A hiker who lost more than 30 pounds after disappearing in a California forest had to have stones removed from his back.
Footage has emerged of the moment shirtless Lukas McClish, 34, was reunited with his family after being lost for 10 days in Big Basin Redwood State Park.
McClish was last seen on June 11. but he was not reported missing until June 16, when he failed to show up for a Father’s Day dinner, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
He was found on Friday after people reported hearing someone screaming and drones were deployed to track him.
The hiker reuniting with his loved ones. Photo: SLV Steve
McClish, an experienced hiker, told the New York Times (NYT) that he drank stream water and ate wild berries to survive, a “diet” that caused him to lose 30 pounds (13.6 kg).
“I was on a kind of water diet,” McClish said. “If you drink a gallon and a half of water every day, you won’t need to eat until you run out of carbs.”
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McClish was lost on June 11. Photo: SLV Steve
McClish described how he carried very little with him when he embarked on what he thought would only be a three-hour walk before work.
“I came out with just a pair of pants, my pair of hiking shoes and a hat. I had a flashlight and a pair of folding scissors, like a Leatherman tool. And that was it,” he told ABC7.
But it ended up being lost because fires eroded landmarks along the track.
Emergency services deployed drones to the area after screams were heard. Photo: SLV Steve
The sheriff’s office said it had received multiple reports from witnesses who heard someone screaming for help.
State park rangers were the first to discover him and fire crews helped carry him to safety on Friday.
During the early days of his ordeal, McClish tried to view his experience as an opportunity to spend time with himself and test his survival skills.
“So I just walked,” he said. “Every day, I go up and down a canyon to the next waterfall, sit by the waterfall and drink water from my boot.”
But on the fifth day, he began to look for ways to return home.
“I knew 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.
By the eighth day, McClish was shouting repeatedly in hopes of getting someone’s attention, as he was suffering from hypothermia and had fallen while walking on a rock wall.
Once rescued, McClish was taken to the hospital overnight, where stones were removed from his back, the NYT quoted him as saying.
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“I did enough hiking for probably the rest of the year,” he said.
“Me too,” said his father.
“We’ve all walked a lot,” his mother added.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
