A yoga instructor who went missing for 17 days while hiking in a US forest reserve survived by drinking from streams and eating plants.
Amanda Eller, 35, went hiking in Hawaii's Makawao Forest Reserve on May 8 but became lost when she walked deeper into the reserve, which covers more than 800 hectares, instead of heading back to her car as she believed.
Rescuers in a helicopter hired by her family spotted Eller on Friday afternoon in a ravine by a waterfall, a long way from her vehicle.
"Sure enough, God willing, she was right there," Javier Canetellops, a search co-ordinator who was in the helicopter, told reporters.
Friends had launched a "Find Amanda" campaign on Facebook and just an hour before she was rescued, they offered a $US50,000 ($A72,180) reward for information. Volunteers spent days scouring the thick forest around the trailhead where she parked.
Cantellops told the the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that she was in the bed of a creek with waterfalls on either side.