Dog found in search for missing California camper
BIG PINE, Calif. (AP) — Authorities searching Monday for a woman missing from a remote campground in California’s White Mountains found a small dog believed to be the pet that she had on a leash.
The dog matching the description of her pet was found alive about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) from the last known location of Sheryl Powell, 60, of Huntington Beach, the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office said.
Powell was reported missing by her husband on Friday.
Joseph Powell told authorities that after they selected a site in the Grandview Campground she took their small dog, Miley, for a walk while he repositioned their Jeep.
“This took five minutes or less but when he got back she and Miley were gone without a trace,” daughter Farrah Powell said in a GoFundMe campaign post that is raising money to assist in the search.
Powell’s husband reported he searched for almost an hour and then alerted law enforcement via a satellite device.
The White Mountains lie east of the Sierra Nevada range and northwest of Death Valley National Park. Grandview Campground is at an elevation of 8,600 feet (2,621 meters) near the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest, 230 miles (370 kilometers) north of Los Angeles.
“Challenges include multiple gullies, shale slopes, low shade, direct sun, and rattlesnakes,” a sheriff’s statement said.
It is prized by star gazers for sky vistas far from city lights, according to the Inyo National Forest. The nearest civilization is a 16-mile drive to the town of Big Pine down in Owens Valley.
A dozen search-andrescue teams, a rescue dog association and aircraft from the California Highway Patrol and Naval Air Station Lemoore have taken part in the search.
The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest has trees that are more than 4,000 years old, the oldest in the world.