‘In case I die before I make it.’ Hiker posts Instagram video before California rescue
.jpeg "Courtney Leasure got lost in Desolation Wilderness near Lake Tahoe, California, while hiking with her dog, Marley. El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department searchers rescued them and carried Marley out on a sling.")
Courtney Leasure’s Instagram page features photos and videos of her travels across the country with her dog, Marley.
Now it has a video of a moment when she feared they both might die.
“In case I die before I make it,” Leasure says in the video, which shows the snowy landscape of Desolation Wilderness in California near Lake Tahoe.
Searchers rescued Leasure and Marley after she called for help Sunday, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office reported on Facebook. They carried Marley, who had been slightly injured, out on a sling.
They had become lost while hiking in the wilderness on a visit to California, Leasure told KOVR. Both were hurt from falling off a boulder.
“I was afraid,” Leasure said, noting she and Marley were “way off” the trail on the side of a mountain. Then rescuers showed up in response to her call for help.
“I was blown away, I was so happy, and I was crying, and I was panicking and trying to breathe and it was a bunch of feelings,” she told KOVR.
“I’m glad I made it out alive. you are harsh but gorgeous,” Leasure wrote on an Instagram photo of herself in Desolation Wilderness.
Later Instagram photos of her trip show Leasure, an Ohio resident, at the beach and visiting Old Sacramento.
This story was originally published April 15, 2021 at 2:50 PM with the headline "‘In case I die before I make it.’ Hiker posts Instagram video before California rescue."