Rescue Crews Comb Hills for Missing Hiker : Search: Nita Jones, an experienced outdoorswoman, failed to show up for work Monday. She set out alone Saturday in Angeles National Forest.

Rescue crews from across Los Angeles County scoured the rugged hills above Sunland-Tujunga on Tuesday in search of an experienced hiker who disappeared four days ago as she trekked to the top of Mt. Lukens.

Nita Jones, 44, was reported missing after she did not show up for work on Monday. Investigators said Jones set out alone Saturday morning on a tough 10-mile hike in Angeles National Forest but did not return home that night.

Jones, who lives alone in Sunland-Tujunga, was described as an avid hiker who frequently rides her mountain bike in the hills above her home. Sgt. Bruce Parker of the Montrose Search and Rescue Team said Jones often hiked alone.

“She is a real outdoors person, independent, a loner,” Parker said.

The search began Monday night, after one of Jones’ co-workers at Glenfed Insurance Services went to the woman’s house and found a note saying she had gone hiking Saturday morning. The co-worker called police. Foul play is not suspected in Jones’ disappearance, officials said.

On Tuesday, about 20 rescue workers, assisted by several Los Angeles police officers, walked trails along ridgelines in 25 square miles of the forest around Mt. Lukens, a few miles south of the Big Tujunga ranger’s station. As many as three helicopters at a time searched the area from above, but thick brush hampered search efforts.

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack,” said John Lapham, a reserve deputy with the Montrose Search and Rescue Team.

Lapham declined to speculate on the woman’s chances for survival after several days without food or water. He said that would depend on Jones’ experience in the wilderness and on what she had packed with her.

But as the search progressed, two discoveries gave rescue workers hope that they were on the right track. Late Monday night, searchers found a hand towel with Jones’ initials on a trail. Although no matching towels were found at her residence, Parker said the “coincidence is just too great.”

And about 11 a.m. Tuesday, two plastic water bottles were found about a half-mile from the summit of Mt. Lukens. Similar bottles were found in Jones’ freezer, and Parker said Jones apparently froze the bottles to have cold drinks during her hikes.