After nine days, cliff fall hiker is saved by whistle
A HIKER stranded in the Californian wilderness for nine days without food and with two broken legs was saved when rescuers heard her blowing a whistle.
Miyuki Harwood, 62, called the life- saving action her “last chance” after failing to attract the attention of the same group 24 hours earlier.
Fearing their efforts to find the missing hiker alive would end in failure, rescuers told of their disbelief when they saw her lying by a creek with only a coat to ward off the freezing night air.
The systems analyst was yesterday in hospital being treated for mild hypothermia, a broken left leg and right ankle and a back injury.
Ms Harwood, a very experienced hiker from Orangevale, near San Francisco, gave details of her feat of survival in a statement published on the local police website. In it she told how, six days into an eight- day camping trip with friends in the Sierra National Forest, she decided to return to camp alone after a long hike.
In the darkness she fell from a cliff, injuring both her legs.
After a freezing night at the foot of the cliff she crawled several miles to a river where she used her filter to clean a litre of water a day for drinking.
She watched rescue helicopters searching for her but could not make herself seen.
Eight days after losing her way, Ms Harwood thought her ordeal was over when she heard voices in the distance.
“On Friday there was a rescue team in the area and I blew my whistle, but they did not hear me.
“On Saturday I thought this was the last chance to do something for me to survive. I heard voices talking, so I blew my whistle again and they responded with my name.
“When I first saw them, it was a miracle and I was emotional.”
She is now at a medical centre in Fresno, where doctors described her condition as “stable”.
Ms Harwood’s survival was a triumph for rescuers, who battled through thick smoke from a nearby forest fire to find her.
Fifty people joined the search on foot and horseback, using dogs, helicopters and even a drone.
Fresno County sheriff’s deputy Jason Vinogradoff said it was his longest search and rescue operation with a successful ending: “It’s almost disbelief, because as the days go by you think I’m not sure how anybody can survive this.
“But it’s a breath of fresh air when you hear her voice and see her alive.”