A 32-year-old New Brunswick man spent Saturday afternoon being treated in hospital, after injuring himself in a dirt bike crash on a remote logging road north of Squamish just before darkness fell Friday night.
The man had been camping with his girlfriend and another person when he decided to take the dirt bike for a late evening ride on the Chance Creek Forest Access Road.
When he didn't return right away, his friends went looking for him and quickly found the damaged dirt bike, but no sign of the rider.
"My heart sank. I was so upset," said his girlfriend Madison Amado. "I'm tearing up right now. It was awful."
She called 9-1-1 and RCMP immediately notified Squamish Search and Rescue, which dispatched a team of volunteers to start looking for the man just before midnight.
"We had approximately a dozen members, between the RCMP and ourselves, that were up there,” said SAR manager John Willcox, who added it was challenging because of the darkness and wet conditions.
At first light, search and rescue teams from Pemberton, Whistler, Lions Bay, North Shore and Coquitlam joined the operation, along with a chopper from Talon Helicopters.
Dozens of volunteers fanned out on foot and ATVs on a network of logging roads in the area, and then just before noon came the news everyone was hoping for.
"He phoned me and I heard his voice and I'm just so happy," said Amado. "I just started bawling my eyes out and thanking everyone."
Although the man had crashed the dirt bike just 400 metres from the campsite, he wound up walking nearly 20 kilometres through the wilderness in the opposite direction on a series of trails and logging roads.
Walking overnight and into the morning, the man eventually wound up on a logging road near the Squamish River where he was able to find help.
Volunteers say this situation could have had a far more tragic outcome, and they urge anyone who finds themselves in a similar situation in the wilderness to stay put and wait to be rescued.
"In this case, we're not clear why he wandered off but it might have been related to the injuries," said Squamish Search and Rescue’s John Howe.
The man had also been drinking before jumping on the bike and wasn’t wearing any safety gear.
"Always wear your helmet and if you have a few drinks, stay off of any type of engine," said Amado. "Just please be safe. Because it happened so quick and I almost lost him."
She says her boyfriend has some scrapes and bruises, but otherwise seems to have escaped his ordeal mostly unscathed, and adds both are extremely thankful to the volunteers who went looking for him.
