Mt Whitney Zone Forums General Discussion Status of missing hiker

We summited via the Mountaineer's trail this past Monday. While returning to the portal on Tuesday early morning, via the main trail, we encountered a family (father, two daughters and a male friend)who were concerned about their wife/mother, Therese, who had wandered off from Outpost Camp on Monday. A search was underway for her, including SAR personnel, on Tuesday. Does anyone know whether she was found?

We were up at the Portal store eating breakfast when they found her. I overheard the family talking and they were going to transport her to the hospital. I'm pretty sure she was OK.

lpr,
There wasn't any information out on a missing hiker, so I called the Inyo County SAR dispatch. The officer I talked to did not have an incident report for Tuesday, and there were no open incidents currently open.

So I will have to assume that the situation was resolved -- by rangers or by other hikers on the trail. That is usually the case, that alarms are raised, but the missing person finds their way out with the help of others on the trail.

That is one of the good things about the Main Mt Whitney Trail, that there are so many hikers using the trail, that someone in need of help can usually get it from the other hikers.

Thanks so much for your responses! I have been greatly concerned regarding the status of Therese, as it appeared, based on the discussion I had with her family, that she was suffering from significant disorientation when she went missing, perhaps as a result of cerebral edema. I am so happy that she was found.

Yes, thank you. I'm so glad she was found. We saw the Inyo County Sheriff's car at the trailhead at 3:30 am on Tuesday morning. We talked with her daughter on the main trail below Lone Pine Lake before dawn on Tuesday morning and later talked with two SAR people who were standing on a big rock below Outpost Camp. The SAR people had been calling her name all night and up to that point, she hadn't been found. Good to hear that she isn't still missing. Hope she is okay.