How webcam viewers helped rescue a lost hiker on an Alaskan mountain
Social media users who signed on to gaze at bears and other wonders of nature are now being praised for spotting an Alaskan hiker in need.
A live camera set up around 2013 at Dumpling Mountain in Katmai National Park, captured a lost hiker earlier this month. Thanks to webcam viewers, a rescue team was employed to save the man, Mike Fitz said.
Fitz is founder of Fat Bear Week, a former ranger of about nine years at Katmai National Park and resident naturalist for Explore.org, a live nature camera network and documentary channel.
The camera that helped rescue the lost hiker is located in a spot about 2,200 feet high. Typically, people who tune in can see mountains, lakes and occasionally, an animal passing by, but this time, those looking on noticed a hiker.
It happened around 4:00 p.m. Alaskan time on Sept. 12, a spokesperson for the National Park Service said.
The weather was poor that day, Fitz shared with USA TODAY. There was limited visibility, winds were strong, there was driving rain in the area and the fog was “pretty dense,” Fitz said.
“Webcam viewers were still watching it, to my surprise, actually, and they were paying attention, which was doubly surprising,” Fitz said. “You couldn't see any of the landscape. It would be extremely unlikely animals would be visible because you couldn't see very far.”
But webcam viewers spotted a hiker who looked into the camera lens and gave a thumb’s down signal, Fitz said. The man then walked off, came back and asked for help.
Comments under the webcam from that day show the moments viewers spotted the man.
“There is someone distressed on the camera 3:30 p.m. - 3:43,” wrote one viewer.
Eventually a webcam and chat moderator responded to thank the viewers for alerting them. From there, moderators let park rangers know and word got back to Fitz. He was home in Maine when one of his Explore.org colleagues reached out to let him know about the situation.
He looked at the footage and worked with a camera operator to see if he could spot the hiker.
“We couldn't see him the whole entire time, like the three hours in between when we first saw him and when the rangers got there,” Fitz said. “Every once in a while he was reappearing on camera, which was good. It seemed like he was remaining in place.”
The two rangers who responded to the scene were able to take the hiker to a camp area.
Fitz said he can “fully understand how somebody could have lost their way on the mountain in that situation.”
“Even though you’re only two straight-line miles from Brooks River and the lodge in the park visitor center that happens to be there in the campground, in that situation, it can feel like a world apart,” Fritz shared. “The weather often is much worse on top of the mountain … because the weather is so fierce, it's just really difficult to get your bearings.”
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‘No cellular phone reception’ where the hiker was located, former ranger says
Fitz said there is “no cellular phone reception” in the area and at about 4 million acres, Katmai is one of the largest national parks in the country. It’s larger than Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks combined.
“(There’s) definitely no cell phone reception, so somebody who is in that area … generally, the only option to communicate with the outside world is through some sort of satellite connection,” Fitz said.
Explore.org, which runs the cameras, has at least 180 of them set up. In his experience, this is the first time a rescue has been made via one of their cameras.
“The webcam viewers alert us to a lot of interesting bear behavior and wildlife behavior but we have never had this situation before,” he said. “There have been some amazing situations we've witnessed on them before … with wildlife for instance … but never a human as far as I know.”
Once the hiker was rescued, people celebrated in the comments section.
"I am also glad that there were many good lip readers in this community," wrote one viewer. "All I was able to catch was 'help me' and 'lost' but others got more. I imagine the hiker thought the camera mic would pick him up. Since it couldn't, I am glad he chose to speak with his face very close to the camera. He just looked so cold, wet, and miserable."
Fitz wants to thank the webcam viewers, Explore.org team members and the park rangers who made the rescue possible.
“We have webcam viewers from all around the world,” he said. “They're always watching. They're always paying attention. They helped me learn a lot more about the brown bears and salmon which are typically the focus of our webcams in Katmai National Park.”
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Be prepared, National Park Service says
Cynthia Hernandez, a National Park Service spokesperson, said in an email Friday that it's vital for visitors to make preparations for their trip to Katmai National Park. They can do so by packing items such as maps, compasses, sunscreen, hats and other protective items.
Online resources hikers can use to prepare include:
For more information, visit www.tinyurl.com/KatmaiNPS. Nature enthusiasts can also check out wildlife live cams at www.Explore.org/livecams.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Live bear cam viewers spot lost Alaskan hiker, help rescue him
