Falmouth — Rescue teams concluded their search for a missing Maine Magazine columnist who wandered slightly outside Portland’s city limits.

Shaken and weak from the ordeal, Meyghan Bridges was sent to Maine Medical Center to undergo observation, but rescuers are confident she’ll be released soon.

Bridges was originally sent on an assignment to spend 48 hours tasting oysters and sipping wheat ales for a Maine Magazine piece about an authentic coastal Maine culinary expedition. However, she became disoriented while driving and didn’t make her exit to Congress Street.

“Once she saw the B&M Baked Bean factory, panic began to set in,” lead rescuer David McPatrick said. “She knew she was headed in the wrong direction.”

Rescuers credit Bridges’ insistence on always wearing a scarf and Bean boots, no matter the weather, with helping her survive the 30 minutes it took for them to arrive.

“A lot of these kids don’t really appreciate how quickly their chance to talk to someone about Sufjan Stephens starts to diminish when they hit I-295 North,” McPatrick said.