She Went Missing After Being Charged By Bears And Was Thankfully Found Alive After Being Alone In The Wilderness Of Alaska
Anchorage, Alaska. Around an hour outside of Anchorage is the Pioneer Ridge Trail, a popular destination for experienced hikers and bird watchers.
The trail itself stretches into the Alaska wilderness for a little more than thirteen and a half miles.
55-year-old Fina Kiefer lives in nearby Palmer, and on June 15th, she set out to hike the trail.
Unfortunately, while Fina was out there, she ended up being charged by two bears. She had bear spray on her and was able to spray it at them.
The bears did end up leaving her alone eventually, but she got lost after they ran her off the path she was on and into the woods.
Fina was able to call and text her husband to let him know she needed some help out there, but then Fina’s husband stopped being able to contact her.
He then reached out to authorities to report her as missing around 1:30 in the morning. The Alaska State Troopers went out to the trail to try to find Fina, without any luck.
Search and rescue dogs were then brought out, and helicopters circled around in the air. The Alaska Air National Guard even brought out a Black Hawk helicopter and crew to aid in the search.
Facebook; pictured above is a Black Hawk helicopter from the Alaska Air National Guard the helped search for Fina
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Fina could see from below that there were helicopters in the air looking for her, but they could not see her down in the thick woods.
As night fell, Fina was still out there, all alone in the Alaska wilderness. She managed to make a fire with some matches she had on her, but the people out looking for her still couldn’t find her.
“It’s easy to see and hear an aircraft in the sky, but can be very challenging to spot a person at night under canopy,” Senior Master Sgt. Evan Budd, full-time member of the Alaska Air National Guard and superintendent of the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, said.
Fina knew help was trying to reach her, and that helped her keep on and fight to find her way out of the woods.
At 5:30 p.m. the next day, Fina made it out of the woods and to the road that was located a mile away from the start of the trail.
One of the search and rescue members involved with Fina’s search was driving home for the night and saw her there on the side of the road.
“At approximately 1730 hours, the Alaska State Troopers were notified by a volunteer SAR member departing the search area that Fina Kiefer walked out of the woods as they were driving by on Knik River Road, about a mile from the trailhead,” the Alaska State Troopers said in a statement.
“Kiefer has injuries and EMS is transporting her to a Mat-Su area hospital for evaluation.”
Facebook; pictured above are some of the people who were involved with the search for Fina
Although Fina did suffer some injuries out there, she is thankfully ok, and she even took the time to thank everyone who helped look for her.
“I would just like to take the time to thank all those involved in the search and rescue and my family and friends,” Fina wrote in a Facebook post.
“I cannot adequately thank those involved in the search efforts including Alaska search and rescue, Alaska state troopers, Alaska National Guard, Anchorage Nordic Ski Patrol, Alaska Solstice Search and Rescue dogs and the countless volunteers.”
“No words seem to express my admiration and gratitude for the brave men and women who gave their time and expertise to search for me.”
“Although the searchers didn’t locate me on the mountain, seeing that they were looking for me gave me the strength to continue on.”
Facebook; pictured above is what Fina had to say after being rescued
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