Disoriented and dehydrated, Patricia D. Giamoni knew this ill-fated hiking trek in northern California was no way to catch up and start anew with a longtime friend.

What began Saturday as a scheduled one-day climb to the 14,162-foot peak of Mount Shasta turned into almost a three-day struggle for the Enloe High Spanish teacher and her hiking partner, Salvador C. Frias, to navigate their way to safety. About 100 rescue searchers and two helicopters combed the Cascade Range mountain, but the pair found their own way down late Monday, arriving in a town more than 10 miles away from the peak.

The last of their water had been drunk long before they turned up on the loading docks of a forest products store in Weed about 11:30 p.m. It was the promise of quenching their thirst with Slurpees that had kept them going, Giamoni said jokingly Tuesday.

"It was definitely an adventure," said Giamoni, 37, of Apex. "It started out as an adventure. I just didn't expect it to go where it went."

Both Giamoni and Frias were described in good condition when they came upon the night shift working at Roseburg Forest Products. They were taken to a nearby hospital by ambulance as a precaution. Frias, 41, of Millbrae, Calif., declined medical attention, the Sheriff's Office said, while Giamoni was treated for dehydration and was released.

"A lot of times, these things don't turn out as well as this one did," said Siskiyou County Sheriff Rick Riggins.

An experienced hiker who scaled the Peruvian peaks of Machu Picchu on a previous vacation, Giamoni was reconnecting with Frias on this California trip. Frias' sister told the San Francisco Chronicle that the hiking trip was his "first really big date" with Giamoni, a longtime acquaintance with whom he recently got back in touch.

Giamoni and Frias had a day permit to hike Mount Shasta, which is about 220 miles north of Sacramento. When they reached the top, high winds forced them to begin their descent after only 15 minutes. The winds were powerful enough, Frias said, that they had to interlock their arms to keep from blowing away.

The water in their bottles froze within minutes up there, he said, and they quickly realized they had not dressed warmly enough for the peak. They had reached the summit by climbing up the southwest side of the mountain.

The clouds and high winds that buffeted them as they reached Misery Hill, just 1,162 feet below the peak, caused them to become disoriented and move toward a glacier on the northwest side of the mountain. The route was steep and marked by softening snow bridges over treacherous crevasses.

Giamoni and Frias considered doubling back to reach the southwest side before deciding they had no choice but to keep heading down. All they had was a loaf of bread and some water they had to ration judiciously. They got only a few minutes of sleep.

"It was rough, but we had to get down the mountain," Giamoni said. "It wasn't like our choice. ... We couldn't go back the other way."

Using their cell phones, they called 911 for help about 9:25 p.m. Saturday, but the call was lost before a transfer could be made to the Sheriff's Office. Shortly before 10 p.m., however, Giamoni was able to reach her son, Frank Machado, in North Carolina. Machado, a recent Enloe graduate, called the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office.

It was enough to give rescue searchers a start, and by Monday, they had spotted the pair's tracks downward. Ahead of the searchers, Frias and Giamoni soon began tracking their descent via GPS by plotting the general coordinates for the soft glow of Weed's city lights. Then the sight of railroad tracks let them know they were close.

Back in Apex, Giamoni's neighbors wrapped a yellow ribbon around a column in front of her townhouse. In advance of her return, a small sign declared, "Welcome Home, Patti." By Tuesday afternoon, a Facebook group with the misspelled name "Mrs. Giamonni missing!" was created, with 10 people from Enloe and other school colleagues tracking her adventure.

Asked whether the ordeal had dampened her enthusiasm for mountain climbing, Giamoni did not hesitate.

"I think I'll give it a break," she said.

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