Missing Spokane man found alive in Shoshone wilderness

WALLACE — Following a nearly two-day search and rescue effort, a missing Spokane man was found alive in the Shoshone County wilderness by emergency personnel Monday afternoon.

The Shoshone County Sheriff's Office reported that on Sept. 26 at approximately 1:17 p.m., dispatch received a call from a man who had lost contact with his 68-year-old brother from Spokane while they were mushroom picking in the area east/northeast of Lake Elsie, just off Lake Elsie Trail-106. The two had split up around 9 a.m. that morning and when the reporting party returned to their designated meeting location, the other individual never did.

SCSO deputies arrived at the scene and immediately began searching the subject's last known location. Crews set up two incident command posts — one at the Big Creek gravel pit and another at Lake Elsie.

After searching for roughly eight hours on Sunday and another eight on Monday, SCSO Capt. Jeff Lee told the News-Press that a four-person search team finally located the man approximately 1.5 miles from Lake Elsie on the East Fork of Big Creek around 3:30 p.m. His location was also only 1/4 of a mile away from the original meeting spot.

Working with a Two-Bear Air helicopter, the missing man was airlifted to the gravel pit incident command post, then taken by ambulance to Shoshone Medical Center in Kellogg to treat symptoms of hypothermia.

After speaking with the individual, Lee explained that the Spokane man — who had never been in the area before — lost his way after heading north off-trail from the initial meeting point. He eventually made his way to the Lake Elsie overflow ravine and then took the wrong turn; thinking he was heading toward the lake, when in reality, he was heading away from it.

"He really thought he wasn't going to make it one more night," Lee said. "I'm glad that so many people were willing and able to come out and assist with the search in an extreme terrain environment. Having a successful outcome like this is not common in similar circumstances with an individual that age and not having any gear for overnight — no cellphone, no cold weather clothes, nothing other than a bag to pick up mushrooms."

Assisting agencies and groups included Silver Valley Search and Rescue, Kootenai County SAR (along with their tracking K9), Spokane SAR, Two-Bear Air, and Spokane Air-1.

Lee was pleased with the outcome, but stressed the need to be prepared when going into the wilderness.

"I really encourage people to be prepared if they plan on only being out there for only a couple hours. It's better to have it and not need it, rather than need it and not have it."