Missing hiker found alive after 50 days in Canadian wilderness where temperatures dropped below 0: ‘Unbelievable’

A young hiker lost in the volatile Canadian wilderness for more than a month was found alive Tuesday after weeks of desperate searching, according to reports.

Sam Benastick, 20, was found hobbling down a service road in British Columbia’s Redfern-Keily Provincial Park, where he had been reported missing after failing to return home from a 10-day hiking trip on October 17, according to CBC News.

All told, Benastick spent 50 days in the mountainous Canadian tundra, where temperatures dropped below zero amid heavy snowfall.

“He’s in rough shape. But man, for 50 days out in that cold, he’s going to live,” Mike Reid, the manager of a nearby inn where Benastick’s parents stayed during the search, told CBC.

Park workers came across Benastick while they were tending to the service road, and were baffled by the sight of a person struggling to walk while wrapped in a makeshift coat fashioned from a torn sleeping bag.

“They had just started driving, and they said, ‘The hell is that person doing walking on this road?’ And he had two sticks, one in each hand, and it was Sam,” said Reid, who spoke to the unwitting rescuers.

Once the staffers got closer, they immediately recognized Benastick as the man more than 120 people had been combing the park for over the last five weeks, and rushed him to help.

The official search for Benastick had been called off on October 28, though his case was still considered open.

It remains unclear exactly how he became so lost.

The lost hiker spent the first part of his trip with his car, and then hiked to a mountainside creek where he camped for up to 15 days, police said.

Next, he “moved down the valley and built a camp and shelter in a dried-out creek bed,” where he remained until being found on Tuesday, according to police.

Whatever happened, his family is just glad he’s back.

“It’s kind of unbelievable,” said his uncle, Al Benastick. “Imagine being out there, being that cold, for that long.”

His mother posted a photo of him bandaged in a hospital bed, and joked that he’s “complained that he hasn’t caught one fish.”

Family members said the young man is suffering from some frostbite and smoke inhalation, but is expected to recover.

Benastick’s grandmother said she was going to buy her grandson a GPS for Christmas.

“I don’t know his story [yet], but I’m sure it’s going to be friggin’ amazing,” she said.