By Marshall McClung
The Graham Star
Cherohala – A Murphy woman and her daughter were rescued over the weekend in Joyce Kilmer Forest by Graham County Rescue Squad members.
The squad responded to a call of a lost mother and her young daughter around 8 p.m. Saturday. Rebecca Picon, 38, of Murphy, and her 3-year-old daughter had left the Joyce Kilmer parking lot around 4 p.m., intending to visit the memorial plaque honoring Joyce Kilmer.
As has happened numerous times before, they took the Naked Ground Trail by mistake. When Picon realized they were lost, it appeared that she thought she was on the upper loop of the Memorial Plaque Trail, when actually she was on the Naked Ground Trail.
Rescuers were fairly certain of where she was and began searching the Naked Ground Trail. The effort was hampered by sections of the trail being overgrown with briars and numerous fallen trees.
The hikers were located a little after 11:30 p.m. in a series of switchbacks on a very steep section of the trail. Picon said they had gone all the way to Naked Ground, which rises to an elevation of 4,920 feet. Picon and her daughter had started back down the trail when darkness overtook them.
Searchers took turns carrying the little girl until they met other squad members with a basket stretcher. Rescuers reached the parking lot with the weary pair at 3:26 a.m. Sunday.