A Metro Vancouver man was exhausted but relieved to be back on solid ground after what was supposed to be a day hike ended in a night spent on a mountainside and an early-morning helicopter rescue for both him and his dog.
Mike Niedzielski and his five-year-old Bernese mountain dog, Hunter, were near the junction of Swan Falls and the Dilly Dally Loop Sunday afternoon when the Maple Ridge man says he lost his footing on a steep slope.
"I was climbing up a hill. Hunter was right behind me," Niedzielski told reporters Monday morning, after he'd been rescued. "I lost my footing, I slid back a little bit, and it pushed him into the gully."
Hunter injured one of his legs in the fall and was limping badly. The 45-year-old hiker says he tried to carry Hunter up a steep slope, but ended up injuring his back in the process.
"A lot of things running through your mind," Niedzielski said of how he felt in the moment. "Further injury, just being stuck, losing my dog, injuring myself."
He knew almost right away he was going to need to call for help, and was thankfully able to get enough cellphone signal to contact police.
Members of Coquitlam Search and Rescue mobilized Sunday night. Several members hiked for hours and reached the pair around 1 a.m. Monday, as the temperature dipped.
The photo below was provided by Coquitlam SAR.
"We put heat vests on them, so that was a really good thing to do because it was cold last night," Coquitlam SAR search manager Bob Hetherington said. "They hunkered down, had a fire going."
According to Coquitlam SAR, Niedzielski did many things right, including having extra supplies, staying in the same spot once he called for help and leaving a detailed trip plan with his wife before setting out on his hike.
"We got his co-ordinates so we knew exactly where he was. So that limits the huge search area down to a smaller area," Hetherington said.
After a few hours of waiting in a tent with SAR members overnight, a helicopter landed in the area just after dawn, and crews whisked Niedzielski and Hunter back to solid ground.
"Puts a big smile on your face any time you can get people out and they're in good shape and have a smile on their face," Hetherington said. "And then when you see a dog with a face like that."
A photo posted to Twitter by user Zaidy Niedzielski shows a recovering Hunter.
Hunter's leg seemed to be improving by the time the pair landed. The dog eagerly got attention from rescuers near the command post.
Niedzielski was reunited with his wife shortly after the rescue. The couple said they'd take Hunter to the vet then begin recuperating from their experience.
"Thanks to Coquitlam Search and Rescue," Niedzielski said. "If it weren't for people like these guys over here, people like me would be in trouble."
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Jordan Jiang in Coquitlam
