Lost Hiker Fled Rescuers, Fearing Harm : Safe: A 22-year-old woman, alone in the wilderness for two weeks, said she thought men were chasing her.

A hiker lost for two weeks in rugged South Carolina wilderness fled from a search party because she believed she was being chased by men intending to harm her, authorities said today.

“From the very beginning, before the search was initiated, she became frightened or paranoid that somebody was trying to run her down,” said Oconee County Emergency Preparedness Director Walt Purcell.

Although the hiker, 22-year-old Eloise Lindsay, insisted Tuesday that men chased her along the trail, authorities said they have no such evidence and have no plans to investigate further.

On Monday, two days after authorities called off the search that involved more than 100 people for seven days, Lindsay was found by a deer hunter a few miles north of the 43-mile Foothills Trail in Table Rock State Park.

Six months out of college, Lindsay told reporters she had gone backpacking to think about what to do next with her life. She said she left the main trail and got lost when she sensed she was being followed.

“I could tell there was no good intent involved,” she said.

The hiker--who suffered infected blisters on both feet, cuts and abrasions--recalled her ordeal at a news conference under a tree wrapped in yellow ribbons outside her parents’ home in Atlanta.

She saw rescue helicopters overhead but she didn’t build a fire to attract attention, she said, because it might have given her away to the men she believed were chasing her.