Amber Nicole Swanson, 12, center, of Georgia, is greeted by her family after she was brought to the command center where rescue personnel based their search for her in Laurel Mountain State Park on Friday in Rector.

RECTOR — A 12-year-old Georgia girl accompanied by her family's pet pit bull was found unharmed Friday at a home about four miles from a rocky area in a state park where the two went missing the night before.

Amber Nicole Swanson, of Stephens County, Ga., was visiting family in Western Pennsylvania when she went with her brother, two of his friends and the dog to rugged and heavily wooded Laurel Mountain State Park. She and the black and white dog, Onyx, disappeared when the three men left the girl to climb some rocks.

"I'm good," the girl said to reporters as she stepped out of a patrol car to be reunited with her family. She embraced family members but did not otherwise speak to the media.

Swanson and the dog appeared to have walked most of the night, said state police Cpl. Jeff Doman, who picked the girl up at the home and brought her to her family. The corporal and Swanson stopped to get something to eat before tearfully reuniting Swanson with her family.

"She appears to be in good health," state police Sgt. Roger Pivirotto said.

Searchers had set up a perimeter up to three miles from where she disappeared, based on their experience of how far someone her age could travel, said Lee Jordan, a forest fire specialist with the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The girl was found beyond that search perimeter, apparently having crossed several roads to get to where she was found in a state forest that surrounds the park.

"This is a rough piece of territory up here," said Paul Leasure, a state forest ranger.

Scores of volunteers, search dogs and sheriff's deputies on horseback had combed the park Friday trying to find the girl, who vanished Thursday evening. About 50 people gathered at the area where the rescue crews were based cheered loudly when officials announced that the girl had been found at about 12:40 p.m.

The men she was with said they called out to her, "We'll be right there," while they were climbing the rocks and that she responded, "All right." But she was not there when they returned from climbing at about 7:15 p.m., Pivirotto said.

"I felt she had the will to try and find me," said the girl's brother, Justin Bowers, 22, of Jeannette. "It was a judgment error. We thought she was closer than she was. I just wanted to bring her up there and show her one of my favorite spots, and this happened."