After surviving more than two weeks lost in the woods learned a lot about herself and the elements though the harrowing ordeal.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, 35-year-old Amanda Eller disappeared on May 8 during a hike in a Hawaiian forest.
She was found last week in apparent good physical condition and was reunited with her family after a helicopter rescued her from a remote creek.
Eller addressed the experience publicly in a news conference on Tuesday, recounting a few of the lessons she learned in hopes that other hikers will avoid a similar fate, as reported by CNN.
“I should have had a cellphone with me,” she said. “There’s a reason we carry them all the time.”
Unlike other treks into nature, Eller said she neglected to bring essentials like water and food. Nevertheless, she credited a “voice” for leading her to safety, even though she continued to move further into the woods and away from her vehicle.
“My heart was telling me, ‘Walk down this path, go left,'” she recalled.”Great.’Go right.’ It was so strong. ‘Go left, go right.’ I’m like, great, this is so strong that obviously when I turn around and go back to my car it will be just as strong when I go back, but it wasn’t.”
She also weighed in on the “little theories” surrounding her disappearance, insisting she didn’t indulge in any drugs or alcohol — not even caffeine — before the hike.
During the press conference, Eller recounted foraging for berries, drinking water from waterfalls and sleeping in grass or wherever she could find a safe location, according to Fox News.
Eller also described falling from a 20-foot cliff, fracturing her leg and seriously injuring her knee.
“You can sit on the rock and you will die,” she said. “… Or you can start walking down that waterfall and choose life. I had to choose life.”
