RIVERSIDE – A 21-year-old Corona woman who got lost descending Southern California's highest peak was located miles off-trail Saturday morning, hoisted into a rescue helicopter and flown to a hospital, authorities said.

Grace Hilario, 21, of Corona, was suffering from dehydration and two nights of exposure to cold temperatures at elevations over 6,000 feet, according to accounts of her rescue. She also had bruises on her legs from climbing rocks to get cell phone reception, her father said.

“She was located southeast of Raywood Flat, almost to the Riverside County line,” said sheriff's spokeswoman Jodi Miller. “They found her at 7:37 a.m. and successfully hoisted her at 8:24 a.m.”

Hilario's parents said Saturday afternoon they are overwhelmed with gratitude and respect for the volunteers and aviators who saved their daughter.

“The rescuers are great,” said Grace's mother, Myrna Hilario, 48, reached Saturday afternoon at their home in Corona. “I salute them. I still feel like I'm dreaming, and I have a slap to my face that awakened me from a nightmare.

“Of course, I was worried I would never see her again.”

Grace's father, Emmanuel Hilario, 54, said his daughter will remain hospitalized overnight for observation.

“We are so grateful about the efforts they did to locate my daughter,” Emmanuel Hilario said. “There were about 100 volunteers out there, and we'd really like to thank San Bernardino County sheriff's and fire. They went beyond the call in professionalism. . . .

“Grace is okay, she's in high spirits,” Emmanuel Hilario said. “ She has bruises on her legs because she had to climb rocks to get reception for her cell phone. That is what saved her. It got dark and she called us at 11 p.m. last night and we were amazed.”

Grace told her parents she was hanging in there, but she was clearly daunted by her situation.

“She said she was alone with only the moonlight and silence,” Emmanuel Hilario said. “She said she was scared and she cried a little bit.”

Mountain winds were light this morning for the rescue, said sheriff's Cpl. Brian Miller, who piloted the Bell UH-1H “Huey” helicopter during the hoist operation.

“It was about 6,700 feet elevation in the South Fork drainage of Whitewater, east of a mountain called Snow Peak, right near the county line,” Cpl. Miller said, speaking from the San Bernardino County sheriff's aviation unit hangar in Rialto.

“We hovered in and it was about a 75-foot hoist,” Cpl. Miller said. “We lowered a medic and backed off so he could do an assessment.”

Volunteer Medic Dave Drott helped Hilario into a harness for the hoist up to the Huey.

“The terrain was very steep and treacherous,” Drott said, speaking from the aviation unit hangar in Rialto. “We don't how she got way out there. It was one of the north-facing slopes of Whitewater Canyon.”

Footing was uneven on the canyon slope, with dirt, gravel and loose rocks, Drott said.

“She wasn't what you'd call calm and cool when I got there,” Drott said of Hilario. “She was very frightened and she had this look on her face like she couldn't believe we were there to rescue her.

“She did say she was glad I was there,” Drott said.

Crew Chief Deputy Mike Ells operated the hoist to raise Hilario and Drott back to the helicopter. When they were safely inside the chopper, Cpl. Miller banked the airship west back towards Angelus Oaks.

“We flew them over to Angelus so she could be re-united with her family,” Cpl. Miller said. “They were hugging and taking pictures.”

Hilario had last been seen Thursday on or above Vivian Creek Trail as she tried to summit 11,499-foot San Gorgonio Mountain. She had been walking faster than the group she started with and they became separated.

A volunteer firefighter at the search command post in Angelus Oaks said Hilario had been taken to Loma Linda University Medical Center.

“We flew her down to Loma Linda so she could be fully checked out,” Cpl. Miller said.

News of the woman's rescue this morning traveled fast in the mountains. Gail Forgues, co-owner of Elkhorn General Store in Forest Falls, near the Vivian Creek trailhead where Hilario and her friends had first started their summit attempt Thursday morning, said she'd heard of the rescue from a Forest Ranger.

“She has been found, according to one of the rangers,” said Forgues, whose store often serves as information central in Forest Falls. “She was in a helicopter and safe, probably about 9 a.m.”

A U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman at Mill Creek Ranger Station also confirmed Hilario was found this morning.

Hilario used her cell phone to call 911 late Friday and she eventually spoke with sheriff's Deputy Paul Franklin, coordinator for San Gorgonio's search-and-rescue volunteers, Jodi Miller said.

Hilario told Franklin she believed she was three-quarters of the way up San Gorgonio Mountain and possibly near a stream, Jodi Miller said. Due to the vague description, Franklin told Hilario to remain where she was and to turn off her cell phone to conserve the battery.

Franklin called Hilario at first light today and a helicopter crew used her location descriptions to find her southeast of Raywood Flat, Jodi Miller said. Raywood Flat is southeast of Mill Creek Canyon and several miles from the Vivian Creek trailhead where Grace intended to finish.

“Something like this is really not routine,” Cpl. Miller said. “They never end up where you expect them to be. It was a learning experience for everyone.”

Hilario definitely took a few lessons from the experience, Deputy Franklin said.

“Her spirits were up when we spoke to her on the phone last night, though she was disappointed when she realized we couldn't be out there right away to pick her up,” Franklin said today, speaking from Angelus Oaks.

“But she followed our instructions really well,” Franklin said. “Imagine, you're out there in the woods alone with no one to talk to and then your phone starts working, and somebody tells you to turn it off. But she did it and she called in when we told her to. That showed she had her wits about her.”

Hilario still had some food and water when she was rescued, Franklin said.

“The last thing I asked her was what advice she'd give to other people,” Franklin said. “She said, 'Stay with your group and take a map.' ”

Over the years, some people walking down from San Gorgonio's summit have ended up far off trail, in canyons that open below the summit. They spread out in different directions and have been given such descriptive names as Hell For Sure, Whitewater, and Coon Creek.

Switchbacking trails above and below timberline are faint and easy to lose in faint light or darkness, according to wilderness veterans.