From the mountains of British Columbia comes the story of a hiker who’s been found alive after being lost in the woods for five weeks.
In a remote provincial park, with nighttime temperatures plunging to minus-four, (-20C°), Sam Benastick struck out on October 7th for a 10-day camping and fishing trip.
Relatives said he was well-prepared and packed a wool hat and gloves, a hatchet, and “plenty of peanut butter,” but when he failed to return to his family’s home on the 17th, fear circulated among the small communities in northeast BC.
CBC News confirmed from Sam’s mother, Sandra Crocker, that he had been found on a remote access road and taken to the hospital for frostbite, exhaustion, and smoke inhalation.
In an update published on November 29th, CBC confirmed he had been discharged from the hospital. The story was followed by veteran reporter Andrew Kurjata, and is flush with details.
Borrowing his mother’s Honda dirt bike, Benastick landed at a trailhead and planned to hike in about 80 kilometers to catch Arctic grayling. Crocker told the CBC that Benastick was feeling a bit “listless” after returning from an extended trip to Europe, and felt he needed an adventure.
That adventure, coupled with the 10 days of planned excursion, lasted 50 days, but in a picture shared with CBC, Crocker showed her son giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed with the caption “he complained he didn’t even catch one fish.”
Redfern-Keily Provincial Park is a remote area 660 miles north of Vancouver, and boasts exquisite Rocky Mountain scenery, but threatens visitors with unpredictable weather, wolves, bears, no potable water, and no telecommunications coverage.
According to the BC Search and Rescue Association, more than 120 volunteers were involved in efforts to find Benastick with motor vehicles and aircraft across the vast park, in part informed by Timber Bigfoot, land and environment manager and member of the Prophet River First Nation, whose territory extends to the park.
“It’s an amazing environment and climate to try to survive,” Bigfoot told Kurjata, adding he’d love the opportunity to debrief the lost hiker. “I think it’s a miracle, and I congratulate him for being such a tough person.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police were also involved in the search effort, but haven’t shared many details about the case as there was no criminal element.
In a release last Wednesday, RCMP said Benastick stayed in his car for a couple of days, then walked to a “creek, mountainside” where he camped for 10 to 15 days, before he “moved down the valley and built a camp and shelter in a dried-out creek bed.”
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The only person who has since spoken with Sam or Sandra has been Mike Reid, the general manager of the Buffalo Inn in Pink Mountain where Sam’s relatives stayed while looking for him.
According to Reid, Benastick’s plans went awry when he had to retreat from either one or multiple wolves. After escaping their unfriendly jaws, he may have made camp to avoid the worst of several inches of snow that blanketed the park in October.
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He was eventually found on an access road by surveyors who had been on the series of remote tracks for a week marking trees around potential well sites when they saw someone walking down towards them. According to Reid, they were surprised, because although they had seen a lot of ATVs and snowmobiles, it was not the place for hikers.
Eileen Stevens, Sam’s step-grandmother on his father’s side, joked she would be buying the boy a GPS for Christmas.
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“Sam is a guy who knows the woods. He’s been raised—he’s a hiker. He’s a passionate fisherman,” she told CBC. “I don’t know his story, but I’m sure it’s going to be friggin’ amazing.”
His uncle, Al Benastick, agreed whilst adding that he couldn’t imagine the ordeal turning Sam off from his love of the Great Outdoors.
WATCH the story from CBC News…
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