RESCUED! Bay Area Woman Survives Three Days Lost in Dense Mendocino Forest

A Bay Area woman who went missing while hiking near Fort Bragg last week was recovered alive after two nights and nearly three days alone in the isolated forest, according to authorities.

Elizabeth Schenk, a 70-year-old psychotherapist from Oakland, was last seen at 9 a.m. last Tuesday when she went for a stroll on Bruhel Point Road and called a neighboring acquaintance for directions. She “described her surroundings and a nearby gate on the logging road, and the man gave her instructions on how to get back,” the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office reported at the time.

Two hours later, she still hadn’t arrived. The man collected neighbors to form an impromptu search team, which combed the neighborhood but found no sign of Schenk. By 4:45 p.m., the man had contacted the sheriff’s office to report her missing. Multiple agencies, including Cal Fire and the California Highway Patrol, dispatched additional personnel to search for her, combing “extremely steep topography” in the thickly wooded area late at night.

By Thursday, the “treacherous terrain and tough wilderness conditions” prompted searchers to seek assistance from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, according to the sheriff’s office. Nearly 73 search and rescue volunteers and seven scent-tracking animals were sent before they located a piece of clothing they suspected belonged to Schenk. They then enlisted other volunteers to “saturate the area.”

Despite the amount of time she had spent in the jungle, Schenk was discovered 200 yards away in stable condition, “in good spirits” and with only a few minor bruises and abrasions. She was “numerous miles” from the incident command station on Bruhel Point Road, where she had originally requested assistance, and was returned for medical treatment before being transported to Adventist Health Mendocino Coast Hospital.

The sheriff’s office confirmed that she had been reunited with her family.