‘We made it’: Mom, 8-year-old son found safe after they vanished while hiking

CALDWELL COUNTY, N.C. — A mother and her young son were found safe Monday after they were both reported missing while hiking in Caldwell County Sunday evening, authorities said.

Emergency services were out Monday morning along Brown Mountain Beach Road, in the Pisgah National Forest along the Harper Creek Trail. They had been searching for the pair since 11 p.m. Sunday and suspended the search about 12 hours later.

Crews said April Tester and her 8-year-old son, Desmond Tester, were novice hikers who were out with their family Sunday. They were headed to a waterfall along Harper Creek but they got separated from the family. Their family members came back down the trail that night but told emergency crews they could not find the Testers.

April Tester told Channel 9 that she and Desmond ended up going on another trail that forked off the trail to the falls. To make matters worse, the family members who had gone ahead to the falls had all of the food and water, making for a long, chilly night in the woods for her and her son.

“I never expected so many people to come out to help me and my son,” April Tester said. “What a blessing.”

The pair was last seen at about 5 p.m. Sunday, first responders said, and they weren’t dressed to stay overnight. The area is remote with little to no cell phone service. The trail leading out to the falls is rugged in places and, like April mentioned, has other trails that break off of it.

On Monday, emergency crews said a hiker found them safe in the woods. They had hiked more than seven miles away from the trailhead.

“The ravines to each side are a challenge, and then there are laurel thickets,” said Caldwell Emergency Services Chief Dino DiBernardi before they were found. “It’s making the search very difficult, a slow process but we’re utilizing the North Carolina Highway Patrol Helicopter with FLIR.”

What rescuers didn’t know was that the Testers were miles from the search area, on another trail that skirted around the waterfall and deep into the forest.

“I said falls, we need to go uphill, that’s where waterfall comes from,” April Tester said. “We took the right one, that was not the one.”

“Five hours and 30 minutes. That was our whole entire hike,” Desmond Tester said.

April Tester said they tried to sleep on a beach near the creek wearing only what they had on as the temperature plunged into the lower 50s. They couldn’t make a fire and didn’t have any food, but could see the helicopters and, more importantly, knew they weren’t alone.

“We had each other, that’s what I told him,” April said. “We made it, yes we did.”

The search crews Monday included a State Highway Patrol helicopter, dogs, and agencies from Avery and Watauga counties who were called to help.

Family members said the hiker who found them drove them to the trailhead where they were reunited with loved ones. They said what happened is an important lesson for anyone to be prepared when heading into the woods.

(WATCH BELOW: Mountain rescue: Hiker with impaled foot rescued from North Carolina mountain)

Mountain rescue: Hiker with impaled foot rescued from North Carolina mountain (NCD)

©2022 Cox Media Group