DENALI NATIONAL PARK, Alaska — Two young backpackers rationed peanut-butter sandwiches and granola bars, growing hungrier as they wandered for six days in the dense vegetation of Denali National Park, they said Thursday.
Erica Nelson and Abby Flantz were down to their last granola bar Wednesday, the day they were rescued. Trekking through the remote park, they regularly clicked on their cellphone until they finally found reception that led to their rescue.
“We got a signal, and I said, ‘Wow, I have to call my mom,’ ” Nelson told reporters before heading with her family to Houston, where she plans to serve as maid of honor Saturday in her sister’s wedding.
What started as an overnight hike June 12 turned into an intensive search that cost more than $118,000 and sometimes involved 100 people from volunteer groups and state and federal agencies, said park spokeswoman Kris Fister.
Rangers estimate the women logged at least 20 miles before they were picked up by a helicopter crew outside the northeastern side of the 9,400-square-mile park, Fister said.
Nelson, 23, of Las Vegas, and Flantz, 25, of Gaylord, Minn., had no idea they had triggered a search of that magnitude. They were reported overdue when they failed to show up at work Saturday at Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge, a hotel outside the park.
But after a few days of being lost, they did figure that people might be concerned.
“We were gone long enough, we knew there might be searches for us, but we didn’t know it would be this big,” Flantz said.
The women said they each packed only bare essentials, such as two sandwiches and granola bars, thinking that would be enough for their short trek.
They brought a compass and a map but still lost their bearing, mistaking one river for another.
“I’m tired, but I feel good,” Nelson said Thursday. “I had a good meal last night and a good breakfast — king salmon.”
