Deputies are asking for help finding a missing hiker last seen Thursday afternoon in unincorporated Woodside, San Mateo County sheriff's officials said Friday.
Bethnee Haury was last seen at about 4 p.m. on Skyline Boulevard.
Search teams spent Friday looking for Haury in the Kings Mountain area of unincorporated San Mateo County, according to sheriff's officials. The search, which was too dangerous even for trained search teams on the ground, will continue overnight with the help of a specially-equipped sheriff’s office aircraft.
"Our airplane has infrared capabilities that can search" and detect body heat, said Det. Salvador Zuno.
An army of volunteers will again comb through the mountains above Woodside, starting Saturday morning, according to officials.
Haury is 56 years old, 5 feet 5 inches tall, about 140 pounds with red hair and blue eyes.
Haury, her husband and son, who are Bay Area residents, were staying at a bed and breakfast when Haury left and went on a hike at about 1:30 p.m. Thursday with her brown and white Aussie or Australian Shepherd.
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The family had been traveling on vacation, sheriff's spokesman Detective Salvador Zuno said.
At about 7:30 p.m., her husband called the sheriff's office to report that his wife had not returned.
"They are not familiar with the area," Zuno said.
Haury suffers from early onset dementia and has Type-2 diabetes and requires insulin injections.
A resident or business owner in the area said they saw Haury and her dog at about 4 p.m. and she looked okay.
But Zuno said Haury may have become disoriented.
The incident has been "very difficult" Haury's husband, Zuno said, adding, "We just hope we [can] hurry up and locate Mrs. Haury.'
The San Mateo County Search and Rescue team and the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, professional volunteer search teams, have been searching for Haury round-the-clock since last night, according to Zuno.
More than 70 searchers with trained dogs, teams on horseback, along with off-road vehicles from 16-different Bay Area agencies have been scouring the trails about seven miles northwest of Woodside. They have triple-checked more than a dozen trails within a two-and-a-half mile radius, Zuno said.
Zuno said the area is wooded and steep.
Anyone who sees someone who looks like Haury or anything that would help rescuers find her is asked to call 911 and say "I believe I saw a missing person."
Zuno said there is nothing now to suggest foul play.
