A small miracle. Robert Schock, a 39-year-old American from Ohio, was lost for 30 days in North Cascades National Park, north of Seattle, in the western United States, after a race that went wrong, reports the British newspaper The Guardian.
Despite his multiple attempts to notify emergency services and find his way back, Robert Schock found himself trapped deep in the forest. How to get out of there then? Adopting survival reflexes and consuming wild mushrooms and berries.
“I want this to end.”
On July 31, while Robert Schock was hiking in North Cascades National Park, the man went for a run with his dog Freddy. “I’m not a hiker,” he confesses to the American website People. “I like running. I want to finish the race as quickly as possible and go home.”
Without a shirt and dressed simply in shorts and sneakers, Robert Schock embarked on a path reserved for athletes. However, as The Guardian points out, the area in which the American is located is nothing like the sketches at his disposal.
Its map, which is too old, predates the violent forest fires that devastated the national park between 2021 and 2022, completely modifying some routes.
With no landmarks, no clothes, no food and no cell phone, Robert Schock sends his dog to find help. The animal will indeed be found, but it will not allow anyone to track down its owner.
Completely disoriented, Robert Schock has moments of absence. As he explains to People, without a watch or cell phone it is impossible for him to discern the different times of the day.
“I said to myself, please let this end, I want this to end,” Robert Schock told People.
When the man no longer has any strength and struggles to survive by eating only small berries, some non-toxic mushrooms and drinking plain water, he asks for help for the umpteenth time.
Luckily, a group of hikers hear him. “This guy who came and dressed me really saved my life,” Robert Schock told reporters from The Guardian.
Hospitalized for several days in Washington state, the man, who lost more than 40 pounds during his month-long trip, was able to return home and be reunited with his loved ones.
Source: BFM TV
