Search efforts continued Friday for nurse who went missing while hiking in Calaveras County
ARNOLD — There's urgency in Calaveras County to locate a woman who was reported missing on Tuesday after heading on a hike last weekend.
Ann Herford was last seen on the Arnold Rim Trail.
She is a 66-year-old traveling nurse from Michigan who was working in Calaveras County. She was reported missing Tuesday when her colleagues noticed she never showed up for work.
Anna Wettengel is Herford's colleague and said she's been keeping in contact with Herford's family in Michigan and added that everyone is anxious for any kind of update.
"Our hearts went into our gut and we were starting to get really scared," Wettengel said of learning her colleague was missing. "I mean, knowing that she's not from here, she's visiting, we didn't know that she didn't know the area."
Herford's car was found Wednesday on a trailhead near the Lakemont subdivision in Arnold. A search-and-rescue effort by the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office was immediately started when Herford's car was found, Lieutenant Greg Stark said.
On Friday, 79 searchers were out looking for Herford on the ground, in the air, and in the water. However, looming changes in the weather will make it challenging for rescue teams.
"Regardless of the weather coming in, we're trying as hard as we can to find her," Stark said. "The weather will complicate things and may reduce the visible footprints out there."
The sheriff's office is requesting more than 80 searchers on Saturday from the California Office of Emergency Services, including six canine teams.
"We're trying to still remain positive and we're just praying and hoping that she is OK and safe and then she'll be able to come home," Wettengel said.