Rescue team releases photo of Scott Hern
Jul. 23—CAMPTON, Ky. — On Monday, the Wolfe County Search and Rescue Team posted a picture of Scott Hern in his hospital room.
Hern, of Ironton, had traveled to the Red River Gorge area of the Daniel Boone National Forest on July 6 and was found by the rescue team on Saturday after he spent two weeks lost in the woods.
Wolfe County Search & Rescue Team posted on Facebook that "Scott's family just shared a picture of him and said we could pass it along. Look at that big smile. We love seeing that."
Hern had gone to the Kentucky forest, which is about two hours away from Ironton, to search for waterfalls.
Hern had been reported missing to the Ironton Police Department on July 6 by his family after they hadn't heard from him since the Fourth of July. On July 13, Hern's car was found, Wolfe County search teams immediately started looking for him near areas with waterfalls after Hern's family found his diary that described his searches for waterfalls in the Daniel Boone National Forest.
John May, the chief of the Wolfe County Search & Rescue, said after days of searching, hope was dwindling that Hern was still alive since he had been in the woods for two weeks.
But Saturday, Hern was found off marked trail after several days of intensive search by scores of people and canines in the dense forest where in many places that had to crawl through the brush to search.
May said a team went beyond Bell Falls and were calling his name when they heard a cry for help.
"Scott yelled out for help, he was alert enough to do that or otherwise they wouldn't have found him," May said. "He was below a cliff line and he wasn't easy to spot."
May said that Hern was in surprisingly good shape after being out in the woods for so long.
"Besides being dehydrated and his feet being a mess, all in all, he was in good shape. He was alert, he was talking. I shook his hand before we had the helicopter hoist him out of there," May said. "He was hurting, but he was in pretty good spirits. It was just a miracle."
The rescue team had to cut down several trees by a nearby creek to create an area for the Kentucky State Police helicopter to lower a basket to get Hern out of there since there was no way he could walk out and it was too overgrown teams to be able to carry him out.
Hern was then transported to a hospital for a checkup.
"It was a miracle, absolutely," May said. "People don't live that long in the back country without food and water."
