Fishing 16-year-old gets lost in forest, walks 11 miles for help, NC searchers say
A lost 16-year-old boy doggedly walked 11 miles in six hours to try and find his way out of Nantahala National Forest, according to rescuers in western North Carolina.
It happened Friday in the Hiwassee Dam area of Cherokee County, and a search team found the boy “shaken and tired,” but unharmed, Cherokee County Emergency Management reported in an email to The Charlotte Observer.
“At approximately (7:10 p.m.), a call was received reporting a missing 16‑year‑old male. Family members on scene estimated he had been missing since around (3:30 p.m.),” Cherokee County Emergency Management Coordinator Sam Davis said in an email.
“The juvenile had been fishing with his father and left the area to take a short hike. He apparently made a wrong turn. ... The subject was last seen at the Cherokee Lake Recreation Area in the Nantahala National Forest.”
That wrong turn led to a gravel U.S. Forest Service road, and the boy walked the 10-mile length of it until he came to pavement on State Road 1303, Davis said.
“He then continued roughly one additional mile on SR 1303. At (9:01 p.m.), the subject was located on SR 1303 (Panther Top Road) by a Station 18, Ranger Volunteer Fire Department UTV team.”
The boy was seen sitting beside the road when the team rolled past, officials said. “The juvenile was shaken and tired but otherwise in good condition. He required no medical transport,” Davis said.
The boy was released to his family by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Davis said. His identity was not released.
The two-hour search included the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, Hiwassee Dam Fire Department, Ranger Fire Department, Cherokee County Search and Rescue, Cherokee County E-911 and Cherokee County Emergency Management.
Nantahala National Forest encompasses 531,148 acres in Cherokee and Jackson counties and is the largest of N.C.’s four national forests.
The Hiwassee Dam community is about a 250-mile drive west from uptown Charlotte.