TUCSON, Ariz. - As first seen live on 12 News, a 72-year-old Tucson woman who survived nine days lost in the Arizona wilderness shared her survival story.
Ann Rodgers says she was on the way to visit her grandchildren in Phoenix when she ran out of gas and got disoriented.
Rodgers, who had been missing since March 31, is now back at her home in Tucson, relieved to be home safe and sound.
“All things considered,” she said. “Fabulously.”
Rodgers says she lost some weight and got a few scratches along the way.
“It has been a trek; a spiritual journey,” she said. Rodgers is just proud to call herself a survivor.
“As soon as my Ford fusion broke down -- the electric went down -- I could go no further,” she said.
Looking back, she says she would’ve stayed with her vehicle. Instead, after spending one night in her car, she attempted to climb several ridge lines to try to get a stronger cellphone signal.
“Below freezing every night,” she said. That was the beginning of nine days stranded with her dog.
“I had a fire lighter with me. I had a Nutella jar with me, which became my water vessel,” she said.
She ended up surviving on vegetation and pond water, building campfires at night.
“I did cry,” she said. “Everywhere I looked, there was nothing to do with humans ... I was praying to the highest of the high.”
Rodgers' vehicle was discovered on April 3, prompting an exhaustive search over the next two days. Two separate DPS Ranger helicopters conducted an aerial search of the remote location but were unsuccessful at finding her.
On April 9, a White River Tribal Game and Fish officer found Rodgers' dog walking out of the Canyon Creek area.
Rodgers passed time by drawing and left clues like writing the word "HELP" with sticks next to part of a carcass she found, hoping someone would eventually rescue her.
“I detached it from the rest of the ribs and drug it out in the sand to point to the 'help,'” she said.
Rodgers also left a note and a business card.
Another aerial search was called and this time, the aircraft crew spotted a distress signal spelling "HELP" made out of sticks and rocks on the canyon floor.
The message was dated April 3 and indicated that Rodgers was out of food and water and was proceeding down the canyon.
Further down the canyon, DPS officers discovered a shelter that had been abandoned by Rodgers, who was located around a bend in the canyon and standing next to a signal fire and waving to the helicopter.
After nine days, when she finally saw the DPS air unit above, she started jumping up and down.
“That’s what I was doing,” she laughed as she demonstrated.
At that point, there were meaningful words exchanged.
“Thank God. Thank God. Thank God,” she said. “'We expected to find you, only a body; not alive.'”
She says this isn’t the first time she’s been lost, but this time it was an adventure.
“First time in a helicopter in my life,” she said. “Yahoo!”
The DPS helicopter located and rescued her in the area of Canyon Creek on the White River Indian Reservation in Gila County on Saturday.
“To finally have human contact and see that they were there, it was overwhelming,” she said. “What I feel like is a survivor.”
After all of this, she was taken to the hospital in Payson for dehydration and exposure.
