Injured hiker crawls 8 hours on trail, looking for cell signal to call 911

An injured runner crawled for eight hours on a national park trail in Washington state before he was able to find a cell signal to call 911, authorities said.

The 26-year-old man was running in Olympic National Park on Friday evening when he broke the bone in his lower leg 9 to 10 miles from the trailhead, Jefferson County search-and-rescue officials said in a statement.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the man crawled for eight hours, trying to make the call for help. Jefferson Search and Rescue said its crew was dispatched just before 1 a.m Saturday and, along with fire personnel and sheriff's deputies, headed up the trail to locate the man.

The man made it 5 to 6 miles on his hands and knees before the team found him and administered first aid around 4 a.m.

Temperatures were below freezing, and the man wore only light running clothes, Jefferson Search and Rescue said.

The crew called for a helicopter to evacuate him, which arrived by 7 a.m. at first light, the Coast Guard said.

The man, who was hoisted and taken to a nearby hospital in Seattle, was in stable condition, the Coast Guard said.

Media identified the runner as Joseph Oldendorf. He told KIRO-TV he was on a 20-mile run when he slipped on ice and his tibia snapped.

"It feels like a weird dream," Oldendorf told the TV station.

"It's a rocky, snowy, dirty, wet trail – and after a while, my knees were just raw," he said.

Oldendorf said thinking of his family kept him going: "I don’t want my family to hear I died in the wilderness," he told KIRO-TV. "I think it’d be unbearable."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Runner in Olympic National Park broke bone, crawled hours to call 911