{"id":9261,"date":"2026-03-23T19:37:45","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9261"},"modified":"2026-03-23T19:37:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T19:37:45","slug":"71-year-old-hiker-found-alive-after-3-days-in-redwood-wilderness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=9261","title":{"rendered":"71-Year-Old Hiker Found Alive After 3 Days in Redwood Wilderness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/p>\n<p class=\"fp-leadCaption py-tight text-left font-utility text-utility3-size leading-utility3-line-height text-secondary\">A 71-year-old hiker was rescued after being lost for three days in the northern California backcountry<!-- --> (Photo: Smileus\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published March 23, 2026 12:30PM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Guides leading a tour group on an old stretch of railway found a missing 71-year-old hiker on March 18\u00a0in 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.<\/p>\n<p>Xochitl Villa, a guide for the electric rail bike company Skunk Train, told the <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260323170700\/https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/california\/article\/missing-hiker-found-railroad-explorers-mendocino-22087796.php?utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=yahoo_syndication\">San Francisco Chronicle<\/a><\/em> 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe was like, \u2018Please help me. Please help me. I\u2019ve been lost in the woods since Sunday morning,\u201d Villa told the publication. \u201cShe [was] just really scared that she\u2019s gonna end up dying in the forest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Skunk Train takes tourists on guided adventures on electric railbikes\u2014pedal-powered carts that travel on railroad tracks that have been decommissioned or are rarely used by trails.<\/p>\n<p>The Mendocino County Sheriff\u2019s Office (MCSO) wrote in a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/us12.campaign-archive.com\/?u=d58e8d47c32727a999b3dde01&amp;id=0124fc3a6d\">press release<\/a> that the woman had set\u00a0out for a hike on March 15 at the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.alltrails.com\/trail\/us\/california\/waterfall-grove-trail\">Chamberlain Creek Waterfall Trail<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"fp-remove\" style=\"border:none;overflow-y:hidden;background-color:white;min-width:320px;max-width:420px;width:100%;height:420px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gaiagps.com\/public\/HBjaKdvTQOocW13ueA7k1oNc\/?embed=True\" seamless=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Villa told the <em>San Francisco Chronicle<\/em> that the woman had cracked lips, cut feet, and pine needles in her hair. The woman said she was hearing voices\u2014sometimes mistaking the sound of a mosquito or fly for a human\u2014and wasn\u2019t sure the guide\u2019s voices were genuine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think she had another day left in her, honestly,\u201d Villa said. \u201cShe was exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019t become hypothermic in her sleep.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Mendocino County Sheriff\u2019s Office would like to thank the Skunk Train railbike guides for their assistance in locating and rescuing this missing person,\u201d MCSO said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- --><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/exploration-survival\/lost-hiker-found-redwoods-california\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9262,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-9261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wild-living"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}