‘It was a bit emotional’: Man missing two weeks in Garibaldi Park found safe by wildfire crews

SQUAMISH (NEWS 1130) – A hiker who was missing for nearly two weeks has been found safe in Garibaldi Provincial Park. Police had been searching for Daniel Ring since July 9.

The 33-year-old was dropped off at the Elfin Lakes trailhead on July 7, with a plan to camp at Rampart Ponds for a few days, but didn’t return to his pick-up site two days later.

Ring was found by chance on Thursday, July 22, when crews were responding by helicopter to a wildfire in the area.

The Coastal Fire Centre confirms a three-person team was on its way to a fire in the Upper Pitt area when they spotted someone who looked like they needed help.

“They would have landed and discovered that they had found somebody who had been missing on a hiking trip,” explained Bryan Zandberg, information assistant with the centre.

A two day camping trip turned into a dangerous two week ordeal for a man near Elfin Lakes…
But there is a happy ending.
He was found alive last night.
We will have the latest on @NEWS1130.

— Amanda Wawryk (@AmandaWawryk) July 23, 2021

He says the team was able to bring the man back to safety, before heading back out on their original mission.

“That crew went right out to the fire after leaving this person with the proper support people back in civilization. I would imagine that they would feel like that’s wonderful and pretty amazing to be able to help somebody out,” Zandberg added.

Landon James, Squamish Search and Rescue manager, says the outcome was everything crews could ask for.

“It was a bit emotional, actually, because after two weeks of planning and re-planning, and looking at what we’ve done, and sending people out, you start to lose hope a little bit,” he said. “But we were still pursuing the search.”

He tells NEWS 1130 many of the SAR members were “a little in disbelief” when they heard Ring had been found. James says the team made sure they had the right person and connected with the RCMP before making any celebrations.

Squamish SAR has not yet had a chance to connect with the man, adding the priority was for him to reconnect with loved ones and recover. However, James says they are looking forward to having a conversation.

“And figure out what happened and how he survived for two weeks. There’s a lot of learning there for search and rescue teams around the world, and also just for us and our own knowledge as a team,” James added.

“This is an extremely good ending to this story, Coastal Fire’s sighting brought relief to detachment members and staff in the office today, there was literal cheer,” said Cpl. Angela Kermer with the Squamish RCMP.

‘Miracle story’

When Mounties told the public of Ring being missing earlier this month, they said he only had enough supplies for a few days “but nothing beyond that.”

James says the body can actually last for quite some time without food. It’s water that is crucial.

“He was found along the Pitt River, so he had a source of water. We don’t recommend that people hiking on a day trip fill their bottles up with creek water, because there are illnesses there. But if you’re in a survival situation, fresh water is one of the most important things to secure quickly,” he explained.

When it comes to missing people, James notes these files fall under the RCMP’s jurisdiction. It would be up to Mounties to decide when to call a search off.

But it had not gotten to that point yet. James says crews were searching for Ring until the day he was found.

“For us in Squamish, this is a rare occasion. We mostly do rescues, so we’re quick to call in some expert help when we do have a large-scale search like this. So it hasn’t happened in our experience,” he said, referring to this as a kind of “miracle story.”

Squamish Search and Rescue members were assisted by many other teams from across the province.

“The discussions that we have are around probabilities, and there’s actually some good science behind where people go when they’re lost, and the probability of finding people in certain areas. That’s the science part that our team doesn’t have the expertise in and so we called in the expertise on the first day of the search,” James explained, adding Emergency Management BC connected the group with Comox Valley.

As to where the 33-year-old was ultimately found, James notes it was quite a ways from where he was last seen. It was so far that it actually fell outside Squamish Search and Rescue’s jurisdiction.

“Is the Pitt River a logical place to end up? Not when you look at the map. But of course now that we know where he was located, you can possibly see a trail of how you might have gotten there,” he told NEWS 1130.

James says it’s always important to have a plan before you head out into the wilderness. Always let someone know where you’re going and when you expect to be back.