Rescuers find mom and son lost in California forest thanks to ‘help' notes
The notes weighed down by rocks with 'HELP' written at the top said they were stranded up the road with no phone service.
A volunteer search-and-rescue team that was training in the Sierra Nevada foothills found the pair on Saturday, a day after they had set out for the camp, according to the Calaveras county sheriff's office.
The woman and her son got lost on Friday after they left the Sacramento area and their GPS had directed them on to old logging roads deep into the forest, said Lt Greg Stark, a spokesperson for the sheriff's office.
They eventually lost their GPS signal and then got stuck about 10 miles (16km) from the nearest paved road, Stark said.
They were reported missing the next day after not showing up at the camp.
The county's volunteer search team initially narrowed down the pair's last known spot from a location-sharing app and then heard from campers who saw the woman's missing car a day earlier, the sheriff's office said.
About four hours after being dispatched, the search team found the first note that read: 'HELP. Me and my son are stranded with no service and can't call 911. We are ahead, up the road to the right. Please call 911 to get help for us. Thank you!'
The team found a second note up the road, and then about a mile later they found the woman and her son, where their car had gotten stuck, the sheriff's office said.
The pair had spent the night in the car with a cooler full of food and drinks they had packed for a few days at the camp, Stark said.
Authorities credited the pair with alerting others where they were going and when they would arrive and staying where they were once they got lost. The boy also used his whistle to sound three short bursts – a signal for help that Scouts are taught.
'They did everything right,' Stark said. 'They put themselves in the best position to be found.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
5 hours ago
- The Independent
PHOTO COLLECTION: AP Top Photos of the Day, Monday, July 28, 2025
News PHOTO COLLECTION: AP Top Photos of the Day, Monday, July 28, 2025 Show all 13
Telegraph
5 hours ago
- Telegraph
Dear Richard Madeley: My wife and I no longer seem to be able to sleep in the same room
Dear Richard, My wife and I are in our late 50s, and lately we've both started to sleep more lightly, as seems common at this stage of life. Sometimes she or, less commonly, I migrate to the spare room for some portion of the night, where we can read for a bit and hopefully drift off to sleep again. Usually I go to bed an hour or so after my wife, and she's already asleep when I get there. My problem is that I have started to feel really tense when I get into bed, which makes me more fidgety. This often wakes her up, which I feel bad about. I'm not worrying about work, as she says she often does in the night – just about waking her. I sleep more soundly when she's away, though I also miss her presence a great deal. And I've tried forsaking the late-night film and going to bed at the same time as her, but that doesn't seem to work. I told her that I was twitchy in the night because I was worried about waking her and she seemed to appreciate the kindness of the thought but then got quite defensive, as if I was accusing her of being oversensitive. I realise we're lucky to have a spare room – though our bedroom is my favourite room in the house, and I remember how happy it made me to think I'd be sharing it with her every night. Is it just the new normal when you get to our age, or is there something we can do to break these cycles? – S, via email Dear S, I can see the ribbons of nascent guilt rippling through your letter, and I feel rather sorry for you. There's no need for such self-chastisement, S. You should step back from this sleep scenario and see it for what it is – a timely readjustment to your marital arrangements. Let's deal with the elephant in the room straight off. Sex. You don't have to sleep together – as in zizz together – to make love, S. Actually spending time mutually unconscious, pillow-to-pillow, is not a requirement for an active love life. Sex and sleeping can be mutually exclusive. In fact, many couples swear by it. And yes, you are right. Judging purely by the number of letters I receive that are broadly similar to yours, advancing years bring lighter, more fractured sleep patterns. You are not alone in finding sleep in a single bed more restful and refreshing than in twitching, super-conscious coupledom. My advice is to go with the flow and stop beating yourself up about this. You're both getting older and things change, physically and psychologically. If you sleep better apart, and you have the means to do so – then sleep apart! It's not a betrayal or a failure or a calculated insult, and it's certainly not, as I say, a comment on how attractive you find one another. It's simply the next phase, the next chapter, in the long story of your lives together. Don't be frightened to turn the page. Sleep well, the pair of you.
The Independent
11 hours ago
- The Independent
Three dead in California after small plane crash near Monterey Bay, Coast Guard says
Three people are dead after a small private aircraft crashed on California's Central Coast, according to officials. The U.S. Coast Guard station in Monterey received a relay at 10:55 p.m. Saturday that a twin-engine Beechcraft plane that took off from San Carlos with three people onboard had crashed 200 to 300 yards off Point Pinos, an outcropping at the southern end of Monterey Bay roughly 125 miles south of San Francisco. The Coast Guard launched a rescue helicopter from San Francisco and a search boat from Monterey to hunt for survivors of the crashed plane, which had a tail number of N8796R. A boat crew and drones from CAL Fire, as well as local police departments, joined the search. The wreck was eventually located and its three passengers were found dead, the Coast Guard told The New York Times. The names of the passengers were not immediately made public. The Independent has requested comment from the Coast Guard. The crash occurred roughly 30 minutes after takeoff near the Monterey Regional Airport, the flight's intended destination, according to flight tracking site Flightradar 24. Bodies were recovered off the coast of Pacific Grove, KSBW reports, and aircraft debris has washed up onshore. "I was going to sleep and heard this loud engine grumbling. Sounded like a Cessna, but it was really low and loud. It kind of felt like it was over the house, and there was a pop," Brian Mitchell, who was in the area from Sacramento visiting a relative, told the outlet.
