A bicyclist who went missing on a solo camping trip was found safe Wednesday at a remote Sierra Nevada resort, almost three weeks after she was last seen.
Tiffany Slaton, 27, was discovered by Christopher Gutierrez, the owner of Vermilion Valley Resort, who was checking on the property while it was closed for the season, the Fresno County sheriff’s office said.
Slaton was in a cabin that Gutierrez said he had left unlocked for that very reason, to provide shelter to backcountry travelers in distress.
Aware of the search for the woman, Gutierrez called the sheriff’s office, and medics arrived to take her to a hospital. It was determined she was dehydrated, but otherwise in good condition, the sheriff’s office said.
Slaton had been bicycling through California after completing a stint as a traveling dialysis technician in Oregon, said her parents, who live in Georgia. They said she was in touch with them daily until April 21; the last reported sighting of her was April 24 near Shaver Lake, in the Sierra National Forest above Fresno.
Slaton’s itinerary had her continuing east from Shaver Lake to Mono Hot Springs, but that road is closed by snow.
The sheriff’s office led an intensive five-day search starting May 6, and the effort had continued in scaled-back mode this week.
Check back for more details of this developing story.