PORT ANGELES — Two Port Angeles residents who were reported overdue from picking mushrooms were found early Wednesday morning by a search-and-rescue team after the women spent the night in a densely forested area west of Port Angeles, according to the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office.
Michelle Clayton, 42, and Darlene Wilcox, 65, who were scheduled to return home at 7 p.m. Tuesday, were reported overdue at midnight.
They were found at 5:30 Wednesday morning, Sgt. John Keegan said Wednesday.
Clayton and Wilcox were wearing jeans, T-shirts and sweatshirts in temperatures that were in the upper 60s, Keegan said in an interview.
The women did not have food, water or shelter, and their cellphone battery died when they called family members for help, he said.
They had left their vehicle at the state Department of Natural Resources gate on state Highway 112 across from Dempsey Road, Keegan said in a press release.
The search-and-rescue team was called out after a deputy could hear the women but could not find them because of the heavily forested terrain.
The team located the women after about 20 minutes of making voice contact, Keegan said.
He cautioned anyone hiking or mushrooming in the wilderness to bring extra clothes, a knife, flashlight, first-aid kit, map, compass, something that can be used as a shelter and a signal device, such as a whistle.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
