A young hiker returned safely to his family after wandering five days in the Montana wilderness.
Kaden Laga, 25, returned home to his wife Arden, who is pregnant with the couple’s first child, after surviving off berries and bugs and drinking stream water since Aug. 12, according to Fox 13.
Laga and his family were hiking on horses last week when one of the horses in the group went lame. Laga volunteered to walk and traveled far in front of the group, attempting to reach the trail head.
Laga took a wrong turn and lost his bearings, however, which led to a five-day manhunt. The lost hiker spent his days foraging and searching for a way back to civilization, and spent his nights struggling to stay warm.
His first night alone, he was wet and so cold he thought he would freeze to death before the morning.
“I wrote a little text in case they found my body cold,” he said. “I just said, ‘In case I don’t make it out of here, I love you. I loved my life with you and I’m so sorry I left you to be a single mom.'”
Helicopters searching for Laga flew right over him at one point but did not see him. He resolved to find a way himself. After days of searching, Laga found a trail and followed a light that was left on at a camp site. He eventually stumbled into the camp at 1 a.m. Friday morning.
Rescuers took Laga off the mountain and back to his family Friday afternoon.
“I really hope the takeaway isn’t that I’ve done this amazing thing. I was very gifted, blessed, protected. As much as a lot of things went wrong. A lot of things went right,” Laga said on Sunday.
