(KTLA) – A mother and child stranded deep in the dense Stanislaus National Forest late last week left a trail of handwritten notes that helped their rescuers find them, officials in California announced this week.  

On July 11, the 49-year-old woman and her 9-year-old son traveled from the Sacramento area to Camp Wolfeboro for an overnight camping trip, officials with the Calavera County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. 

During their excursion, the woman was using a GPS unit that offered alternate routes to their destination along with more common ones. When the GPS unit lost its signal, the mother and son were already well inside a “remote area” of the forest and were unable to find their way back out, the sheriff’s office said.

Rescue efforts unfolded on July 12 after a person reported that the pair had not returned or called as expected. 

“A deputy was dispatched to initiate a missing persons investigation, and the search and rescue team was deployed to begin search efforts,” officials said. “The reporting party also provided a location obtained from a location-sharing app they previously used with the missing persons.”  

Crews then began “assessing the terrain and the complex network of interconnecting, labyrinth-like roads” to determine where to search, the release said.  

During the early part of the rescue effort, a camper contacted a forest ranger to report seeing a car matching the description of the lost campers’ vehicle the previous day.

“This information, along with data provided by the reporting party, confirmed that the teams were searching in the correct area,” officials said.  

Deputies said the lost mother and son, while waiting for rescue, turned on the car’s hazard lights at night, and the 9-year-old also periodically blew a whistle in “three short bursts, an international signal for help.”

Then there were the mother’s handwritten notes.  

A search and rescue team spotted the first note in the early evening on July 12.  

“Help. Me and my son are stranded with no service and can’t call 911,” the note read. “We are ahead, up the road to the right. Please call 911 and get help for us.” 

Rescue crews found another note about a mile away, which included the pair’s names and their phone number. 

The mother and son were found about another mile from the second note.  

The crew then used a HAM radio to report back to a command post.  

“After broadcasting ’emergency traffic’ on the HAM radio, their call was immediately answered by a retired El Dorado County Communications Supervisor who was a HAM operator monitoring frequencies from his home,” officials said. “This HAM operator then contacted the El Dorado 911 center, which provided the information to Calaveras Dispatch, and the SAR command post was notified.” 

The search and rescue crew assisted the mother and her son in driving back to the command post, where their family was waiting for them.  

“Of importance in the successful outcome was their pre-trip notification of telling someone where they were going and when to expect them back,” officials added.