SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP (KDKA) — A local woman huddled close to her dog after she got lost in the woods Thursday night in Laurel Ridge State Park in Springfield Township.

Jane Donnelly, of Whitehall, was hiking with her boyfriend and her dog Zippy.

She headed back early but took the wrong path and got lost. Once it began getting dark, she found a smooth spot on the ground and stayed put.

“She was smart when she realized it was going to get dark,” said Mike Mamau, the park’s manager. “The best thing you can do is stay put, and that’s exactly what she did.”

Donnelly says she’s very thankful that she had taken a jacket with her. She had no cell phone and doubts she would have gotten service there anyway.

She gathered up ferns so she and Zippy didn’t have to sit on the wet ground.

“I had to keep him warm, too, because he was shaking the whole night,” said Donnelly.

She says she wasn’t worried, but Zippy might have been. “Poor little boy here hadn’t had his dinner, and he kept jumping up on me like, ‘Mommy, why are we here?’”

Around 8:30 a.m. Friday, searchers found the two of them.

She says she had no idea so many people were out searching for her.

“It was embarrassing. It really was,” said Donnelly.

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