A 66-year-old Prince George man who was missing for more than a week is recovering after he was found by hunters on the weekend.
John David Young, who went missing on Sept. 21, was found Saturday night at a remote location near Third Lake Recreation Site southwest of Logan Lake.
“I understand that he is in good spirits under the circumstances - he was missing without food for nine days,” his nephew, Jeremy Stewart, posted on social media on the weekend.
Searchers, police and members of the public were searching the backcountry around the B.C. Interior from Logan Lake to Clinton, unsure where he might have ended up.
He left his home earlier this month to travel to Vancouver Island. He had not been seen since leaving the home of a friend in Logan Lake the morning of Sept. 21, Stewart said in an interview.
Young was planning on taking Highway 99 south but did not arrive at his destination. Clinton was one of the areas under search after his cellphone pinged off a cell tower near the area and a possible sighting was reported but ultimately he was located not far from the destination where he was last seen.
Young had a health issue in the past year that left him with intermittent confusion and aphasia, which means he can struggle to speak coherently, Stewart added.
“He’s a very independent kind of guy so he felt that he could make this trip on his own,” Stewart said.
On Wednesday afternoon someone called him and was able to speak briefly with him, he said.
“That made us hopeful, because then we knew that he wasn’t down a ravine somewhere,” Stewart said, adding that his uncle was struggling to speak on that call but he was able to convey important new information that should help searchers.
Stewart said Young’s truck was believed to be stuck and he had been sleeping in his truck. He didn’t have any food but he had hiked to a stream to provide him with water.
“I want to thank absolutely everyone who helped out in any way,” Stewart said.
The search effort included RCMP and volunteer search and rescue personnel from several B.C. Interior search and rescue organizations, as well as the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association.