Vongphachan

(Updated at 8:01 Friday to correct Deng Vongphachan's name.)

Search and Rescue volunteers continue to comb the dense underbrush up Low Divide Road near Signal Peak for 71-year-old Deng Vongphachan, a Smith River woman who was reported missing Thursday.

Searchers found freshly cut mushrooms and other small signs from where she was working about 400 yards from her truck near the junction of Low Divide Road and Forest Service Road 17N21. But because of heavy rain, hail and snow, tracking her was difficult, though rescue dogs were out on Sunday, Del Norte County Sheriff Garrett Scott told the Wild Rivers Outpost.

“Today we’ll be expanding the search grid,” Scott said. “We were working within about a one- to two-square-mile search. We’ll be moving that out a little bit and also will be backtracking through all the original tracks. And there will be teams doing more hand searching through the thick, dense huckleberry brush and underbrush.”

Vongphachan was reported missing by her son at about 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. Thursday. Searchers found her truck about six miles up Low Divide Road from North Bank Road as well as her backpack but were unable to locate her.

According to Scott, Vongphachan was known to the residents in the area. Most had chatted with her over the years or knew where she would go to hunt for mushrooms. The sheriff said friends and family were also concerned for Vongphachan’s health.

Del Norte Search & Rescue deployed a drone in the search for a missing 71-year-old woman in the Low Divide Road area this weekend. | Photo courtesy of Del Norte Search & Rescue

Searchers from multiple agencies including Trinity, Humboldt, Sonoma and Jackson county sheriff’s offices have helped with the search. Pelican Bay State Prison also sent officers. The U.S. Coast Guard, California Highway Patrol and Cal-Ore Life Flight have provided helicopters to help.

The Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office has also deployed an infrared drone.

“She’ll be back up today, weather permitting,” he said.

Scott estimated that there were two inches of snow on the ground on Sunday, though much of it melted overnight. He said snow is expected around noon.

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