Lukas McClish, reunited with his family after 10 days and nine nights lost in the mountains. Photo: ABC//Screenshot
A hiker who went missing in Northern California is home safe after a harrowing 10-day ordeal.
Lukas McClish, 34, left home on June 11 for a quick hike near his home in Boulder Creek. He planned on being out for around three hours, but soon found himself hopelessly lost.
Although he was familiar with the area, it looked significantly different after forest fires had ravaged the Santa Cruz Mountains in recent years.
“I left with just a pair of pants, and my pair of hiking shoes, and a hat,” McClish told ABC7. “I had a flashlight, a pair of folding scissors, like a Leatherman tool, and that was about it.”
By Sunday, June 16, his family knew he was in trouble when he didn’t arrive for Father’s Day dinner. They called the authorities and search parties headed out to try and locate the missing man.
The rescue team included members of the Cal Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz unit, the Boulder Creek Fire Department, and California State Parks.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, around 3 p.m. on Thursday, rescuers heard McClish yelling for help. When they got closer, they spotted him in a canyon in Big Basin State Park. Although he wasn’t hurt, he was a little worse for wear.
“I just made sure I drank a gallon of water every day,” he explained. “But then after, getting close to the end of it, my body needed food and some kind of sustenance.”
Aside from being tired, hungry, sore, and a little hoarse from yelling for help, McClish was relatively unscathed. He is done with hiking for a while, though.
“I did enough hiking for probably the whole rest of the year,” he said.
