Second mushroom picker rescued after six days missing in Olympic National Forest

GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, Wash. — On Wednesday, Amanda Sampson was rescued after being reported missing since Friday.

“I hollered her name, and all of a sudden we heard this, ‘I need help. I need help,” said Francheska Smith, Amanda’s aunt, who helped organize the search effort.

Sampson, 30, went mushroom picking with her cousin, Brook Bailey, on Friday. The two, along with Bailey’s dog Dazey, were caught off guard when a huge storm converged on top of them.

On Monday, after sleeping three nights on the ground, Bailey said she felt compelled to try and find help.

Bailey said Sampson had turned her ankle and couldn’t move easily.

“She didn’t want to stay. But she couldn’t move either,” said Bailey, 42, in an interview on Wednesday. “So I had to keep going. So my dog and I we kept going. We made it to the closest house I could find.”

A Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s spokesperson confirmed that Bailey knocked on the door of a house on Greenwood Road. The homeowner connected her with emergency officials.

“That’s when the search began for my cousin,” said Bailey.

Roughly twelve agencies from five different counties, along with nearly 100 volunteers from the Quinault Indian Nation, hiked through steep terrain trying to locate Amanda.

“I just got in my truck, I grabbed my friend and we just started doing the back roads. Honking, screaming, anything we could,” said Smith.

Bailey said that the two hikers only had a bucket and a hatchet when they began their hike on Friday. She added that she resulted to scavenging for berries and drinking water from a nearby stream.

Bailey said she instructed Sampson to seek shelter under a large tree root to avoid the harsh rain and wind that blanketed the forest for days.

That’s where Smith said the search crews eventually found Sampson.

Smith said Sampson’s skin had a blue hue.

“She had been out there with no water. No food. And she was not dressed properly for the elements,” said Smith.

They rushed her to the trailhead and she was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation.

On Wednesday, her family reported Sampson was stable, with doctors monitoring for hypothermia, frostbite, and a potential ankle fracture.

“I just wasn’t going to stop until I found her. I just wasn’t going to give up,” said Smith.

Bailey also said a drive to survive also inspired her to leave Amanda to seek help.

“My survival mode kicked in, my instincts, and I did what I thought was best for all of us,” said Bailey.

She also stressed she wished she had prepared better for the short hike.

“It don’t matter how experienced you think you are, go out prepared no matter what because it don’t take long to turn around,” said Bailey on Wednesday.

According to the Grays Harbor County Sheriff’s Office, the following agencies were involved in the search for Sampson and Bailey:

• Quinault Tribal Police
• Quinault DNR, SAR, FIRE, many family and friends
• Kitsap Co. Search dogs
• Thurston Co. Search dogs
• Pierce Co. Search dogs
• Westcoast Search dogs
• Pierce Co. Mountain Rescue
• South Beach Fire
• Hoquiam Fire
• GH Dist #10 Fire
• King Co. Helicopter

©2021 Cox Media Group