Hiker finds way out of national forest after being lost two days, Arkansas sheriff says

A hiker missing for two nights in an Arkansas national forest has been found safe, officials say.

Theresa Beshara-Cox went hiking in the Ozark National Forest early Monday morning and a search began in the evening after she didn’t return. She went missing near the Hawksbill Crag, a popular but “steep and rugged” area of the forest where temperatures reached the 90s this week.

The Newton County Sheriff’s Office, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Harrison Fire Department and other volunteers searched the terrain until Beshara-Cox emerged from the forest on Wednesday.

“She got lost,” Newton County Sheriff Glenn Wheeler told the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in a text message. “It was great work on her part. She found her way out to the road. She is uninjured and ready to be home. I have her with me and we are headed to reunite her with her family.”

Wheeler told the Harrison Daily Times that it was still dark when Beshara-Cox began hiking and she walked in the wrong direction. She took shelter under a bluff and eventually found her way to a road, the newspaper reported.

Wheeler said Beshara-Cox asked only that he stop at a restaurant for a cheeseburger before he reunited her with family, the Harrison Daily Times reported.

“She was really, really happy to see her son and boyfriend,” Wheeler told the newspaper.