — Authorities say a missing hiker has been found alive after being lost for nine days in the rugged Sierra Nevada near a Central California wildfire.
A Fresno County Sheriff’s search and rescue team located Miyuki Harwood Saturday morning near a reservoir.
Sheriff’s spokesman Tony Botti said Harwood was hurt, but he didn’t know the extent of her injuries. She was airlifted to a hospital for medical evaluation.
Sheriff Margaret Sims says Harwood had no food and only a water filter that allowed her to drink from a creek. At one point, she had to crawl two days to find a source of water.
Harwood, who is from Orangevale in Sacramento County, separated from a group of hikers on Aug. 20.
The search for her was hampered by thick smoke from a wildfire that has burned 96 square miles in the Kings Canyon National Park.