The New York Times reports that a California man who went missing for 10 days in the Santa Cruz Mountains has been found alive. Lukas McClish, 34, disappeared on June 11 after setting out for what he thought would be a brief three-hour hike near Big Basin Redwood State Park. His family reported him missing on June 16 when he failed to show up for a Father’s Day dinner.
CAL FIRE CZU firefighters assisted @SantaCruzSO1 @BoulderCreekFD with a rescue in Big Basin State Parks last night. There were multiple reports of witnesses hearing someone yelling for help, but the location of that person was hard to establish. READ MORE ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/tQxHvVPVJO
— CAL FIRE CZU (@CALFIRECZU) June 21, 2024
McClish, an experienced outdoorsman, survived by drinking water from creeks, eating wild berries, and sleeping on wet leaves. He was also followed by a mountain lion, which he described as “cool” and keeping its distance. Despite the challenging conditions, McClish remained calm and resourceful, using a flashlight and folding scissors as his only tools.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office received multiple reports of someone yelling for help, which led to the deployment of drones to locate McClish. State Parks rangers and fire crews eventually found him in a remote canyon on June 21. McClish was reunited with his family and sustained no major injuries, though he lost 30 pounds during the ordeal.
The search and rescue operation involved multiple agencies, including Cal Fire, the Boulder Creek Fire Department, and California State Parks.
Big Basin Redwoods State Park, established in 1902, is California’s oldest state park in the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The park is renowned for its ancient coast redwoods, some of which are over 50 feet in circumference and as tall as the Statue of Liberty, ranging from 1,000 to 2,500 years old. The park offers a variety of habitats, including old-growth and second-growth redwood forests, mixed conifer, oak, chaparral, and riparian areas, and is home to diverse wildlife such as deer, raccoons, bobcats, and numerous bird species. Despite significant damage from the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire, the park is recovering, with many old-growth trees surviving and new plant life emerging.
