Missing Hiker Survived for Weeks in California Wilderness by Foraging and Drinking Melted Snow

Tiffany Slaton, a hiker found in the High Sierra after going missing for three weeks, speaks during a press conference, Friday, May 16, 2025 in Fresno, Calif. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)
Tiffany Slaton, a hiker found in the High Sierra after going missing for three weeks, speaks during a press conference, Friday, May 16, 2025 in Fresno, Calif. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)
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Missing Hiker Survived for Weeks in California Wilderness by Foraging and Drinking Melted Snow

Tiffany Slaton, a hiker found in the High Sierra after going missing for three weeks, speaks during a press conference, Friday, May 16, 2025 in Fresno, Calif. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)
Tiffany Slaton, a hiker found in the High Sierra after going missing for three weeks, speaks during a press conference, Friday, May 16, 2025 in Fresno, Calif. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)

A 28-year-old woman described Friday how she survived for weeks outdoors in California's eastern Sierra Nevada by foraging for food and drinking melted snow after a solo camping trip went awry during harsh winter weather.

Tiffany Slaton detailed her ordeal during a news conference with the Fresno County Sheriff's Department, two days after she was found in a cabin that the owner had left unlocked in case wayward hikers needed shelter. Authorities said she had been there for only eight hours before the cabin's owner arrived and discovered her, The Associated Press reported.

Slaton described being caught in an avalanche at one point, causing her to fall and hurt her leg. She didn’t say which day that happened. She had a bicycle, a tent, two sleeping bags and food, she said, but she ended up losing all of her equipment, leaving her with only a lighter, a knife and some snacks. She didn’t describe how she lost her tent or other gear.

After she fell, Slaton said she tried calling 911 five times with no success but got a GPS signal on her phone.

“I ended up on this very long, arduous journey that I journaled to try and keep sane and eventually managed to get to civilization,” she said.

Authorities called her survival stunning given the conditions. The cabin was more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) from where she had last been seen, and the mountains were covered in up to 12 feet (3.66 meters) of snow in some areas.
“I would have never anticipated her in my wildest dreams being able to get back as far as she did,” Sheriff John Zanoni said.

Slaton had been on an extended biking and backpacking trip that also included time in Oregon, department spokesman Tony Botti said. Her journey took her to the Sierras, where she decided to make the trek to the Mono Hot Springs before meeting a friend in mid-April, he said. She was last seen on April 20 by a security camera near Huntington Lake, an unincorporated mountain community, riding on a bicycle and also sitting on a sidewalk with a backpack.

Slaton’s parents, who live in Georgia, reported her missing on April 29 after they hadn't heard from her in a week.

Slaton, who was a competitive archer in her home country of Bermuda, said her athleticism and foraging knowledge helped her survive. She had some snacks on her but eventually ran out.

The owner of Vermilion Valley Resort, Christopher Gutierrez, said his staff left cabin doors unlocked during the winter in case someone needed shelter during the frequent mountain snowstorms. His backcountry lodge sits in the Sierra Nevada about halfway between Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks and is a frequent stop for hikers on the John Muir and Pacific Crest trails.

Slaton found safe haven in one of those cabins during an intense snowstorm where all she could see was white, she said. It was just eight hours later that Gutierrez arrived to open the cabin for the season, authorities said.
“If he hadn't come that day, I think they would have found my body there,” Slaton said.

Two days earlier, the Fresno County Sheriff’s office called off a search that had covered more than 600 square miles (1,550 square kilometers) of the Sierra National Forest, with no luck. Searchers were hampered by heavy snow blocking many roads.

Slaton emerged battered and bruised from the cabin Wednesday.

When she saw Gutierrez, she ran up to him to give him a hug. “I really do have a new faith in humanity,” Slaton said of surviving her ordeal.



Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
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Two Bears Escape Wildlife Park Enclosure, Eat a 7-Day Supply of Honey, Then Fall Asleep

Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  
Rescued brown bear cubs, Lucy (left) and Mish (right) explore gifts stuffed with their favorite treats ahead of their move from the Wildwood Trust in Kent to their forever home at the Trust's sister site, Escot in Devon, on Wednesday April 7, 2021. Getty images  

Two young bears escaped from their enclosure at a UK wildlife park and devoured a week's worth of food store honey before falling asleep, the park said on Tuesday.

Mish and Lucy, both aged four, got out of their enclosure at Wildwood Devon in southwestern England on Monday afternoon, according to CBS News.

The pair made a beeline for their food store where they scoffed snacks, including the seven-day supply of honey, a park statement said.

The bears “posed no threat to the public at any point” although visitors on site were escorted to a secure building as a precaution.

During the hour-long drama, the bears were “continuously monitored both on the ground and via CCTV” until they were returned to their enclosure by keepers and promptly “fell asleep,” Wildwood added.

“Our experienced keeping team acted immediately, following established safety protocols, and successfully used recall training to encourage both bears back into their enclosure without the need for any intervention,” the park said.

Police were at the scene and an investigation was underway to determine how the animals managed to break out. The park said an “operational error” allowed the bears to escape, without elaborating.

“This was an isolated incident, and we are conducting a full internal investigation to understand exactly how it happened and to ensure robust measures are in place to prevent a reoccurrence," the park wrote on social media.

It added, “While the structural integrity of the bear enclosure remains uncompromised, we take any operational lapse extremely seriously.”

The park, which covers 40 acres of gardens and woodland, is home to an array of wildlife including brown bears, wolves and arctic foxes.

Mish and Lucy were taken in by Wildwood in 2021 after being abandoned by their mother in a snowdrift in the Albanian mountains.

Several attempts were made to reintroduce the cubs into the wild but it became clear to conservationists that they could not survive on their own.