Missing hiker found alive after more than five weeks in wilderness
A hiker who had been lost in the wilderness of British Columbia for over five weeks has been found alive.
Sam Benastick, 20, was reported missing on October 19 after he failed to return from a 10-day fishing and hiking trip in Redfern-Keily Park in the northern Rocky Mountains.
Search and rescue efforts were called off by authorities in late October, with temperatures in the area sometimes dropping as low as -20°C (-4°F).
On Tuesday, two individuals traveling to the Redfern Lake trail for work spotted Mr. Benastick walking toward them and recognized him as the missing hiker.
Given the length of his disappearance, there had been concerns about a different outcome, said Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Madonna Saunderson on Wednesday.
“We’re very grateful. The family is thrilled,” she commented, noting that he had simply gotten lost.
Mr. Benastick told police that he had stayed in his car for a few days before walking to a creek where he camped for 10 to 15 days. At the time he went missing, he was carrying a tarp, a backpack, and some camping supplies.
He then moved down the valley and built a camp and shelter in a dried-out creek bed. Winter conditions ramped up, with some snowfall.
Eventually, Mr Benastick made his way to the area where he flagged down his rescuers.
“Those are very difficult conditions for really anyone to survive in, especially [with] limited supplies and equipment and food,” Prince George Search and Rescue search manager Adam Hawkins told the BBC.
“Even someone with quite a bit of experience would find that challenging.”
Multiple rescue teams, the Canadian Rangers, the RCMP, and family and friends, had all conducted a ground and air search over “a pretty huge amount of terrain”, Mr Hawkins said.
The rugged, remote region was hours from any towns, and featured low-lying hills, steep alpine cliffsides, and “even glaciated terrain”, he said.
Little is known about Mr Benastick’s condition or how he survived in the backwoods. He is currently in hospital.
Local inn owner Mike Reid, who got to know Mr Benastick’s family while they stayed at his establishment during search efforts, told broadcaster CBC that the hiker had cut his sleeping bag and wrapped it around his legs to stay warm.
He said he was told the young man nearly collapsed as he was placed into the ambulance and was in “rough shape”.
Before he was found, Mr Benastick’s last known location was at a trailhead in the region of Redfern Lake – the park’s largest lake – where he was seen using his red dirt bike, according to the RCMP.
Mr Hawkins , the search manager, said he is “intensely curious” to learn more about the area where Mr Benastick was found and what he was doing while missing to help inform future search and rescue operations.
