Teen missing for days in Cherokee National Forest

But the search continued, and Zechiel was found somewhere in the woods around lunchtime Tuesday, according to her relieved father, Howard Zechiel, who was in Tennessee.

In an email, Johnson County Sheriff’s officials says that Ava has been found alive.

That was in the Shady Valley area, in the Iron Mountain Trail, while hiking with a group from Freedom Mountain Academy.

A few days before she went missing, Zechiel wrote a blog post on the school’s Web site about an earlier trek. Authorities had said she was last seen wearing brown hiking trousers, green fleece and an orange vest.

Zechiel is a student at Freedom Mountain Academy, a boarding school in Mountain City, Tn. that gives teenagers a year without the “noise” of modern life.

Sheriff Reece said Zechiel survived nearly a week with the gear and food she brought with her.Ava’s father didn’t want to talk about why his daughter disappeared only that he’s grateful to search crews and happy to have his daughter back home.

According to the release, the area where the search is taking place is rugged, rough, heavily wooded and joins the Cherokee National Forest.

“Naming each agency and person involved would take a tremendous amount of time. This operation is a true example of utilizing resources, organization of task and deployment of those resources”.