LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A woman is safe after going missing for almost six hours at Death Valley National Park.
Park rangers said they received a report around 2:30 a.m. on Friday that a 61-year-old woman had gone missing.
The group she was with told rangers they hiked onto the salt flats at Badwater Basin at night to photograph the stars.
That's when the woman left to get something from a vehicle in the parking lot. However, her companions said she didn't return, drove to Furnace Creek for cell service, and called 911.
Park rangers said they searched Badwater basin and still hadn't found her by daybreak.
The woman told officials she realized she had hiked farther than the distance to the parking lot and was lost after not being able to see landmarks in the dark.
She said she stopped moving and once the sun rose, she walked to the junction of Badwater Road and Natural Bridge Road, a few miles north of Badwater.
The woman told park rangers she hitchhiked back to the Badwater parking lot and met back up with her group around 8:20 a.m.
No injuries were reported.
