Mary Owen, 23, told a friend she was going for a hike on Mnt. Hood in Oregon on Friday, March 22, and would return on Monday, March 25.
The experienced hiker has often gone on solo excursions, and it was not until Wednesday, March 27, that friends and family really began to worry. A search ensued, and an Oregon National Guard helicopter found Owen on Saturday with some injuries and frostbite, according to a press release from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office.
She was airlifted from Sandy Glacier on the western slope of Mnt. Hood to Legacy Emanuel Medical Center.
Owen’s backpack was still in her vehicle when the search began and authorities worried she might have be short on supplies.
Steve Rollins, search lead for Portland Mountain Rescue, told Oregon Live that rescuers found Owen at at an elevation of about 4,600 feet.
Owen is an interdisciplinary studies student at George Fox University. She hiked the Pacific Coast Trail from Mexico to Canada over a five-month period and also spent a summer working with tribes in Papua New Guinea as part of a missionary group.
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