Camper, 28, Fell from Cliff and Spent 3 Weeks Fighting Off Animals and Surviving on Boiled Snow

A woman who was lost in the Sierra Nevada mountains for almost three weeks is sharing details about her harrowing journey — one that involved defending herself against animals and eating many, many wild leeks.

Tiffany Slaton, a 28-year-old from Jeffersonville, Ga, made national headlines when she was discovered in a cabin near Lake Edison in Fresno County, Calif. on Wednesday, May 14, more than 40 miles away and weeks after she began what was supposed to be a three-day, solo camping trip around Shaver and Huntington Lakes, NBC News reported. Her family reported her missing on Tuesday, April 29, after not hearing from her for nine days, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.

Alive and relatively healthy after the ordeal, Slaton, a trained horticulturist and archer, told reporters on Friday, May 16, that her expedition to safety involved fighting off animals, scaling 11,000-foot high peaks, boiling snow for drinking water, scavenging for leeks and buckling down for 13 major snow storms, ABC News reported. Officials did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for further comment.

“Nature is quite terrifying. Once you start finding things that are scary for you, you do your best to keep moving and get over it,” said Slaton, according to the outlet.

The young woman started out with sufficient supplies for her trip, including a tent, sleeping bags and a bike. By the end of it, she only had a lighter and knife, ABC News reported.

When Slaton began her trip, she told reporters that she had fallen off a cliff and lost consciousness. When she came to, two hours later, she had to splint one of her legs and pop her knee back into place in the other injured leg, the outlet reported.

After the camper was reported missing, the sheriff’s office launched an extensive search and confirmed she had been seen on April 20 at Huntington Lake and on April 24 at a general convenience store in the county. Deputies searched nearly 600 square miles for the missing woman, which included the use of a helicopter, according to the sheriff’s office. There were no further sightings of Slaton until she was discovered.

Christopher Gutierrez, the owner of Vermilion Valley Resort, was checking his property when he saw an open door and a pair of shoes. As he explained during a May 14 press conference, he assumed somebody had holed up to escape bad weather the previous night. He was right, but there was more to the story.

“As soon as we start making our way there, here comes Tiffany,” Gutierrez said. “She pops out, didn’t say a word, just ran up and all she wanted was a hug. Man, it was a pretty surreal moment and that’s when I realized who this was.”

Her dad said during the news conference that Tiffany called him on her way down from the mountain as soon as she was able to get a cellphone signal.

As his voice quivered, Bobby Slaton recalled his daughter saying over the phone, “Dad, I’m alive and I’m sorry.”

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To the relief of her parents, Tiffany was found safe, a day before her 28th birthday.

During the recent press conference, Tiffany said that she sustained some eye damage because of the blinding snow and lost 10 pounds, but her bloodwork results were “perfect,” ABC News reported. All she wanted to eat was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she told her rescuer.

Throughout her arduous time alone in the mountains, Tiffany was determined to reach safety by her birthday. She also told reporters that she would rather “live than have to deal with my parents seeing that I failed in such a dumb way,” according to the outlet.