Colorado woman survives five days in wrecked car

FAIRPLAY, Colo., May 5 (UPI) -- A Colorado woman was in critical condition Monday after skidding off a mountain road and spending five days trapped in her car.

Kristin Hopkins, 43, of Highland Ranch was rescued Sunday afternoon after a group of hikers reported seeing a body in a car. She had been reported missing last Tuesday.

Park County Undersheriff Monte Gore said Hopkins was transported by helicopter to a hospital in Lakeview, Colo. He said she was critically dehydrated.

Investigators believe Hopkins was on U.S. 285 when her car left the roadway, went down an 80-foot embankment and ended up in an aspen grove about 140 feet from the highway. The road goes through Red Hill Pass, a Rocky Mountain corridor more than 10,000 feet above sea level north of Fairplay, Colo., and about 70 miles southwest of Denver.

Several agencies cooperated in removing Hopkins from the wreck. Jim Cravener, a firefighter, said Hopkins used an umbrella in an effort to attract attention.

"It appeared she had written notes on an umbrella, that she could get out of the vehicle and open the umbrella, hoping somebody from the highway would see it," Cravener told KMGH-Denver.