Claire Nelson lay in agony for 72 hours in a US desert with a shattered pelvis and just a T-shirt and shorts for coverfrom the scorching sun. Photo / Supplied
Claire Nelson lay in agony for 72 hours in a US desert with a shattered pelvis and just a T-shirt and shorts for coverfrom the scorching sun. Photo / Supplied
Trapped for three days under the hot sun and badly injured after falling in a US desert, a Kiwi hiker prepared for death, thinking "nobody's going to know I'm missing".
As Auckland woman Claire Nelson lay in agony and alone with a broken pelvis, she was forced to drink her own urine to fight dehydration, terrified she'd be attacked by snakes.
She had almost given up hope when she heard a rescue helicopter buzzing overhead, with searchers calling her name over a megaphone. She successfully signalled to the crew by waving a t-shirt and hat tied to a stick.
Kiwi survival expert Ian Barnes praised Nelson's ability to keep enough of a clear head to survive about 72 hours in such unforgiving conditions.
Claire Nelson, pictured in the Joshua Tree Park before she endured three days alone and with a broken pelvis. Photo / Supplied via Instagram
She heard the helicopter on Friday. It was just total relief.
Nelson was hiking in the Joshua Tree National Park in California when she slipped and fell .
"She stepped off the trail and rolled on a stone."
Nelson lay for three days unable to move, exposed to the sun with only a t-shirt and shorts for cover, trying to move the pieces of clothing around for shelter.
She was due to meet with someone on Thursday, and hoped when she didn't turn up they would send rescuers to search for her.
Joshua Tree National Park.
Nelson was thinking, "nobody knows where I am, nobody's going to know I'm missing" but she needed to "hang on until Thursday" and hope someone would save her, Hickton said.
"When no one came searching on Thursday she really felt she was going to die. She couldn't move and the sun was fierce. At night she was petrified of the rattlesnakes and other things."
Nelson used the cap of her sunscreen bottle to collect her urine to drink.
"Classic survival stuff but none of us ever expect to have to do it," Hickton said.
By Friday, Nelson truly believed she was a "goner", Hickton said. Then she heard the chopper.
"She said they flew over a few times but then she put a t-shirt on top of her hiking stick and her hat on top and waved it furiously. That is what caught their eye."
"It was horrific waiting, particularly when you realise it's been three days .
"There's nothing worse than imagining all the possibilities when a child goes missing."
Cutting Edge Bushcraft's Ian Barnes said Nelson "did well" to survive the experience.
Claire Nelson poses with a husky dog while sledding in Canada. Photo / Supplied
"Dehydration and shock would have been her biggest life threatening things. Fractured pelvises sort of put people into shock quite quickly. She must have kept her head together."
Barnes said the first thing in Nelson's situation would be to find some kind of shelter if possible, or find something to cover her face with.
The head is the most important body part to shield from the sun, as it affects the temperature of the rest of the body and is particularly sensitive.
Someone in Nelson's situation should make sure not to exacerbate their injury, and should also think about a strategy to seek help or signal rescuers, as she did.
Barnes said it sounded as though Nelson did "all the right things".
Nelson is a freelance writer who grew up between Auckland and Wellington.
A missing New Zealand tramper, Claire Nelson, was found alive in a national park between two deserts in southern California. Photo / Facebook
She lived in the UK for 12 years and worked as a sub-editor on Jamie Oliver's magazine. She had been travelling through Canada when she took a break to cat-sit for friends at their home in Joshua Tree, California.
She was going hiking "most days" while in Joshua Tree, until the accident happened.
