BOISE, Idaho — A Canadian woman stranded for seven weeks in a remote area near the Idaho-Nevada border sensed her ordeal was about to come to an end a day before she was found, her son said Sunday.
“She had a very clear indication,” Raymond Chretien said. “She got ready on Thursday to be with her Savior or rescued.”
Rita Chretien, 56, was found Friday by hunters who spotted her van mired in mud on a national forest road in Elko County, Nev. Her husband, Albert Chretien, 59, remains missing after setting off on foot March 22 to get help.
Rita Chretien, of Penticton, British Columbia, is in fair condition at St. Luke’s Magic Valley Medical Center in Twin Falls, Idaho, where Dr. James Westberry said she is on a liquid diet and still very weak, but making progress. She had reportedly lost 20 to 30 pounds since she was stranded.
Westberry said she ate snacks the couple had with them for the trip, rationing her supply, and had snow for water.
Raymond Chretien said that during the seven weeks, his mother got out of the van and walked every day.
“She had books she was reading,” he said. “She had time to read some twice.”
He said his parents got stuck during a scenic drive to Las Vegas. Rita Chretien told investigators she last saw her husband when he set off for help on foot with a Global Positioning System unit a few days after they got stuck.
That remoteness and rugged terrain have made it difficult for crews looking for her husband.
