Search For Missing Sacramento Hiker, 62, Hampered By Smoke From California Wildfire

FRESNO COUNTY (CBS13) — Search and rescue crews are continuing their search for a missing Sacramento woman in Fresno County.

Miyuki Harwood, 62, was hiking with a group from Sacramento in the Sierra National Forest on Thursday, when she got separated and hasn't been seen since.

Smoke from a nearby wildfire is hampering the search efforts in rocky terrain near Horseshoe Lake.

Barb Hartwag flew in from Minnesota after finding out her sister-in-law went hiking and never came back.

"They should have found her by now," she said. "It's scary because it happens to other people but not you. We are all very worried."

Harwood was part of a hiking group that left the Sacramento area last week. At some point on Thursday afternoon, she got separated from other hikers and hasn't been since.

"We don't know if she just continued on and just got lost or she fell into something, but it's just not like her at all," Hartwag said.

Search and rescue crews are combing the forest from the ground and air, but rugged terrain and thick smoke from the nearby Rough Fire is making it hard to see.

"With this particular operation, the search area is 19 miles away, which tells us immediately since our folks are having to walk out there, they're not going to arrive until tomorrow," said Fresno County Sheriff Lt. Kathy Curtice. "It will take them another day/day and a half to walk back."

Hartwag says Harwood works as a systems analyst at Intel. Her disappearance is concerning because she has decades of hiking experience and goes on difficult hikes on her own several times a year.

"I was just shocked because here she went hiking in June and I was afraid for her then, going by herself," Hartwag said. "And here she was with a group and now this happened."

Harwood's family says she did have some food with her, as well as a cellphone, but there's virtually no cell service in the area.