By Spencer Sterritt

‘He’s lucky to be alive,’ missing hiker found after 45 hours in the bush

Jan 30, 2017 | 2:06 PM

NANAIMO — It was a happy ending to what could have been a tragic story.

Missing hiker Spencer Hunt, 20, defied the odds and survived about 45 hours in the forest around Ammonite Falls. He was discovered today, Jan. 30, at approximately 11:30 a.m. by one team of many volunteers who’d been searching the area.

Paul Berry, Comox Valley Ground SAR search commander, said Hunt was in good condition and beat the odds. Hunt was found in a ravine near a creek about 2.5 km southwest of the trailhead at the end of Jameson Rd.

“He was waving at the helicopter,” Berry said. “He’s cold and hungry but in pretty good shape. He’s lucky to be alive. In B.C., many victims last 24 hours in the wilderness. Hypothermia is the number one killer out here and he beat the odds.”

Berry said there was no indication Hunt had fallen or been injured and had simply gotten lost.

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“He broke the cardinal rule. Once he was lost he kept moving and that hampered the search.”

Story continues below video.

Hunt first went missing Saturday afternoon while out hiking on the Ammonite Falls Regional Trail with his family. By the Saturday night search and rescue had been brought in and more than 100 volunteers hit the trails to help with the search.

Hunt’s sister Jennifer Johnson, visibly shaking with excitement, said she didn’t feel right when Hunt had first walked ahead of the family at the entrance to the trail.

“It got scary when we didn’t see him at the next point or the next point and it got real fast,” she said.

She said it was a surreal moment hearing from her family Hunt had been found.

“Me and my friend got the text at the same time and we both screamed ‘He’s okay!’ It was a big burst. It was a surreal moment and emotional. A lot of happiness right now,” she said.

About her brother, Johnson said he’s bright and enthusiastic and “super kind-hearted. As soon as you talk to him he’s going to have a big smile on his face. He’s a wonderful human being.”

Rick Horsland and his friends Mark Koch and Phil Gonyer got to see Hunt’s enthusiasm and good spirit first hand. They were the volunteer team who found him in a river drainage.

“He was joking and talking, I couldn’t believe it,” Horsland said. “Remarkably, for being stuck down there for three days, he was in great shape.”

Horsland said they heard over the radio search and rescue teams had pinpointed a possible location and they went over. Koch and Gonyer were the two who found Hunt, while Horsland was the one who brought food and drink for the tired and hungry hiker. It took them an hour to lift Hunt out of the river drainage.

Hunt told them he’d been sleeping under a stump to stay warm.

“He walked out with a little bit of assistance. He was joking and happy, I couldn’t believe it,” Horsland said.

In a message to NanaimoNewsNOW, RCMP Cst. Gary O’Brien said Hunt was doing well in hospital and filling up on hot soup and bananas.

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit