Eugene Jo, 73, Finally Found after Going Missing for a Week While Hiking in Devil's Canyon, California

Eugene Jo was found alive on Saturday by a helicopter crew after surviving a week alone and with no food in the California mountains. 

73-year-old, Eugene Jo, went missing last week after hiking the San Gabriel Mountains with a group. By the time they reached the Angeles National Forest, near Mount Waterman, he was nowhere in sight. 

According to Sgt, Greg Taylor, the helicopter crew spotted the hiker in a canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains and brought him to safety at a hospital where he was treated and checked. 

Jo was “walking and speaking” when he was rescued despite not having consumed anything while he went missing, says Montrose Search and Rescue team. He survived on the water which he found on a creek.

“Just spoke to the crew on Air Rescue 5…. Mr Jo was walking and speaking to them, he had not eaten in at least 5 days. He was drinking the water out of the Devils Canyon creek. Temps were mild, and water levels are up with the heavier rainfall this year,” they tweeted.

Prior to his successful rescue, scent dogs, helicopters and ground crews from Ventura, San Diego, Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside countries helped search for Jo, and over 70 people scouted in the mountains on Saturday.

A similar thing happened to Amanda Eller over a month ago after she went missing for 17 days at Makawao Forest Reserve in Maui. The survivor shared her 17-day encounter in the wild during her time recovering at the hospital, she said:

“The last 17 days of my life have been the toughest days [of my] life, and it’s been a really significant spiritual journey that I was guided on.”

Eller had bruises and swollen feet and ankles after her days missing, which was treated at the Maui Memorial Medical Center. Her family hired a search and rescue team to find Eller as well as a Facebook page to aid the search.