The Umatilla County Sheriff's Department rescued Walla Walla resident Alana Riggle, foreground, after she did not return to a campsite at Harris Park on Wednesday, June 10 after hiking with friends.

MILTON-FREEWATER — The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office rescued a Walla Walla, Washington, woman Wednesday night, June 10 after she got stuck on a 40-foot cliff while hiking at Harris Park near Milton-Freewater, according to a news release from the department. 

Umatilla County Sheriff’s Deputy John Reitz and five search and rescue volunteers were dispatched to the park around 9:30 p.m. after Eduardo Hazleton, of Portland, reported his sister, Alana Riggle, 29, hadn’t returned from a hike. 

According to the release, Hazleton told authorities he and two friends were hiking with Riggle that morning to a scenic overlook of the park when they decided to return to their campsite around 11 a.m. Riggle opted to stay on the trail, but the group couldn’t locate her after returning to and searching the area of the overlook. 

The group located a blanket but Hazleton called 911 after the sun began to set and there was still no sign of his sister. 

Around 11 p.m., Daniel Androes, a Walla Walla search and rescue volunteer, heard yelling coming from the vicinity of a narrow dirt road. He followed the yelling and located Riggle “at the top of an approximate 40‐foot vertical cliff directly below a rock escarpment,” the release stated. 

By free climbing up, and then rappelling down to Riggle, the search and rescue team secured a rope around her, and then safely brought her up the slope of the rock escarpment. 

Riggle was cold but uninjured and declined medical aid at the scene, the release stated. She was returned to her family’s campsite around 1 a.m.