Missing camper spent cold nights ‘curled up’ with dog after getting lost, AZ cops say
A 62-year-old missing camper spent two cold nights in the wilderness with her dog after becoming lost in Arizona, deputies said.
Joann Ward, of Bagdad, went missing from her campsite at about 3 p.m. Dec. 5, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Ward had been camping with her husband and friends when she took her “small terrier-like dog” out for a walk, deputies said.
Her dog spotted a rabbit and chased after it, Ward told deputies during an interview posted to YouTube Dec. 12.
She followed her dog and then spotted what appeared to be a shortcut to her campsite.
“All of a sudden there was this big ravine and I said, ‘Uh oh, this is not the wash that is behind our motorhome.’ So (I) got lost from there and just could not find a road anywhere,” Ward said.
When she didn’t return to the campsite, her husband and friends reached out to rescuers at about 9:30 p.m. that day, deputies said. Search teams began looking for her by helicopter and by foot.
As rescue teams searched for her, Ward said she stayed close to her dog under a tree for warmth. She said she saw a helicopter a few times looking for her, so she waved her hands, but it didn’t see her.
“It was pretty cold both nights. I did a lot of stretching while we were under the tree ... Curled up with my dog, and we kept each other warm,” she told deputies.
Missing camper finds road
By the second night, she said her teeth chattered so hard they “almost sounded like helicopter blades.”
The next morning, Ward said she started walking in the direction of where she heard vehicles and had seen helicopters flying.
That’s when she came across a road where rescuers found her.
“I wasn’t scared, and I had my dog,” she said.
Bagdad, Arizona, is about 120 miles northwest of Phoenix.
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 3:18 PM with the headline "Missing camper spent cold nights ‘curled up’ with dog after getting lost, AZ cops say."
