Dad, daughter rescued
<p>Matt Gering and his daughter Kia Gering, 14, walk away from a search and rescue helicopter from Fairchild Air Force Base Thursday after being recovered from a remote area of the St. Joe Forest.</p>
<p>Matt Gering and his girlfriend, April Lyons, share a kiss after being reunited.</p>
<p>Jackie Gering, left, and her daughter Kia Gering, 14, hold hands as they discuss Kia's three-night ordeal after becoming stranded in the St. Joe Forest 35 miles southeast of Avery on a hunting trip with her father Matt Gering. The two were located by a search and rescue helicopter Wednesday morning on a remote road near Mammoth Springs.</p>
POST FALLS - It wasn't exactly the father-daughter bonding time Matt and Kia Gering had planned, but it worked.
Matt, 37, and his daughter Kia, 14, both of Post Falls, were found safe and sound by a Fairchild Air Force Base helicopter crew Thursday morning in the St. Joe National Forest about 15 miles southeast of Avery after they became stranded during a hunting trip Monday.
"My dad just kept telling me when I'd cry that people looking for us have it worse because we know we're OK and they don't," Kia said after she returned to Post Falls. "What was hard for me was that the weather was so bad that I'd look at the road at night and felt nothing was going to come."
Kia, a Post Falls High freshman, said temperatures during the three nights dipped into the 30s at night, there was about 2 feet of snow on the ground and fog was so thick that the tops of trees couldn't be seen.
The two were located at 6,400 feet in the Mammoth Springs and Bluff Creek areas.
"We would've had to walk 21 miles just to get to a warming cabin, which is a long way in snow," Kia said.
The two - out of cell phone range - became stranded after the truck got a flat tire from running over a log that was covered in snow.
"We didn't have a wrench, so we couldn't change the tire," Kia said.
When the two tried to drive the four-wheeler out, it stopped running not far from the truck.
"We started to walk, but my dad didn't think that was a good idea, so we went back to the pickup to wait for search and rescue," Kia said. "The first night was the scariest. I had three dreams that I was home, but I'd wake up and we were still in the mountains."
Staying at the truck was a move that was praised by law enforcement. Matt's experience as a guide in Alaska proved pivotal, rescuers said.
"My dad just knows what to do and how to handle stuff," Kia said. "I got scared that he'd stop breathing and I'd freak myself out about wondering what I'd do if I was the only one there."
Kia said the two portioned out what food and drinks they had and slept in the truck at night.
"We had a half a tank of fuel, so we'd turn the heater on for about 10 minutes every hour," she said.
The two spent time playing tic-tac-toe, "which got pretty old," and listened to a worship CD, which was the only one they had. They dried sticks next to the dashboard heater enough to start fires and melted snow for water.
"What really helped calm me was the daylight, heat and that CD," Kia said.
Matt did his part as well.
"My dad just kept saying that God has plans for us, and he'll make sure we get out of this," she said.
By Wednesday, however, times got dire. The gas light came on and the food was gone.
Matt shot an elk, and they cooked some meat over a fire to get through the night.
On Thursday morning, the two started to walk for help when they heard the rescue helicopter.
"The reason they found us was that an anonymous caller said he'd seen a silver Chevy pickup with an ATV in the back headed up Bluff Creek and, sure enough, that's where we were," Kia said.
It was a happy ending to what involved multiple rescue teams and searching from many friends and family members.
"I couldn't believe how many people were there (near Avery) waiting for us," she said.
Matt, who spent much of Thursday recovering his vehicles, taking care of the elk and tending other matters, could not be reached for comment.
Family, friends and some who searched for the two planned to have dinner together Thursday night to celebrate the safe return.
Kia's mother, Jackie Gering of Kooskia, was elated about the outcome.
"I didn't sleep at all Tuesday night and I called as many people as I knew to pray," she said.
This wasn't the first time her daughter has been reported missing. Neighborhood kids locked her in a bedroom when she was 4, which sent family and police looking for her for about eight hours.
This is Kia's first year of hunting, and she said she's not going to let this week's experience prevent her from going back out.
"I'd say that it was a good learning experience that made me and my dad closer," she said. "But if I had to do it again this way, I'd choose not to do it."