Rescuers found a 71-year-old hiker alive after a three-day search in the northern California wilderness. A chance encounter with a local guide company, Skunk Train, saved her life.
A 71-year-old hiker was rescued after being lost for three days in the northern California backcountry (Photo: Smileus/Getty Images)
Published March 23, 2026 12:30PM
Guides leading a tour group on an old stretch of railway found a missing 71-year-old hiker on March 18 in a remote, heavily wooded part of Northern California. The woman, whose name has not been released, had been lost without food or water for three days.
Xochitl Villa, a guide for the electric rail bike company Skunk Train, told the San Francisco Chronicle that she heard the woman yelling for help when the group stopped for lunch at Camp Noyo. The remote redwood forest campground is currently closed to the public and typically unstaffed in the spring.
“She was like, ‘Please help me. Please help me. I’ve been lost in the woods since Sunday morning,” Villa told the publication. “She [was] just really scared that she’s gonna end up dying in the forest.”
Skunk Train takes tourists on guided adventures on electric railbikes—pedal-powered carts that travel on railroad tracks that have been decommissioned or are rarely used by trails.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) wrote in a press release that the woman had set out for a hike on March 15 at the Chamberlain Creek Waterfall Trail, a two-mile out-and-back trail near Comptche. The trailhead is about three hours north of San Francisco. Search and rescue personnel, along with volunteers, had been searching the area when they received an activation from a satellite-based SOS device that Skunk Train had initiated.
Villa told the San Francisco Chronicle that the woman had cracked lips, cut feet, and pine needles in her hair. The woman said she was hearing voices—sometimes mistaking the sound of a mosquito or fly for a human—and wasn’t sure the guide’s voices were genuine.
“I don’t think she had another day left in her, honestly,” Villa said. “She was exhausted.”
Villa said the woman told her she had planned on just a 30-minute hike, but became lost when the trail was overgrown. She lacked a phone, medications, and other supplies, and wore only a T-shirt and a thin flannel. The woman reportedly sheltered in hollow redwood stumps at night and buried her feet in the dirt to stay warm. She said she forced herself to stay awake so that she wouldn’t become hypothermic in her sleep.
The Chamberlain Trail is located in the Jackson Demonstration State Forrest, a 50,000-acre old-growth redwood wilderness area between Willits and Fort Bragg. The Mendocino County Tourism Commission notes that the region is remote with minimal signage and no cell service.
Skunk Train describes its 25-mile Noyo excursion as a strenuous, lengthy trip that can be quite chilly during the cooler months. Nighttime temperatures in the area can drop into the 40s.
MSCO Captain Quincy Cromer said that the woman was in good spirits and uninjured when they found her. Medical personnel evaluated her and brought her back to her vehicle.
“The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Skunk Train railbike guides for their assistance in locating and rescuing this missing person,” MCSO said.
