Injured Hiker Crawled For Days To Reach Water

A hiker who was stranded in the Californian wilderness for nine days survived by drinking water from a creek after crawling for two days with broken bones.

Miyuki Harwood, 62, was found on Saturday in a remote area of the Sierra National Forest after she used a whistle to alert a search team.

Ms Harwood suffered her injuries when she got separated from a group of hikers near Horsehead Lake, 100 miles northwest of Fresno, on 20 August.

She was airlifted to a hospital after being rescued following a major search operation. She is said to be in a stable condition.

Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said: "Her voice was strong. She was extremely thankful that people were looking for her."

Sheriff Mims said she got lost in the mountains after suffering the unspecified injury, and was unable to hike back to her base camp.

She had very little food and supplies because she was only carrying enough for a day trip.

To survive, Ms Harwood, of Folsom, California, crawled for two days from where she suffered the broken bones to a creek, where she used a water bottle with a filter inside to drink.

Rusty Hotchkiss, a California Highway Patrol flight officer and paramedic, flew her to hospital.

He said: "She was a fighter. She was very exhausted - very tired, but she was very thankful to be saved and to get out of there.

"She was really at the end of the time period that we thought she could survive."

The search had been hampered by thick smoke from a wildfire in nearby Kings Canyon National Park.