ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah — Freezing, hungry and alone in Zion National Park, all 14-year-old Aloha Joy Lunceford said she could do was try to stay warm and in one place.
“I was panicking the entire time,” said Lunceford. “I was trying to stay put because that's what I had been told. But I was so scared.”
She and her family went on a hiking and tubing adventure Tuesday in The Narrows.
Lunceford said she tried to catch up with the faster of the two groups split up but found herself separated from both.
“I thought I saw my uncle's footprint," she said. "So I assumed that was the right way."
She took off her slippery shoes to climb over some rocks thinking that was the direction her family went in, but instead found herself stranded and barefoot in Orderville Canyon.
Her mother, Aurelia Lunceford said each of the two groups thought she was with the other until they got together and realized she wasn’t with either of them.
“I was horrified,” said Aurelia. “My husband was injured and sick. So that's why we had a slower group and I stayed with him and when we let Aloha go it, we hadn't separated too far long ago, so I thought she would totally make it.”
She said they reported her missing to the National Park Service, but the park couldn't search until the next morning.
“It was getting dark and nobody was coming. So I just kind of, I got my blanket out my little poncho and I kind of hunkered down,” Aloha Joy explained. “I ended up just sleeping on a little mud bank. The driest I could find.”
Underneath the vibrant stars, tucked between towering walls in the dark, she said she quietly sang her dad’s music and hymns to keep herself calm.
Come sunrise, her prayers were answered.
“I’m not really sure how they got up there," she said. "I'm just glad they did."
Another couple had taken the same wrong turn Lunceford did and found her on a mud bank.
Aloha Joy said the couple helped her walk three miles, still without shoes until they found the rescue crews who took over.
“I was beside myself,” said her mother, “I didn't sleep. I don't know who slept more that night. I think we've slept about the same and cried about the same. I’m so grateful to have my Aloha Joy back.”
Aloha Joy said the feeling of being home was overwhelmingly relieving.
“Such a good sensation of just finally being back home and all I wanted to do was go hug my dad and I was just, it was so sweet,” she said.
Her advice to hikers is to always go on a journey prepared. She’s thankful for the water and emergency her mother supplied her with.
“Always stay in a group, don't ever go off by yourself, especially if you don't know the way all the way. It's really hard to get lost by yourself, especially at night,” she said. “If you don't know where to go, just stay put until someone else catches up with you.”
