North Shore Rescue said a missing hiker was found “just in time” after he spent two cold and wet nights lost in the wilderness.
The search and rescue team said the man made several mistakes that put him in a life-threatening situation.
Rescue members first geared up early Thursday morning to search for the missing hiker, who was able to call 911 for help.
However, the man’s cellphone ran out of power shortly after the call, and no co-ordinates were able to be found through the man’s phone.
This left rescue officials with extremely limited information as to where he was lost.
All they had was that the man was lost somewhere along Lynn Creek and that he had lost the trail somewhere near Mountain Highway.
“Lynn Creek goes for many kilometres, right from the ocean up into the Lynn Headwaters Regional Park to Lynn Lake,” said Allan McMordie, a North Shore Rescue search manager.
“We had very little information about him. (He said) sometime last night, he crossed Lynn Creek, he was wet and cold.”
As the search continued, the team said it caught a lucky break when a drone searching the area spotted the missing hiker.
Within 20 minutes, the drone was able to find the man. Using a speaker on the drone, the team told the man to stay put as officials made their way to him.
Unfortunately, the man was located in an area that search officials could not reach safely.
A helicopter was brought in and with a 300-foot cable, rescuers were able to extract the hypothermic man.
The man, who is in his 30s, said he planned to camp along the creek Tuesday night. All he had was a light sleeping bag and he was in shorts.
According to the search team, the man had lost his shoes when crossing the creek and by the time he decided to call for help, he had only one per cent of battery on his phone.
“The (man) was actually out there for two nights. He had lost his shoes, was quite cold. The small sleeping bag he had was soaking wet and he had no other extra gear or food,” McMordie said.
The man was taken to hospital.
Searchers said he was lucky to be found, as he likely would not have made it through another night.
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