HIKER'S ASHES TO BE STREWN IN WOODS.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

Karen Tellez's body will be cremated and her ashes scattered across the Northern California mountains where she loved to hike as a girl on visits to her grandparents' cabin, her mother said.

Tellez's ashes will join those of her grandparents, whose ashes were also scattered around Mad River, some 170 miles north of San Francisco.

``Growing up she would hike up and down the river,'' said Carlene Lampela, Tellez's mother. ``That's where she first began to hike.''

The 40-year-old mother of five was found dead Sunday after becoming lost in a cold El Nino storm on a day hike in Angeles National Forest west of Lake Hughes.

She had always loved visiting her grandparents' cabin, relatives said.

``There's no TV, no radio, just family,'' said Lampela. ``It was family time together.''

Lampela added: ``It's a strong sense of family that got her into trouble. She was worried about getting her son a ride.''

Tellez became lost Friday after she separated from other hikers, saying she needed to hurry down the mountain to make a telephone call for someone to pick up her 7-year-old son from school.

But she took a wrong turn and apparently become disoriented by the cold. Her body was found Sunday morning under an oak tree, about one-quarter mile off the main trail and about 2.7 miles from where she had left a hiking companion.

An autopsy is still to be scheduled. Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said that Tellez died of exposure.

Lampela said search team members told the family they believe Tellez died Friday night, when six inches of wet snow fell on the area.

More than 100 search-and-rescue workers throughout Southern California searched for Tellez in helicopters, on skis and in a snow vehicle. Clouds and rain kept helicopters from searching until Sunday.

``They were out there all night trying to find her,'' said Lampela, who waited for two days at the search team's command post west of Lake Hughes for word of her daughter. ``That took a lot of courage. They tried so hard that first night. It was just horrible.''

The family has requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Santa Clarita Search and Rescue Unit in memory of Karen Tellez.

This is the first time that a victim's family has set up a fund for donations, said sheriff's Sgt. Bruce Sonnenblick.

``It's an incredible feeling,'' said Sonnenblick. ``In their time of grief, they are thinking of our needs and the future of others. They have a good heart to think of us.''

Checks should be made payable to Santa Clarita Search and Rescue Unit and be mailed to: Santa Clarita Sheriff's Station, c/o Sgt. Bruce Sonnenblick, 23740 W. Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355.

Tellez and her oldest son, Corey, 19, who is now attending the Merchant Marine Academy in New York, had plans to spend three months hiking Pacific Crest Trail, which runs from the Mexican border to Canada. The hike that cost her life was on a segment of the Pacific Crest Trail.

``It was one of the goals she wanted to do,'' said Lampela. ``They were going to go once her son graduated.''

Co-workers in the Antelope Valley Hospital Mental Health Unit, where Tellez had worked as a mental health technician a little over a year, held a prayer session Sunday morning at one worker's home after learning of Tellez's death.

``It's rather somber around here,'' said Vikki Haley, department nursing director. ``There are a lot of hugs and a lot of tears.''

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Photo: (Color) Karen Tellez

Loved to hike along Mad River