Monday morning we had just open up the store when a young lady came in saying,"I need help, I'm lost." I asked her where she was trying to get to. She said," I can't find my car."She said," she had parked inside the gate last night and gone for a hike and got lost." I knew there were no unattended cars left in the park overnight. Come to find out she had parked at a hikers parking area about 4 miles from the park an hour before dark, got turned around and got lost.
She had walked all night, 14 hours, with temps down to 42 degrees with nothing but tennis shoes, short shorts, a tee shirt and light sweater. The only "gear "she brought with her was one bottle of water. She had a cell phone but there is no signal in this area. She was dehydrated and her legs were all cut up from walking in the dark.
She pretty much broke every rule of hiking. No gear, didn't know where she was or where she was going. Had notified no one where she was going or returning.
After we got her hydrated and warmed up we figured where her car was. I drove her to her car and asked her if she had thought about stopping and building a fire, even though I doubt she had the ability, and she said," She was scared to stop so she just walked all night.''
She got lucky that there was no rain that night, if she had gotten wet she could of gone hypothermic. The Ranger said,"this time of year is most dangerous because its warm during the day and people get caught out at night with falling temps. and are not prepared.
