Girl, 10, Who Survived Night Alone in Wash. Wilderness Says She Was Determined to 'Find My Dad'

The 10-year-old was missing in the Cle Elum River Valley for more than 24 hours before she was found alive on Monday

A 10-year-old girl who survived a night alone in the Washington wilderness said her determination to find her family helped get her through the scary ordeal.

Shughla Mashwani was missing in the Cle Elum River Valley for more than 24 hours before she was found alive on Monday.

The Kittitas County Sheriff's Department (KCSD) previously said the girl’s extended family were together at the Cathedral Pass Trailhead on Fish Lake Road when she got "suddenly separated" from the group.

“It happened in ten minutes and then she was gone,” dad Shir Mohammed Mashwani told NBC affiliate KING-TV. “We didn’t think she would be alive in 24 hours.”

Related: 'Resourceful' Girl, 10, Survives Night Alone in Wash. Wilderness After Being ‘Suddenly Separated’ from Family

Meanwhile, the girl said she was stayed focused on reuniting with her loved ones.

“I was thinking, ‘I will find my dad and keep walking,’" she told KING-TV.

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Sure enough, she was found the next day with just a few scrapes on her body, police previously said.

Related: Washington State Man Dead While Climbing Near Summit of Mount Rainier

Authorities said the girl was found about 1.5 miles away from where she was last seen. "She hiked downstream through the dense forest and spent the cold night between some trees," they wrote. “She said she knew it was the right thing to follow the river."

"She proved an extraordinarily resourceful and resilient 10-year-old," they added.

Her family is also happy that the little girl is home safe and sound. “Everyone is proud of her that she is brave and takes care of herself on the mountain,” her dad told KING-TV.

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