Last Monday, Ann Rodgers turned 72, and it is the "wisdom and memories" that she had gained in those years that allowed her to survive the harsh Arizona wilderness for nine days while authorities searched for her.
Rodgers and her 2-year-old rescue dog, a Queensland terrier mix named Queenie, were rescued late Saturday afternoon in the Canyon Creek area of the White River Indian Reservation, the state Department of Public Safety and the Gila County Sheriff's Office said.
The ordeal began on March 31 when Rodgers was travelling on a remote back country road to vist her daughter's home in Phoenix but took a "waaaay wrong turn" and ran out of gas. Her plan was to spend her birthday with daughter and grandson, but she ended up spending it alone in the wilderness with her dog as her only companion.
Rodgers' shouted her frustration at the canyon walls, which only served to remind her that there were no other humans that could hear her for miles.
"Why the hell am I still here?" she shouted.
"Here, here, here," the walls echoed back.
"Why hasn't anybody come down and found me yet, dammit?" she shouted once again.
"Dammit, dammit, dammit," the walls echoed once more.
She wandered around aimlessly looking for any sort of help, but all attempts were futile. She even pondered her possible demise at one point, saying: "All right, if this is the end - if this is it - at least I'm going to die in the most natural beautiful cathedral I have been in in a long time."
"And then I thought, 'No, I ain't giving up yet," she said.
Little did Rodgers know, however, that several search crews had already been on the lookout for her for the past few days, when the last person she spoke to, an ex-Marine named Bruce Trees, notified local authorities of her disappearance. The search truly took off on April 3, when a detective with the Gila County Sheriff's Office received a call from the White Mountain Apache Forest Rangers. The detective was notified of the situation and was asked to get the department to aid in the search.
The first break came that same day when some people found her car that appeared to have been abandoned a few days before. The second came the following Saturday when a White Mountain Apache Tribe Game and Fish officer spotted Rodgers' dog walking out of the Canyon Creek area as search crews headed for higher ground for a better vantage point.
Using that discovery to refine their search, an aerial search was launched, which found an array of sticks and stones across the canyon floor that spelled out the word "HELP." Authorites continued their search, and farther down the canyon, found a shelter that appeared to have been abandoned by Rodgers.
Soon afterward, authorities finally found who they were looking for: Rodgers herself as she stood next to a signal fire as she waved to the rescue helicopter.
"Old people are thought of as not always as able to do things as others, which is true in many ways," Rodgers said Tuesday. "However, because we age, wisdom [and] memories become part of your knowledge base that help you survive."
Despite being subjected to that ordeal for nine days, all she had to be treated for was exposure. Apparently the experience didn't deter her one bit either. When asked whether she still planned to visit her grandchildren, she whispered, "You better damn well believe it."
