What should have been a 10 day ramp through the Canadian wilderness turned into a nearly two month fight for survival for one missing hiker. The young 20-year-old was lost for 50 days in the hostile wilderness.
However, he managed to use his wits and survival knowledge to brave the elements. Authorities found Sean Benastick walking down a service road in British Columbia's Redfern-Keily Provincial Park. The young hiker was in a bad way, hobbling forward until he was found. His family reported him missing after he didn't come home on October 17. He was only supposed to be gone for 10 days.
According to CBC News, Benastick's survival was astonishing considering temperatures dropped below freezing. There was also heavy snowfall in the area as well.
Hiker Survives Elements
"He's in rough shape. But man, for 50 days out in that cold, he's going to live," Mike Reid, the manager of a nearby inn, told CBC. Park officials found Benastick while doing some routine work on a service road. He was struggling to walk and appeared disheveled. The 20-year-old hiker had turned his sleeping bag into a makeshift coat.
"They had just started driving, and they said, 'The hell is that person doing walking on this road?' And he had two sticks, one in each hand, and it was Sam," said Reid, who spoke to the unwitting rescuers.
Workers were shocked to find the hiker after almost two months of searching. 120 people had failed to find him, and the search had ended on October 28 after no sign of him surfaced.
Authorities got a clearer picture of what happened. Apparently, the hiker spent the first leg of his trip with his car. Then he hiked to a mountainside creek and camped for 15 days. He "moved down the valley and built a camp and shelter in a dried-out creek bed."
"It's kind of unbelievable," said his uncle, Al Benastick. "Imagine being out there, being that cold, for that long."
The young man had frostbite as well as smoke inhalation. But he hadn't lost his humor. He "complained that he hasn't caught one fish."
Her grandmother celebrated the news.
"I don't know his story [yet], but I'm sure it's going to be friggin' amazing," she said.
