Searchers are looking for a hiker from New Zealand reported missing in Joshua Tree National Park. Claire Nelson, 36, informed a friend on Tuesday that she would be hiking to the park’s Lost Palms Oasis and returning the next day, but has not been heard from since.
Notified Friday morning, authorities found Nelson’s vehicle in the Lost Palms Oasis/Mastodon Peak trailhead parking area but saw no traces of the hiker herself.
Since then, searchers from the park and the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department have been combing the area on foot and by helicopter, so far without result. Anyone with information should call 602-549-1233.
UPDATE: 05/26/2018
According to a news release from Joshua Tree National Park, Claire Nelson was found in the Lost Palms Oasis area late Friday afternoon, she was spotted by helicopter in the search area. When rescuers located Nelson, she was alive, conscious and talking with rescuers. Nelson was flown out to an area hospital for treatment for injuries sustained during her ordeal.
