Solo Thru-Hiker Vanished in Colorado — Years Later, an SD Card Was Found Hidden in Her Shoe…

In the summer of 2016, a 29-year-old thru-hiker set out on one of Colorado’s most grueling trails. She was experienced, confident, and prepared for the solitude of the mountains. Friends recalled her excitement before she left, her promise to return with stories of ridgelines and sunsets. But she never came back.

When she failed to check in, search teams swept the backcountry for weeks. Helicopters scanned valleys, dogs tracked faint scents, and rangers interviewed other hikers. All they found were fragments: a torn map, a campsite abandoned in haste, and her walking stick lodged between rocks. With no body and no clear evidence, the case went cold.

For years, her disappearance haunted both her family and the hiking community. Was it a fall? An animal attack? Or something far darker?

Then, in 2021, everything changed. A hunter stumbled across a pair of weathered hiking boots deep in a remote canyon. One shoe had something unusual hidden inside the lining—an SD card wrapped in plastic. Against all odds, it had survived the years intact.

When investigators accessed the card, what they found chilled them. Dozens of photos and short video clips, all time-stamped during her final days on the trail. The images told a silent story: the woman smiling at mountain passes, recording the sound of rivers, even waving at the camera as she cooked a small camp meal. But then, the tone shifted.

The last videos showed her moving quickly, glancing over her shoulder, whispering into the camera: “Someone is following me.” In the final clip, her face was pale, her voice trembling. She held up the camera one last time and said, “If they find this, tell my family I love them.”

The recording ended there.

Her body has still never been recovered. But the SD card provided the first real clues in half a decade. Was she stalked by a stranger? Did she hide the card in her shoe, knowing her belongings might be destroyed or scattered? Investigators now had evidence she hadn’t simply fallen victim to the wilderness. Something—or someone—had been out there with her.

For her family, the discovery brought both anguish and comfort. The card gave them her voice, her smile, her final words. It proved she hadn’t vanished without a trace—she had left behind her story, hidden in the one place no one thought to look.

And in the shadow of Colorado’s mountains, hikers still whisper her name, reminded that some trails hold secrets only time—and courage—can reveal.