Ore. woman rescued after 3 nights in forest

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — A woman who spent three nights in the rugged northern Oregon wilderness after tumbling off a cliff said she ate berries, drank from a creek and tried to scoot to safety on her bottom because she couldn’t walk.

Hood River County sheriff’s detective Matt English said 28-year-old Pamela Salant of Portland was in serious condition late Tuesday with a possible broken left leg after an Oregon Army National Guard helicopter plucked her from the Mount Hood National Forest and flew her to safety.

Hospital officials said Salant, an art teacher at a Portland preschool, was expected to stay overnight for evaluation.

The Oregonian reports Salant got separated from her boyfriend Saturday as they dropped their gear near a lake and went looking for a camping spot.

After her fall, Salant began following a creek, trying to reach the Columbia River and get help, English said. She ended up in a steep drainage, about a mile and a half from the lake.

“She’s a bit beat up, but she’s talking and coherent,” English said.

In shorts and a tank top, Salant was not dressed to spend the night in rugged terrain. The area is where the Columbia River Gorge meets the Cascade Mountains, with steep drops and thick vegetation.

Sheriff Joe Wampler said the helicopter crew spotted Salant sitting on a log, waving from the creek bottom, and sent a medical rescue helicopter from Salem to get her out of the drainage.

Wampler said Salant should have waited in the area where she fell but did the second-best thing when she followed a waterway.

“We’ll catch up to you eventually, but it’s the tough way in the gorge,” Wampler said. “The rescuers behind her were running into waterfalls and rappelling around those falls that she had already gotten around.”