A hiker from Abbotsford has been rescued from a popular Chilliwack-area hiking trail.
Benjamin Zess set out on the Greendrop trail on Saturday (Dec. 12), but didn’t return to his car by the evening. His family, located in Ontario, hadn’t been able to get a hold of him and contacted the RCMP for help. The area is 40 km up Chilliwack Lake Road, and does not have cell phone service.
Chilliwack Search and Rescue was dispatched and found Zess, bringing him safely home via a helicopter rescue.
The popular hiking area was busy on Saturday. Posts on hiking group Facebook pages garnered several comments from people who had seen him hiking in the area.
By 10 a.m. Sunday morning, the man’s sister updated the posts to let people know he had been found.
“My brother Benjamin Zess was just located by search and rescue!,” wrote Olivia Zess. “He followed a wrong trail near Greendrop, Chilliwack and got lost. It became dark so he stayed put for the night. Search and rescue took him in helicopter. He has no injuries. Thank you all for your help, it means the world. Tip of advice. Don’t follow the old trail on Greendrop! If it wasn’t for his careful planning and warm clothes, things would have been dramatically worse.”
READ MORE: Chilliwack Search and Rescue finds hikers who weren’t technically lost at all
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