A hiker lost in the Northern California mountains was found alive Thursday after witnesses heard his cries for help, authorities said.
Lukas McClish, 34, disappeared June 11 after hiking in Boulder Creek, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said. Ten days later, he was found screaming for help in a remote canyon in Big Basin State Park.
McLeish told KGO-TV that he left his home in Boulder Creek with very few supplies and believed he had gone on a three-hour hike and got lost in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
I left with only a pair of pants, a pair of hiking boots and a hat. I have a flashlight and a pair of folding scissors, like Leatherman tools. That’s it,” McLeish told KGO-TV.
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McLeish was photographed reunited with his family after being found in a remote wooded area in Santa Cruz County, Northern California. (CAL FIRE CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit)
McCleish failed to attend a Father’s Day family gathering and was reported missing five days later, KSWB-TV reported.
Lukas McClish, 34, told local news outlets that he survived by drinking water from creeks and waterfalls from his boots and eating wild berries. (Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office)
The 34-year-old told KSWB he was lost in the wild for 10 days and survived by drinking water from creeks and waterfalls from his boots, eating wild berries and sleeping on wet leaves. During this period, he kept shouting for help, hoping to be rescued.
Calls to McLeish went unanswered until Thursday, when the Sheriff’s Office said multiple witnesses reported hearing someone yelling for help at Big Basin State Park.
Rescuers said McLeish was not injured in the disaster. (CAL FIRE CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit)
The Sheriff’s Office launched a drone to determine the exact location of the sound and found McLeish in the forest between Imperial and Great Basin highways near Forman Creek.
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McLeish was not seriously injured and has been reunited with his family, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Officials shared photos of a ragged McLeish hugging his family in the woods.
McLeish was found alive after being lost in the woods for ten days. (CAL FIRE CZU San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit)
McLeish said he’s had enough of the outdoors for some time.
“I probably did enough hiking for the rest of the year,” he told KGO-TV.
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Multiple agencies assisted the Sheriff’s Office with rescue efforts, including CAL Fire CZU, Boulder Creek Volunteer Fire Department, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and California State Parks.
