FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A woman who was stranded in the rugged Sierra Nevada for nine days while suffering from some broken bones survived by using a water filter to drink from a creek, authorities said. 
 
 Miyuki Harwood, 62, was found Saturday morning in a remote area of the Sierra National Forest after she used a whistle to get the attention of a search and rescue team who were looking for her, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims said at a news conference. 
 
 Harwood was airlifted to a hospital to treat an unspecified injury sustained on Aug. 20 when she got separated from a group of hikers near Horsehead Lake, about 100 miles northwest of Fresno. 
 
 She was listed in stable condition, the sheriff said after meeting Harwood at her hospital bed. 
 
 "Her voice was strong. She was extremely thankful that people were looking for her," Mims said. 
 
 Harwood, of Folsom, Calif., was the focus of an intense search involving several law enforcement agencies after she got lost in the mountains. 
 
 She broke some bones and couldn't hike back to her base camp, Mims said. She also had very little food and supplies because she was carrying just enough for a day trip. 
 
 To survive, Harwood crawled for about two days from where she was injured to a creek where she could scoop water into a bottle with a filter inside. 
 
 "She was a fighter," said Rusty Hotchkiss, a California Highway Patrol flight officer and paramedic who flew Harwood to the hospital. 
 
 "She was very exhausted — very tired, but she was very thankful to be saved and to get out of there," he added. 
 
 Mims said the search for Harwood was hampered by thick smoke from a wildfire that has burned 96 square miles nearby in the Kings Canyon National Park. 

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 A 62-year-old woman who vanished while hiking in California was found alive Saturday — more than a week after she was separated from the group she was traveling with, police said. 
 
 Miyuki Harwood was located not far from where she went missing in a remote area of the Sierra National Forest, after hearing rescuers and blowing a whistle to get their attention, said Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims. 
 
 Harwood was airlifted to a nearby hospital for treatment of broken bones, Mims said during a news conference Saturday. Mims wouldn't comment on the extent of Harwood's injuries but said she was able to visit with the 62-year-old, who was stable, speaking and "very grateful that she was found." 
 
 Harwood was last seen on Aug. 20 near the Courtright Reservoir, about 100 miles east of Fresno, with a hiking group from the Sierra Club, based near Sacramento. She did not know any of the people she was hiking with, but her family told police that she was an experienced hiker, according to the Fresno County Sheriff's Office. 
 
 @FresnoSheriff finds missing hiker alive, but injured, near Courtright Reservoir. Helicopter taking her to hospital. pic.twitter.com/veK6gEhwbg — Fresno Co Sheriff (@FresnoSheriff) August 29, 2015 
 
 California Highway Patrol officer Rusty Hotchkiss said the group had only planned a daytrip, and that is all Harwood was prepared for. She had a water filter with her, but "she had no food," Hotchkiss said. 
 
 "She was a fighter. She was a tough girl," Hotchkiss added. "It just tickles us all to death that we have good news at the end of nine days." 
 
 "She was really at the end of the time period that we thought she could survive," Mims said. 
 
 Several local agencies, the California Office of Emergency Services and the California National Guard were involved in the aerial and land search for Harwood. More than 60 search and rescue crew members were aided by dogs and drones, the Fresno County Sheriff's Office said. 
 
 The search was initially hampered by smoke from a wildfire, called the Rough Fire, which began July 31 and was burning about 10 miles away from the search area. Officials also worried that the smoke would debilitate Harwood as rescuers scrambled to find her. 
 
 Mims warned that hikers should not separate from their groups and stay away from trails with hazardous conditions. "Especially right now with the fires going on, now is not a good time to go up into that area. Allow the firefighters to do their job," Mims said.
– Miyuki Harwood went hiking on a day trip in California's Sierra National Forest on Aug. 20. The 62-year-old was pulled out yesterday—after nine days and at what the local sheriff calls "the end of the time period that we thought she could survive," reports NBC News. Harwood is in stable condition with unspecified broken bones she suffered when she became separated from her group, notes the AP. Authorities are a little wowed, because though Harwood had a water filter on her, she had no food; she had to crawl two days to a creek for water to survive. "She was a fighter," says a California Highway Patrol officer. "She was a tough girl. It just tickles us all to death that we have good news at the end of nine days." The search, which involved several local agencies, was hampered by a wildfire burning in the area around Horsehead Lake.