Skamania deputies rescue driver stuck on U.S. Forest Service Road

Skamania County sheriff’s deputies helped a driver Tuesday night who got stuck in her SUV on a U.S. Forest Service road that accesses Gifford Pinchot National Forest, after she was led there by her phone’s navigation.

At about 5 p.m., the stranded motorist on Forest Road 23 — which snakes into the east side of Gifford Pinchot, 10 miles northwest of Trout Lake — called for help, according to a news release from the Skamania County Sheriff’s Office.

The sheriff’s office asked a tow company to respond, but it was “either not available or unwilling,” the release says.

Deputies said they decided to head out to find the woman, identified as 30-year-old Maria E. Becerra of Puyallup, due to a language barrier, inclement weather and not knowing how much fuel or supplies she had on hand.

Once found, Becerra told deputies she had been driving home from Bend, Ore., and was using her phone to find her way back to Puyallup.

“She continued driving her 2009 Cadillac Escalade into the snow until the vehicle became stuck. When asked if she considered backing out when the snow deepened and there were no other tracks continuing north, she said she did not,” deputies said.

The Cadillac did not have traction tires or chains.

Becerra was taken to White Salmon and then to a warming shelter in Hood River, Ore.

The sheriff’s office urged drivers unfamiliar with the area, and with changing road and weather conditions, to not rely on GPS.