SOLVED. couple goes camping with developmentally disabled daughter who gets lost [s]

[Connie]

Family of four goes camping (parents plus young son and mentally disabled daughter who was either a little older or a little younger than the boy). Maybe in Yosemite. Not sure if the girl had Down syndrome or something else. The girl gets lost and the parents organize searchers to look for her.

I remember a lot more about the author than the book. It's a fairly short book, and was the author's first published work She lived in Montana and had a blog that was titled something like "simple living," but of course now there are hundreds of blogs related to that. I read it between 2000-2005, and it had been recently published. Pretty sure her first name is Charlotte.

Spoiler alert--the girl climbed into a tree (I think) and her body wasn't found by the searchers till spring. Afterwards, the parents felt guilty for being able to have more resources to spend on their son once the daughter was gone.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

Place Last Seen?

[Connie]

Wow, you are good--how do you do that, and so fast?! I don't know how to search Goodreads for key words about books.

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I searched google for montana authors charlotte and eyeballed the first page of results - the last one, Park County Environmental Council - Montana writers come out in support of mine fight The project includes poetry, essays and fiction by 30 Montana writers including locals William Hjortsberg, Charlotte McGuinn Freeman... looked most promising.