Missing Nevada Woman Found Clinging to a Dead Tree Hanging Over 400 Foot Slope!

A Nevada woman, previously reported missing on Valentine's Day, has been found today after spending days in a horrifying situation.

NBC reports that Gayle Stewart, 64, was reported missing Monday, last seen at her house in the Caughlin Ranch area at about 8 a.m., according to the Reno Police Department, NBC affiliate KRNV of Reno, Nevada, reported.

Her family organized a search party and a friend of her son discovered Stewart on a steep slope, about 300 to 400 feet from the road, Reno Fire Department Battalion Chief Seth Williams told NBC News.

He said though she was found in a fairly common hiking area with a lot of dirt roads, Stewart was located in an area people don’t usually walk. Williams said the slope was dangerously steep, comparing it to a double diamond ski slope.

“It was really fairly miraculous that the young man decided to take a look at the slope,” he said.

The man called out for Stewart and heard “a real quiet ‘help'” and found her holding onto a tree so she wouldn’t tumble down the hill, Williams said. After uttering her plea for help, she was unresponsive.

The fire department was called and she was rescued in just a little over a half hour from initial contact, the fire department said.

Stewart was initially found totally unresponsive and hypothermic to the point where she stopped shivering, Williams said, calling her condition "a bad sign in terms of hypothermia."

We're so glad that Stewart was found alive and relatively well. This makes the old saying "If you can't hold on, hang on!" eve more true. From now on, we're encouraging everyone to tell someone your whereabouts. We know everyone likes their alone time sometimes but, please let someone know where you are in case of an emergency.