Santeetlah – The Graham County 911 Center received a call concerning a missing hiker in the Joyce Kilmer Forest shortly after 8 p.m., Oct. 25.
Graham County resident Trint Buchanan and Misty Buchanan were hiking on the Naked Ground Trail when they became separated after Trint stopped to get something to use as a walking stick. Misty continued up the trail and Trint was unable to catch up with her. Darkness was approaching and Trint did not have a light, so he returned to the Joyce Kilmer parking lot. Trint waited for some time and when Misty did not return, reported her as missing.
Several members of Graham County Fire and Rescue responded to the scene, and spread out to search the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Trail, Naked Ground Trail and adjoining areas.
After the search had been in progress for a while, a signal from her cell phone showed her to be on the Naked Ground Trail near Groundhog Branch, at an elevation of 3,200 feet.
Searcher Tory Lynnes was only about ½ mile from that spot and located her about 70 feet off the trail in an area of burned debris from an earlier forest fire. A flashlight she was using quit burning and she had lost the trail in the darkness.
Lynnes and a U.S. Forest Service officer escorted her out of the woods to the parking lot around 1:20 a.m., Oct. 26.