Stranded California hiker rescued after surviving for 2 weeks on a jar of salsa by couple who happened to be camping between Big Bear Lake and Angelus Oaks. Allison Scott relives the moment she came across Eric hailing from Oceanside.
He must have savored every bite… A stranded hiker was rescued from the California wilderness last week after surviving for two weeks on a jar of salsa.
The hiker was found by a couple camping between Big Bear Lake and Angelus Oaks after they heard him screaming for help at a plane flying overhead on November 26, reported ABC7.
The couple followed the desperate cries for help for about half an hour, before eventually coming across a man in the woods. He had clearly been through an ordeal.
When they found him, the man, who gave his name as Eric, told Allison Scott and her boyfriend, Alfred Valdivia Jr. that he had got lost two weeks earlier after leaving his hometown of Oceanside, California, more than 30 hours of walking distance away.
‘We were underneath a flight path and an airplane went by pretty low and we heard someone yelling for help,’ she told ABC7.
‘He said he doesn’t have a cellphone’
‘He had a stick with a water bottle on it trying to signal. He couldn’t walk. His feet were extremely swollen and infected just from walking so much, and possibly the cold where he was.’
‘When we did find him, he said ‘It’s a Thanksgiving miracle,” Scott told ABC7.
She said that she called authorities and a rescue helicopter was able to recover Eric within 15 minutes.
Posted Allison on her Facebook page:
‘… turns out he had been out there since the 11th, his feet were really messed up and he couldn’t walk, I had just enough service on my phone and called 911 and we got a helicopter out to pick him up. They flew him to a road where an ambulance was waiting. Then we set up camp and made a delicious soup.’
Allison told the station that she hopes to see Eric again.
‘He said he doesn’t have a cellphone. We have his landline phone and he said, ‘Whenever you’re in Oceanside, I’ll take you out to dinner. Just give me a call,’ she said.
‘He also said, ‘I’m very sorry for putting a damper on your camping trip,’ and I said, ‘I’m just glad you’re OK.’’
Of course the big question is how much longer could Eric have survived the elements, the wilderness and of course not having access to food or water?
Per Outside: ‘Understanding how long a human body can go without food or water is a complex process because it varies based on genetics, body composition, and health conditions, but research shows that humans can survive without food for anywhere between 20 and 70 days, with most bodies failing around the 40 day mark.’
