Social media reunites climber with lost camera

MOUNT ST HELENS, WA (WABC) -- A camera disappeared in the Cascades and with it, the images of a lifetime.

Here is how the owner, Kerry Shiels, was reunited with her camera and photos.

Descending Mount St. Helen's, Greg Lentsch spotted a glimmering object on the trail and picked it up. Lentsch and his girlfriend found the camera in its case and realized it was from the earthquake.

"There's just something glimmering, so I went over there and picked it up," he said. "Whoa, wait a second here, like this is actually from the earthquake."

Their discovery launched a Facebook search for the mystery owner, someone who'd just photographed the destruction in Nepal.

"What's their story?" he asked. "What were they doing in Nepal? Why were they on St. Helen's?"

Kerry Shiels carried the camera with her on her travels all over the world and had recently survived the deadly quake in Nepal.

A few weeks later, photos of a woman who resembled Shiels showed up online and caught someone's eye.

A coworker of Kerry recognized her from the pictures on Facebook and alerted her.

"The pictures range from Argentina to Mount St. Helen's," Shiels said.

And it turns out that Kerry and Greg have more than the camera in common. Besides both being climbers, they grew up near each other.

These strangers, brought together by fate, will have plenty to talk about when they tackle a climb together.