A shirtless hiker has revealed how he survived 10 grueling days lost in the mountains of Northern California before being rescued, relatively unharmed.
Lukas McClish, 34, had set out on a three-hour hike through Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Boulder Creek, California, on June 11 after his friend mentioned a granite outcropping in the area. according to the New York Times.
He didn’t tell anyone where he was going and had only brought some supplies with him.
“I left with a pair of pants, my walking shoes and a hat,” McClish he told KGO-TV. “I had a flashlight and a folding scissors look, like a Leatherman tool, and that was it.”
McClish would then have to spend nine nights and 10 days, shirtless, foraging for food while drinking stream water, eating wild berries, and sleeping on wet leaves.
Lukas McClish, 34, was rescued from Big Basin Redwoods State Park in Boulder Creek, California, after 10 days.
McClish, an experienced hiker who works in landscaping in forests ravaged by wildfires, said he was “stunned” to have gotten lost.
The area he was walking through was devastated in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire and “looks completely different from the rest of the terrain,” he explained.
“That’s something I didn’t take into account: when the fire comes like that and decimates it, it becomes a desert and you can’t orient yourself.”
The typical markers to indicate direction, such as deer trails or hiking trails, were gone.
But at first, McClish viewed his situation as an opportunity to test his survival skills.
“I’m an avid backpacker, so going out for a night or two is not out of the ordinary,” he told the Times.
On Thursday, police found McClish and reunited him with his family.
Big Basin Redwoods State Park was hit by a wildfire in August that burned about 97 percent of the park’s 18,224 acres.
However, on that first cold night, McClish tried to build a camp, but the brush he used to start the fire was wet.
He then crossed a canyon in search of better shelter and the next day set out to look for a stream he thought would be nearby.
“So I just walked,” McClish he told WDBJ. “Every day I go up a canyon, down a canyon, to the next waterfall, drink water from my boot.”
“I felt comfortable every time I was there,” he said. “I wasn’t worried about that.”
“I had a cougar following me, but it was cool,” McClish added. ‘He kept his distance.
“I think he was just someone who looked out for me.”
McClish said he initially viewed the situation as an opportunity to test his survival skills.
His parents became concerned when he didn’t show up for Father’s Day and filed a missing person’s report.
But on the fifth day, McClish began to worry and tried to find a way back to civilization.
“I knew that if I followed the sun, I would eventually reach the ocean, but I didn’t know how far from the ocean I was,” he said.
Meanwhile, his family began to worry when he didn’t show up for Father’s Day and filed a missing person’s report.
That sparked a massive manhunt, involving nearly 300 people and emergency personnel from multiple agencies.
“Some nights, though, I had to trust God that he was going to be okay, and that was hard to do some nights, when we went to bed, because I was worried about where he was, where he was sleeping.” “How cold he was and where was he if he was alive,” his mother, Diane McClish, told WDBJ.
The missing persons report sparked a massive search of nearly 300 people to find the missing hiker.
McClish was finally found when park rangers heard his cries for help.
As search efforts continued, McClish began screaming for help because he experienced hypothermia and slipped while going over a rock face.
‘Help, help, I’m over here,’ he remembers shouting over and over on days eight and nine, along with ‘Is there anyone out there?’
At the same time, McClish said he continued to dream of his next meal while being forced to survive on wild berries.
“I wanted a burrito or a taco,” he said. “That’s what I thought about every day when, after the first five days, I started to realize that I might be lost.”
Finally, around 7:30 pm on Thursday, two park rangers were walking up a hill and heard McClish’s screams.
“I’m thinking, I hope this isn’t a mirage,” McClish said.
The Boulder Creek Fire Department deployed a drone and located him, while a dog located him.
But the Boulder Creek Fire Department soon deployed a drone and spotted him, while a dog located him.
Police then escorted him out of the desert and he was reunited with his anxious family.
McClish spent Thursday night safe at a local hospital, where doctors removed stones from his back.
He said he’s still not afraid of nature, but admitted, “I did enough hiking probably for the rest of the year.”
