Updated: May 10, 3:50 p.m.
A 23-year-old Arizona woman was found safe Wednesday morning, nearly a week after she reportedly embarked on a day hike with her dog near Essex, authorities confirmed.
Madeline Connelly was visiting family in the area when she set out for a hike in the Middle Fork Flathead River area on May 4. When she didn’t return, family members grew concerned.
A full-scale search was launched in the area after Connelly’s truck was discovered at the Bear Creek Trailhead just east of Essex, and on Wednesday, the fifth day of the search-and-rescue effort, Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry confirmed the woman is safe.
“She’s been found and she’s perfectly fine,” Curry said, still cobbling details together from a multi-day search involving as many as 50 people at a time.
He said Connelly was hiking off trail about three miles from the Bear Creek Trailhead when she apparently lost her bearings. Members of a trail crew with Glacier National Park came upon Connelly and her dog, Mogi, Wednesday morning around 11 a.m. She was tired and hungry, but otherwise uninjured.
Due to the remoteness of the steep terrain, she was hoisted into the Two Bear Air helicopter and ferried to West Glacier for a medical examination, where she was cleared by ambulance personnel and reunited with her family.
“She is completely uninjured as best we know,” he said. “There wasn’t a scratch on her. And the dog is okay, too.”
According to Curry, Connelly was located in the Spruce Creek drainage on the east side of the Middle Fork Flathead River, about five miles from her vehicle. She told rescuers that she had become lost and was unsure about how to return to the trailhead.
She wandered for several days attempting to find her way out, at times pushing deeper into the wilderness. She slept under trees at night as protection from the rain and elements, and was able to find water from creeks but was without food for days.
Curry thanked members of the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office, Two Bear Air, North Valley Search and Rescue, the Flathead Hot Shots, Glacier National Park, and BNSF for their help in the search efforts.
This story will be updated as more details become available.