Hiker Captures Moment She Thought She Might Die on Video, Before Search Crews Rescue Her
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) - A woman and her beloved dog are okay tonight after being rescued from Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe.
Search teams found the pair after they lost their way and became stranded in the mountains.
Courtney Leasure is from Ohio and had just arrived on a trip to Lake Tahoe to begin hiking with her 4-year-old dog Marley when she became stranded.
Leasure captured the moment of terror in the Sierra with a video on her phone and posted it to her Instagram page.
She can be heard on the video as it pans across the landscape saying, "in case I die before I make it."
"I was afraid," Leasure said. "[I was] way off. I was on the side of the mountain."
Leasure and Marley were stuck, bruised, and beaten. Both had fallen off a five-foot boulder.
"I'm glad I didn't hit my head, like, I could have died, you know," Leasure said.
Leasure realized they could go no further.
"She was shaking and she could probably see the fear in me, so we were both shaking, she was whining, holding up her right paw," Leasure said.
Leasure used her iPhones SOS feature and called for help.
And an El Dorado County search and rescue crew, along with a CHP helicopter, located the pair.
"I was blown away, I was so happy, and I was crying, and I was panicking and trying to breathe and it was a bunch of feelings," Leasure said.
Still photos show search crews guiding the way out, carrying Marley in a K-9 harness.
"It was the cutest thing ever but the saddest thing ever at the same time," Leasure said.
It was an adventure-turned-survival story.
"My adrenaline, I can still feel it in my body a little bit," Leasure said. "I'm glad to be on safe ground."
She says she's an experienced hiker but she learned a big lesson with this hike: She will never go on a difficult and new trail again without another person hiking with her.