SEATTLE (AP) — A teenage girl who survived a small-plane crash in the craggy, thickly forested mountains of north-central Washington state emerged from the wilderness after hiking "for a couple of days" and was picked up by a motorist who drove her to safety, authorities said Monday. But the fate of her two step-grandparents, who were also on board, remained unclear. 
 
 David Veatch, father of Bellingham High student Autumn Veatch, 16, talks to the media at the Civil Air Patrol station at Bellingham International Airport in Bellingham, Wash., Monday, July 13, 2015. Autumn... (Associated Press) 
 
 Family members alerted authorities after the Beech A-35 failed to complete its flight from Kalispell, Montana, to Lynden, Washington, on Saturday afternoon. Rescuers narrowed down a search area based on cellphone data and typical flight patterns. But there was no sign of the aircraft or its occupants until Autumn Veatch, 16, followed a trail to state Route 20, near the east entrance to North Cascades National Park. 
 
 A motorist picked her up Monday afternoon and drove her 30 miles east to a general store in Mazama, where employees called 911. The Aero Methow Rescue Service sent a paramedic team to check her out before she was taken to a hospital in Brewster for treatment of what appeared to be minor injuries, said Cindy Button, director of services at the organization. 
 
 "Our initial information is she sustained no life-threatening injuries and is somewhat dehydrated due to being out in the elements," said Scott Graham, CEO of Three Rivers Hospital. 
 
 Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers said Monday afternoon that the girl had been "walking for a couple of days." He declined to comment on the status of the other two people aboard the plane. 
 
 Serena Lockwood, the manager at the Mazama Store, said the girl and a motorist came in Monday afternoon, saying she had been in a plane crash. 
 
 "She was obviously pretty traumatized," Lockwood said. 
 
 Rescuers celebrated Veatch's survival, but they immediately returned their focus to finding the wreckage, aided by Veatch's description of the crash site, said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Lustick of the Civil Air Patrol. Lustick said he could not confirm any details about the condition of the grandparents, Leland and Sharon Bowman of Marion, Montana. 
 
 "We're so happy about this," Lustick said. "I've spent 30 years in the Civil Air Patrol and in search-and-rescue. Moments of joy like this can be hard to find." 
 
 Lustick said he had spoken with Veatch's father, who said his daughter told him the plane crashed and caught fire after flying into a bank of clouds. She remained at the crash site for a day before deciding to hike down, eventually finding a trail and following it to the trailhead on Highway 20. 
 
 Five aircraft equipped with special radios for detecting the missing plane's emergency-locator transmitter searched the mountains Monday, while ground crews focused on areas between Mazama and Rainy Pass, officials said. The planes halted their search for the night by 8 p.m. while a couple of Navy helicopters from the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station continued to sweep the area, said Barbara LaBoe, a state Transportation Department spokeswoman. 
 
 The crashed plane crossed the Idaho-Washington border about 2:20 p.m. PDT Saturday, but it dropped off the radar near Omak, Washington, about an hour later, transportation officials said. The last phone signal from one of the plane's occupants was detected around 3:50 p.m. 
 
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 Associated Press writer Phuong Le contributed to this report. ||||| The "miracle" teenager found alive days after a plane crash in the wilderness of Washington state told NBC News that she has a newfound respect for life. 
 
 Autumn Veatch, 16, was aboard a small plane flying from Montana to Washington with her step-grandparents when the aircraft crashed into a remote area in the northern part of the state. 
 
 Veatch was the sole survivor of the crash and fought her way from the burning wreckage and through dense woods for more than two days before she was found by hikers on Monday. 
 
 The teenager shared her dramatic story of survival with NBC News. 
 
 Veatch told NBC News that she and Leland and Sharon Bowman, 62 and 63, were flying over eastern Washington when they were struck with low visibility and poor weather conditions. 
 
 "Everything was white, like everything — all the windows — everything was white, and then suddenly it was just all trees, and then it was fire," she said. 
 
 After the Beech A-35 aircraft crashed into the trees, and quickly burst into flames, Veatch managed to escape, but her grandparents were trapped. She was unable to save them, suffering second-degree burns on her right hand while trying to pull her grandfather from the wreckage.
– A 16-year-old girl in Washington state is bruised and dehydrated but very much alive after surviving a plane crash and a long trek through what authorities describe as some of the state's most rugged terrain. Autumn Veatch was on a small plane with her step-grandparents that crashed after departing Kalispell, Mont., on Saturday afternoon, the Bellingham Herald reports. There was no sign of the plane or its occupants until a motorist found Veatch on State Route 20 yesterday afternoon and took her to a general store, where employees called authorities, the AP reports. She was hospitalized with minor injuries. Her father tells the Herald that after the plane crashed into a mountain, it caught fire and she was unable to get her step-grandparents out. She spent about a day near the plane waiting for rescue before following a stream and then a trail out of the woods, her father says. Friends say both father and daughter are completely overwhelmed. "She did joke that it was a good thing she'd watched all those Survivor shows that she didn't like, but her dad made her watch anyway," a family friend tells the Seattle Times. Authorities are still searching for the missing Beech A-35. (In Colombia last month, a mother and baby survived four days in the jungle after a plane crash.)