A woman missing in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest since Saturday has been found and is receiving medical treatment, a relative said Thursday.
Victoria "Vicki" Atkins, 60, has been located, the Skamania County Sheriff's Office confirmed in an update to its initial Facebook post about her disappearance. She was reported missing around noon Saturday in the Sawtooth Berry Fields, about 15 miles southwest of Mount Adams in the national forest, according to family and the sheriff's office.
Atkins is a Yakama Nation citizen and has been going to the Sawtooth fields since she was young, her cousin Nicole Adams has said. It's a popular berry picking site for people from the Yakama Nation.
When reached Thursday, Adams was on her way to Skyline Hospital in White Salmon to see Atkins. She was told by the sheriff's office that Atkins fell and hit her head and became disoriented in the woods.
"Whoever found her brought her down to Trout Lake. From there she was taken to the hospital in White Salmon," Adams said. "She's been missing for six days in the woods, so she's dehydrated and weak."
Adams wanted to stress "how grateful the family is for the volunteers and (Skamania Search and Rescue) and the sheriff's office helping us find our relative. We're really grateful," she said.
Specific information about where and when Atkins was found wasn't immediately available Thursday. Undersheriff Tracy Wyckoff said the sheriff's office received a call around 1 p.m. Thursday that Atkins had been located. She was taken to Skyline Hospital in White Salmon, he said.
"About 1 p.m. we got a call that she was found by a local resident from the Trout Lake area. She may have been located earlier than that," Wyckoff said. "The (U.S. Forest Road) 88 does go into Trout Lake. We are thinking someone was on the main road and came across her."
The berry fields area is off Forest Road 24 — Twin Buttes Road — about 21 miles from Trout Lake.
Wyckoff hadn't spoken directly with Atkins, he said. The sheriff's office received the report of Atkins' disappearance from Yakama Nation Tribal Police and reached out to tribal police again after she was found. They contacted local Bureau of Indian Affairs officers who will interview Atkins at the hospital when possible, Wyckoff said.
"She had made the comment that she had fallen and hit her head. I don't know if she was unconscious for a time," Wyckoff said. "When the resident found her, they got ahold of local medics and they transported her to the hospital. That's all I know at this time."
Atkins had been camping with two friends in the national forest near the berry fields, the sheriff's office had reported in a social media post. She didn't return to camp at a pre-arranged time on Aug. 3. Her friends searched for her for the rest of that day and into the following day but couldn't find her.
Her friends left the camp and returned home to Yakima County to report her missing on Monday, according to the sheriff's office. Skamania County authorities received that information late in the day and arranged for a coordinated search effort to begin the next day.
"We searched the area her friends had directed us to. You're hoping that somebody got hurt not too far away," Wyckoff said. "We also had a fixed wing plane in the air. We used drones with heat-sensitive equipment (and) got out early in the morning, but the brush and foliage is pretty thick there and tends to hold heat.
"Her friends were out there driving roads. Tribal police were out there assisting with us," he added. "We're very, very pleased to find out she's OK."
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