Female Texas hiker, 25, shares astonishing pictures from being lost in Big Bend National Park with no food for over a WEEK - as she says she's just 'grateful to be alive'

A female hiker from Texas who was found alive after being lost in Big Bend National Park for over a week has shared astonishing pictures from her frightening ordeal - as she says she is just 'grateful to be alive.' 

Christy Perry, 25, was found about a quarter mile below the summit of Lost Mine Trail at Big Bend National Park on the morning of November 24, eight days after she was declared missing. 

Perry, who is from Houston, was 'awake and speaking' when rescue crews arrived, the National Park Service said in a statement. She was then transported to a hospital in Odessa by helicopter.

Perry has since published a series of 10 photos on TikTok depicting the increasingly brutal conditions she faced during her time wandering the woods alone - and revealed she survived on only rainwater as she had no food. 

'We are pleased to report a successful search and rescue operation in Big Bend National Park,' the National Park Service announced on Facebook. 

'Our highly skilled team, in collaboration with outside law enforcement, has located and safely rescued the missing hiker.'

Perry has since made light of her harrowing experience in a series of photos shared on TikTok that has gained over a million view and thousands of comments. 

'Swipe to watch me get lost at Big Bend for eight days,' she writes at the start, accompanied by a laughing and heart eye emoji. 

The first photo shows a happy and exciting Perry posing with a wide grin as she extends her arms to show the beautiful scenery surrounding her. 

Then things begin to take a turn for the worse. 

The next photos are blurry selfies showing her with teary eyes and a terrified expression, while drenched by rain. 

The last photo shows Perry after she was found, smiling in a hospital bed, receiving medical treatment after the traumatic event. 

Perry captioned the photos: 'But seriously I am so grateful to be alive and healthy. I'm so thankful for NPS and their search efforts along with the hospital staff for their care. I'm joyfully overwhelmed by so many loved ones who've reached out to me.' 

Many viewers questioned how the young hiker survived without food and water for eight days. 

'A person surviving the elements for 8 days unprepared is the craziest thing I’ve seen on tiktok,' one commented. 

In response, Perry wrote: 'I was too scared to eat the berries on the trees or mushrooms on the ground lol.'  

'I did not have food for 8 days but because it rained at big bend the first three days I got lost I had access to water!'

On November 16, NPS released a statement regarding their search for the missing hiker. 

'A search is currently underway for a hiker reported missing after her family reported that she did not return home from a trip to Big Bend National Park,' the statement read. 

'Christy Perry is a 25-year-old female, 5' 2" tall and weighs 100 pounds. She has brown hair and a fair complexion.'

According to NPS, Perry picked up a rental car in Midland, Texas, and arrived in Big Bend National Park on November 9.  

When she failed to show up for her camping reservation that evening at the Chisos Basin Campground, a team of Park Rangers and US Border Patrol Agents searched the trail all week, while pilots in two helicopters and an airplane surveyed from above. Texas Game Wardens and Los Diablos fire crew also combed the area.

Perry's vehicle was found at the trailhead for the Lost Mine Trail.

The Lost Mine Trail, which is a very popular nearly five mile hiking trail, climbs 'steeply through the woodlands of the Chisos Mountains and offers magnificent views of the rugged mountains and deserts of Big Bend and Mexico.' 

The trail was closed until further notice to allow searchers room to work efficiently and quickly, the statement added. 

Her incredible story comes just weeks after a lost Colorado hiker's body was found after nearly three months on a trail. 

Rich Moore, 71, and his black and white Jack Russell, Finney, disappeared on a hike on August 19 in Blackhead Peak, located in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado. 

Moore's loyal dog stayed by her dead owner's side for nearly three months. 

The starving pup weighed just 6lb after surviving on insects and chipmunks, and fending for herself in the Colorado mountains.

The arduous search for Rich and his dog was the 'most comprehensive' in the Sherriff's team's history - and despite having other K9s searching for Finney and handlers calling out his name in the mountains, it did not lead to a sighting.

The missing man's body was then discovered by a local hunter on October 30 in the Lower Blanco drainage basin - and by a miracle, little Finney was still by his side.

Rescuers who had come to collect Moore's body were able to coax loyal Finney away from his remains with a can of dog food - after loyally sticking by for three months.

The gaunt dog was still wearing her purple collar with 'Finney' written on the tag, but the personnel said that she was so skinny it was drooping off of her neck.

Finney, who had most likely had to fend off other wildlife during the fraught 72 days and nights alone in the mountains, had long scars on her nose.

It was only when the team offered starving Finney a can of wet beef dog food that she came close, and was able to be captured in a blanket by Roy Vega, Archuleta County's Deputy Director of Emergency Management.

The pup was starving to the point that she gripped on to the can of food with her teeth, refusing to let go and savoring every bite, because she had most likely been surviving on insects and chipmunks for the past three months.

And the only source of water for Finney to drink from was a nearby spring.

As a result, Finney's body weight had halfed - and she weighed just six pounds.

The search for the hiker was called off on September 22, after 2,100 hours. Teams had used nine dogs and five choppers, as well as 175 flight and ground crews to find him.

Ryan Foster, the sheriff's emergency management commander, told the Gazette: 'The day they found him there was a wildland fire, and then a call came in. A hunter messaged his son in town that he had found a body and a dog.

'I called the sheriff and I said 'I think we've found Rich.'