Backcountry Bikers Rescue Exhausted, Nearly Naked Hiker Lost In Idaho Wilderness

A woman who was lost for three days in the remote mountains of central Idaho still had another 15 miles to walk, without shoes, to reach a highway — if some mountain bikers hadn’t found her. 

One of the cyclists, Shelton Robinson of Pocatello, Idaho, said it was random lucky chance that he and his two companions happened across Heather Wayment, 46, at about 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 18.

They were in a remote part of the Sawtooth Mountains. Wayment was roughly 17 miles away from her vehicle, at a trailhead in the Prairie Creek area north of Ketchum, Idaho. 

She’d last been seen on Sept. 16, and was reported missing the next day, according to the Blaine County, Idaho, Sheriff’s Office.

Robinson and his companions, brothers Tommy and Vinton Gwinn, were on their way out after a mountain biking and camping trip. They’d entered the mountains at a trailhead near Stanley, Idaho. 

Lost Woman Gave Few Details

When they found Wayment, she was in her underwear, because she’d wrapped her outer clothing around her feet.

“At some point, she’d lost her shoes,” Robinson said. 

She didn’t have any food, water or other gear, he said.

Wayment, who told them that she was from Gooding, Idaho, was friendly and pleasant to speak with, he said. 

However, she didn’t disclose what had happened to her shoes, he said. 

She didn’t say how she’d gotten lost, and she didn’t provide many other details about her ordeal, which had gone on for two days and two nights, Robinson added. 

Subject Of Massive Search

Wayment had been the subject of massive search. Robinson and his friends had been in the backcountry and not following news reports. So, they weren’t aware of that when they found her.

It wasn’t until they reached the sheriff’s office via a satellite phone and shared the name of the woman who was with them that they discovered that rescue teams had been looking for her all over the mountains. 

Robinson said there’s no way of knowing for sure, but he thinks Wayment didn’t want to go into details about what she’d been through because she felt embarrassed about getting lost. 

“She was definitely quiet at first. I think she was probably embarrassed, a little unsure,” he said. 

He said that he and the Gwinns were “curious” and asked her some questions. But when she didn’t seem comfortable giving details, they didn’t press the matter.

“She didn’t need to share everything with us. We were there to help her,” he said. 

“I don’t know that it was our place to pry,” he added.

They spent about two hours with Wayment before she was flown out on a search and rescue chopper. 

When they first found her, Wayment was “in pretty bad shape” and didn’t speak much, Robinson said.

After getting food and water, she perked up and seemed lucid, he said.

“She was great to spend time with,” he said. 

Wayment was transported by helicopter to St. Alphonsus Medical Center in Boise, Idaho, according to the Blaine County Sheriff’s office, which didn’t disclose details about her condition.

Still A Long Way To Go

Wayment must be hardy to have survived and made it as far as she did, Robinson said. 

He surmised that she cut cross-country at some point, then happened upon the trail and started following it. 

She was headed in the right direction but still would have had a long way to go before reaching a highway, he said.

There was 12 miles of trail left, including “2,000 vertical feet” of ascent and descent before she would have reached a gravel road, he said.

And then, about three miles on that gravel road before reaching a highway, he added. 

Weather Likely Made The Difference

Despite whatever else had gone badly for her, the weather was in Wayment’s favor.

Robinson said it had gotten cold during the nights, “down to about 25 degrees in the mountains.”

The daytime weather was “phenomenal,” with clear skies and high temperatures in the 60s and 70s. 

There was no precipitation, he said. 

The dry weather was likely a godsend, Teton County Search and Rescue Chief Advisor Cody Lockhart told Cowboy State Daily.

“You can be cold and dry, and that’s one thing. But being cold and wet, that’s another situation,” he said. 

When people get cold and wet, they can develop hypothermia, a potentially fatal condition in which the body loses its ability to generate adequate heat.

So long as a person can stay dry, “your body is able to retain its core temperature,” he said.

He said that he’s seen numerous cases of people surviving cold and completely miserable, yet dry nights out in the wild. 

‘You Could Tell She Was Tired’

Robinson said he feels blessed that he and his friends found Wayment and saved her from an even more prolonged ordeal, or possibly worse.

“I’m grateful that our paths crossed, and that we had the right gear and the right equipment to help her,” he said.

“You could tell she was tired. We were just trying to keep her comfortable,” he added. 

He hopes that others have compassion for Wayment, instead of trying to guess what she did wrong to end up where and how she did.

“I don’t know if it’s fair for any of us to judge her,” he said.

Robinson said that he and his friends haven’t had any contact with Wayment since that day. However, he’d like to see her again and check up on how she’s doing.

“I’d love to get a cup of coffee with her some day and chat,” he said. 

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.