A trail crew found a missing hiker in the North Cascades National Park in Washington a month after his disappearance, officials said Thursday, and the man's rescuers say he may not have had another day in him.
Officials reported 39-year-old Robert Schock a missing person days after he was last seen at the park on July 31, according to the Whatcom County Sheriff's Office. Witnesses saw the hiker near the area's Chilliwack River without any overnight supplies.
On Aug. 30, Schock was found "alive and well" in the park's Chilliwack Basin, the sheriff's office said in a statement Thursday. But the trail crew responsible for his rescue and his mother paint a more dire picture of Schock's state.
Schock’s mother, Jan Thompson, told the Cascadia Daily News that her son was weak and malnourished.
“He’s in a lot of pain and he isn’t speaking very well, but he’s coherent and seemed in pretty high spirits,” Thompson told the outlet from her home in North Carolina. “I didn’t push him too much.”
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Concerns surrounding Schock's disappearance began on Aug. 3 when an abandoned vehicle and his dog were found 8 miles from the hiking trail, the sheriff's office said.
Deputies found the vehicle with the windows rolled down and Schock's wallet on the dashboard. Several ground and air searches in the remote area were conducted through Aug.16 but no clues were uncovered until his discovery last week.
Thompson told the Cascadia Daily News that her son was found by a crew with the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, which was working in the field when they heard Schock yelling for help.
The National Park Service did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for further details.
Jeff Kish, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Trail Association, wrote on Facebook that Schock was "found alive, but not well."
"It is the belief of those who came to be involved in the rescue that Robert may have only had another day left in him before the outcome of his discovery would have been much more tragic," Kish wrote.
Kish said that Schock reported that he had been immobile and stuck in one spot for two weeks.
"His situation was dire," Kish said. "I won’t provide most of the details that I learned about his condition today, because I think the only appropriate person to decide whether those details should be shared publicly is Robert himself."
