Last November, a Utah woman seemed to vanish into thin air. She disappeared and left no trace or information about her whereabouts. The officers in charge of her search soon began to believe they would never find her.

She was first believed to be missing after leaving her car behind.

The 47-year-old woman went missing in Dry Canyon Trailhead of Diamond Fork Canyon in rural Utah.

She left her car parked in the parking lot next to the trailhead.

The first person to report her missing was a U.S. National Forest Service employee who noticed that the car seemed abandoned.

After 5 months of looking without a sign of her, officers began to give up hope and presumed her dead.

This is a National Forest that is open to camping.

Sheriffs at Utah Country Police department did not immediately have cause for concern. They assumed that the woman was just camping for a while. But with winter coming up, the park was due to close for the season, and they had to find her to let her know. Sgt. Spencer Cannon explains this change of heart by saying:

“We didn’t have immediate reason to believe that she was in danger; we just didn’t know what her status was. All we had was her car down here in this parking lot, some of her personal items in that car and the campsite up here — all of which had appeared to have been unused for an extended period of time and no evidence that she was still here.”

The officers searched for her multiple times throughout the winter, but only discovered her by accident.

Again, Sgt. Cannon explains:

“They sent the drone up, and apparently on one of its first passes, the drone crashed. So they went up looking for the drone that had crashed, and in doing that, they came across another small campsite where there was a tent. As they’re looking at this, the zipper of the tent unzipped and this woman who we had identified the previous year in November and December of last year sticks her head out.”

It was Sunday, May 2nd, and after 5 long months, Sgt. Cannon was finally able to radio to the station that the woman was alive and well.

The woman had been essentially living off the land for 5 months.

It’s a miracle she made it.

She had survived by rationing what food she had brought with her, and also drinking water from a nearby stream, and eating grass and moss in times of desperation. Her physical health was poor, but she had miraculously survived through the winter.

Sgt. Cannon explains the officers’ surprise and relief and finding her.

“We fully expected we wouldn’t find anybody related to that alive up here given how long it had been… In situations like that, we often find somebody after they passed away. We were quite relieved and happy that she was still alive.”

While the officers were happy and relieved to find her, the woman appears to have stayed camping by choice.

She survived a lot through the course of this winter, and it seems that she stayed so long in Diamond Fork Canyon by choice. She complied when officers took her to a nearby hospital to get a physical and mental health evaluation.

It is possible that she was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of her decision to camp.

Regardless of what was going on in her life, Sgt. Cannon sums up our amazement at her survival story.

“Our hats off to her as a survivor. Whatever else is going on in her life, her ability to survive in undoubtedly difficult circumstances is remarkable. We want to be clear that while many people might choose to not live in the circumstances and conditions this woman did, she did nothing against the law. And in the future she might choose to return to the same area.”

Watch the video below for more information on her incredible survival.

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Source: USDA Forest Service, Fox 13 News Utah, Recreaction.gov