#Injured hiker survives being stranded in Santa Fe forest for 14 days

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John Utsey and his two children rescued a hiker (pictured) who was stranded in Santa Fe National Forest.
Santa Fe Fire Department

An injured hiker was stranded for two weeks in a New Mexico forest until a family on a nearby trail finally heard his calls for help, authorities said.

John Utsey said he heard a voice Saturday while hiking with his kids up Windsor Trail in Santa Fe National Forest, news station KRQE-TV reported.

Utsey said he had called out to his daughter who had walked out of sight when he heard the hiker’s pleas.

“I’m not sure he had more than a day or two left,” said Utsey, who found the man about 20 minutes later down a steep hillside near a creek.

The man, who had gone more than a week without food, couldn’t move and was delirious, Utsey said.

“His lips were all chapped to the point they were bleeding. His tongue was swollen; he was super gaunt and skinny. I was like, ‘This guy really needs help,’” Utsey said.

Utsey and his kids gave him all their food and water before heading back to the trail to call 911.

Firefighters responded but couldn’t locate the hiker and called off the search after eight hours.

The following morning, Utsey returned and found the hiker in the same spot, the outlet reported.

He called 911 again and waited around four hours for crews to arrive before he led them to the man.

“Never had we found somebody who had been out for that long,” Santa FE Fire Captain Nathan Garcia said. “I don’t think he had very much left in him. He seemed kind of at the end when we did actually encounter him.”

The man, who is older than 50, was an experienced hiker, but had suffered a back injury and couldn’t stand, authorities said.

“He would wiggle his way to the stream. He would drink water from the stream and then wiggle his way away from the stream at nightfall because of the colder temperatures that the stream brought,” Garcia told KRQE.

He was brought to a Santa Fe hospital, where he is recovering from the two-week ordeal, authorities said.

“He had the will to survive for sure,” Garcia said.