Search and Rescue Teams from across the region have headed to the high country west of Bishop to find a missing woman from Mammoth Lakes.

Inyo Sheriff officials report that 54-year-old Mammoth Lakes resident Valerie Ice had planned to meet two friends hiking the John Muir Trail on Wednesday, the 14th. The group planed to meet up in the Darwin Canyon area. When Ice did not meet her friends as planned, the two friends crossed over Lamark Col, the pass that separates the east side of the Sierra from the west in the Evolution region. The two found Ices camp on the east side of the col. Ice was not there, and her equipment was gone as well.

Inyo County Search and Rescue Team members were called out to search. China Lake Mountain Rescue Group out of Ridgecrest has joined the search, along with Mono County SAR. Searchers with Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park are searching the west side of the Sierra crest. The National Guard has sent a Chinook helicopter to assist the search effort as well.

Valerie Ice is a teacher at Edna Beaman School in Benton.

Update: Saturday July 17, 7:00 am.

All is well that ends well. Details are unclear at this point, but Sheriff officials report that Ice was found safe and in good health in what may have been a case of crossed paths.