Lost in the Santa Cruz Desert, Lukas McClish began screaming for help, realizing he was pushing his body to the limit after more than a week with almost no food or supplies.
That strategy probably saved his life.
Several people heard her cries for help and directed rescue teams to a remote area of Big Basin Redwoods State Park near Foreman Creek. Using a drone, first responders were able to locate the 34-year-old man in the remote forest where he had been lost for 10 days.
McClish, an avid hiker, was rescued Thursday without serious injuries and reunited with his family, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. Photos from the scene showed an emotional reunion as he emerged from the desert covered in dirt and scratches, with disheveled hair and a beard.
I had set out on what I hoped would be a short hike 10 days earlier, without even a shirt on my back.
“I left with just a pair of pants, my pair of walking shoes and a hat,” McClish told ABC News. “I had a flashlight and some folding scissors, like a Leatherman tool, and that was it.”
He said he lost 30 pounds in those 10 days he was lost, drinking water from streams and waterfalls to stay alive. At one point, a mountain lion followed him, but he was never too worried about surviving until the end, when he began dreaming about his next meal, he told KSBW-TV News of Salinas.
“I didn't bring anything because I thought I was on a three-hour hike,” he said.
While drinking water from nature was McClish's only option, officials warn against this practice.
“Never drink water from a natural source that you have not purified, even if the water appears clean,” warns a National Park Service publication. “Water from a stream, river or lake may appear clean, but it can still be full of bacteria, viruses and parasites that can cause waterborne illnesses.”
McClish's family had filed a missing person report when he did not return home after several days, prompting the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office to circulate a bulletin calling him an “at-risk missing person.”
“This was truly a team effort with the best outcome we could have hoped for,” the Sheriff's Office said in a statement.
