DIABLO — A 31-year-old hiker who had been missing in the North Cascades National Park for six days was found tired and dehydrated Friday afternoon, about two miles from notes she had left for would-be rescuers.
Mary Hyde Wingfield, an administrative assistant at the heart center of Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, was picked up by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter crew from Bellingham at 2:30 p.m. She said she just got lost.
“I thought that possibly I wouldn’t make it,” she told KOMO-TV. She said she spent her days scrambling along the Stetattle Creek, drinking river water, eating berries and “feeling lost, but also hopeful. I wasn’t aware of all the effort that was going on, on my behalf.”
“She’s just a tough individual,” said the park’s chief ranger, Kinsey Schilling.
Wingfield was picked up by the helicopter about five miles from the trailhead at Diablo where she left her car, Schilling said.
About 30 searchers were looking for Wingfield with dogs when she was found, search spokesman Roy Zipp said. Her parents had flown from North Carolina to the area, Zipp said.
She failed to return from a day hike last weekend. Searchers this week found notes saying she was out of food and following the creek downstream.
Wingfield’s car was found about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the entrance of Stetattle Creek Trail.
Searchers discovered two shoe prints that matched Wingfield’s size and the make of shoe she may have been wearing. They also found a water bottle, a dental insurance card, a grocery store membership card and a note on her employer’s letterhead indicating she was in an emergency state without food or water.
Wingfield told a friend she was going hiking near Darrington last Friday and would return Sunday. By Tuesday, the friend had not heard from her and contacted police.
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