A mother and her young son who got lost in a dense California forest were rescued after search crews discovered handwritten notes the woman and boy had left behind, authorities said this week.
The notes said “HELP” at the top and included information about where the pair was located, according to images posted on social media by the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office in Northern California.
“Me and my son are stranded with no service and can’t call 911,” one note read. “We are ahead, up the road to the right. Please call 911 to get help for us. Thank you!”
The sheriff’s office said authorities received a report on Saturday afternoon that the 49-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son left the Sacramento area the day before and were on their way to a Boy Scout camp called Camp Wolfeboro. The mom and son “were overdue and not answering their cellular phones,” the sheriff’s office said.
A volunteer search and rescue team that had been training in the area was deployed to look for them, equipped with information about a possible location noted in a location-sharing app. Later that evening, around 5:40 p.m., the team found a note at a Forest Service road intersection indicating that the mom and her son were stranded, the sheriff’s office said.
Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office/Facebook 
They followed the road and found a second note that listed a telephone number and the names of the mother and son. Searchers found them and their vehicle about a mile away in an isolated, dense forest location.
Authorities said they learned that the mother and son had lost GPS signal after driving into the remote area and had been unable to retrace where they came from.
They spent a night in their vehicle, with a cooler of drinks and food that they had packed for Camp Wolfeboro, according to Lt. Greg Stark, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, The Associated Press reported.
In an effort to help searchers, the boy had used his whistle “to periodically deploy three short bursts, an international signal for help,” the sheriff’s office said. They also turned their vehicle’s hazard lights on at night.
“Of importance in the successful outcome was their pre-trip notification of telling someone where they were going and when to expect them back,” the sheriff’s office said.
