Lost hiker, couple stuck in snow rescued in Mendocino County

A lost hiker on Cow Mountain and a couple stuck in snow on a remote Mendocino National Forest road spent a night out in the elements before being rescued Monday, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said.

As night set, the 56-year-old Ukiah hiker called for help, saying she was unable to find her way back to her car, sheriff’s Lt. Shannon Barney said. Her phone provided deputies a possible GPS location, near a rifle range on North Cow Mountain, a popular recreation area in Mendocino and Lake counties. They drove the area and hit their sirens, which the woman heard. But she couldn’t get through the terrain to the road and spent the night on the mountain.

She made her way Monday morning to a roadway, where she met with sheriff’s search and rescue volunteers. She wasn’t injured and was returned to her car, Barney said.

On Monday, deputies learned of a couple who’d tried to cross the Mendocino National Forest in a small sedan but became stranded when their car hit a snow drift, Barney said.

The couple left Willows and headed for Covelo Sunday, but didn’t arrive as planned. They’d taken Forest Highway 7 - a remote road connecting Glenn and Mendocino counties. A Mendocino County deputy on a four-wheel-drive vehicle found them several miles inside Glenn County and helped them down to Covelo, Barney said.

“They got most of the way over the top of the mountain and somehow got stuck,” Barney said.