NEVADA CITY, CA (KOVR/CNN) - A grandmother is back home after spending 10 days trapped in her SUV after it got stuck in the snow.
Sheryl Donovan was on her way to work when she made the wrong turn. She ran out of gas, with no cell service to call for help.
Police are amazed she survived, and her family is thrilled.
"It's been overwhelming to say the least," daughter Ashley Ehlert said.
After a doctor's exam, the woman is being cared for by her daughter, who is still trying to learn what went wrong.
"We've spoken with my mom, and her story she's given it to us a little bit at a time," Ehlert said. "I'm sure everyone can understand that this has been extremely traumatic."
Ehlert said her mom used extra clothes in her SUV to keep from freezing, and only had a single bottle of water the whole 10 days she was missing.
"She did sparsely drink that, so she took her time on exhausting the one bottle of water that she did have. She did eat some snow," Ehlert said.
Donovan's SUV was found near Camptonville, CA, a desolate spot in Sierra County and a long way from her home in Marysville.
"It would appear she took a right turn when she probably should have taken a left hand turn," said Nevada County Sheriff's Lt. Robert Bringolf.
He said search and rescue teams had been focusing on other routes in their search, and were expecting the worst.
"And we're really really, really happy that it turned out a different way," Bringolf said.
Ehlert said her mom was finally located when she got out of her SUV and walked a mile to find a road, where a good Samaritan stopped to help her.
"I've joked with her that I will find some way to put a tracking device on her," Ehlert said.
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